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  On 11 July at dawn entered Bosphorus.  Boarded by Turkish
  Customs officers.  Backsheesh.  All correct.  Under way at
  4 p.m.


  On 12 July through Dardanelles.  More Customs officers and
  flagboat of guarding squadron.  Backsheesh again.  Work of
  officers thorough, but quick.  Want us off soon.  At dark
  passed into Archipelago.


  On 13 July passed Cape Matapan.  Crew dissatisfied about
  something.  Seemed scared, but would not speak out.


  On 14 July was somewhat anxious about crew.  Men all steady
  fellows, who sailed with me before.  Mate could not make out what
  was wrong.  They only told him there was SOMETHING, and crossed
  themselves.  Mate lost temper with one of them that day and struck
  him.  Expected fierce quarrel, but all was quiet.


  On 16 July mate reported in the morning that one of the
  crew, Petrofsky, was missing.  Could not account for it.
  Took larboard watch eight bells last night, was relieved by
  Amramoff, but did not go to bunk.  Men more downcast than
  ever.  All said they expected something of the kind, but
  would not say more than there was SOMETHING aboard.  Mate
  getting very impatient with them.  Feared some trouble
  ahead.


  On 17 July, yesterday, one of the men, Olgaren, came to my cabin,
  and in an awestruck way confided to me that he thought there was a
  strange man aboard the ship.  He said that in his watch he had
  been sheltering behind the deckhouse, as there was a rain storm,
  when he saw a tall, thin man, who was not like any of the crew,
  come up the companionway, and go along the deck forward and
  disappear.  He followed cautiously, but when he got to bows found
  no one, and the hatchways were all closed.  He was in a panic of
  superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may spread.  To
  allay it, I shall today search the entire ship carefully from stem
  to stern.


  Later in the day I got together the whole crew, and told them, as
  they evidently thought there was some one in the ship, we would
  search from stem to stern.  First mate angry, said it was folly,
  and to yield to such foolish ideas would demoralise the men, said
  he would engage to keep them out of trouble with the handspike.  I
  let him take the helm, while the rest began a thorough search, all
  keeping abreast, with lanterns.  We left no corner unsearched.  As
  there were only the big wooden boxes, there were no odd corners
  where a man could hide.  Men much relieved when search over, and
  went back to work cheerfully.  First mate scowled, but said
  nothing.


  22 July.--Rough weather last three days, and all hands busy
  with sails, no time to be frightened.  Men seem to have
  forgotten their dread.  Mate cheerful again, and all on
  good terms.  Praised men for work in bad weather.  Passed
  Gibraltar and out through Straits.  All well.


  24 July.--There seems some doom over this ship.  Already a hand
  short, and entering the Bay of Biscay with wild weather ahead, and
  yet last night another man lost, disappeared.  Like the first, he
  came off his watch and was not seen again.  Men all in a panic of
  fear, sent a round robin, asking to have double watch, as they
  fear to be alone.  Mate angry.  Fear there will be some trouble,
  as either he or the men will do some violence.


  28 July.--Four days in hell, knocking about in a sort of
  maelstrom, and the wind a tempest.  No sleep for any one.
  Men all worn out.  Hardly know how to set a watch, since no
  one fit to go on.  Second mate volunteered to steer and
  watch, and let men snatch a few hours sleep.  Wind abating,
  seas still terrific, but feel them less, as ship is
  steadier.


  29 July.--Another tragedy.  Had single watch tonight, as crew too
  tired to double.  When morning watch came on deck could find no
  one except steersman.  Raised outcry, and all came on deck.
  Thorough search, but no one found.  Are now without second mate,
  and crew in a panic.  Mate and I agreed to go armed henceforth and
  wait for any sign of cause.


  30 July.--Last night.  Rejoiced we are nearing England. Weather
  fine, all sails set.  Retired worn out, slept soundly, awakened by
  mate telling me that both man of watch and steersman missing.
  Only self and mate and two hands left to work ship.

  1 August.--Two days of fog, and not a sail sighted.  Had hoped
  when in the English Channel to be able to signal for help or get
  in somewhere.  Not having power to work sails, have to run before
  wind.  Dare not lower, as could not raise them again.  We seem to
  be drifting to some terrible doom.  Mate now more demoralised than
  either of men.  His stronger nature seems to have worked inwardly
  against himself.  Men are beyond fear, working stolidly and
  patiently, with minds made up to worst.  They are Russian, he
  Roumanian.

  2 August, midnight.--Woke up from few minutes sleep by hearing a
  cry, seemingly outside my port.  Could see nothing in fog.  Rushed
  on deck, and ran against mate. Tells me he heard cry and ran, but
  no sign of man on watch.  One more gone.  Lord, help us!  Mate
  says we must be past Straits of Dover, as in a moment of fog
  lifting he saw North Foreland, just as he heard the man cry out.
  If so we are now off in the North Sea, and only God can guide us
  in the fog, which seems to move with us, and God seems to have
  deserted us.


  3 August.--At midnight I went to relieve the man at the
  wheel and when I got to it found no one there.  The wind

t/dracula.DOS.txt  view on Meta::CPAN

With his usual recuperative energy, he went on, "Come.  If there be no
way open to get in, we must make one.  Time is all in all to us now."

We went round to the back of the house, where there was a kitchen
window.  The Professor took a small surgical saw from his case, and
handing it to me, pointed to the iron bars which guarded the window.
I attacked them at once and had very soon cut through three of them.
Then with a long, thin knife we pushed back the fastening of the
sashes and opened the window.  I helped the Professor in, and followed
him.  There was no one in the kitchen or in the servants' rooms, which
were close at hand.  We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in
the dining room, dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters,
found four servant women lying on the floor.  There was no need to
think them dead, for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of
laudanum in the room left no doubt as to their condition.

Van Helsing and I looked at each other, and as we moved away he said,
"We can attend to them later."  Then we ascended to Lucy's room.  For an
instant or two we paused at the door to listen, but there was no sound
that we could hear.  With white faces and trembling hands, we opened
the door gently, and entered the room.

How shall I describe what we saw?  On the bed lay two women, Lucy and
her mother.  The latter lay farthest in, and she was covered with a
white sheet, the edge of which had been blown back by the drought
through the broken window, showing the drawn, white, face, with a look
of terror fixed upon it.  By her side lay Lucy, with face white and
still more drawn.  The flowers which had been round her neck we found
upon her mother's bosom, and her throat was bare, showing the two
little wounds which we had noticed before, but looking horribly white
and mangled.  Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, his head
almost touching poor Lucy's breast.  Then he gave a quick turn of his
head, as of one who listens, and leaping to his feet, he cried out to
me, "It is not yet too late!  Quick!  Quick!  Bring the brandy!"

I flew downstairs and returned with it, taking care to smell and taste
it, lest it, too, were drugged like the decanter of sherry which I
found on the table.  The maids were still breathing, but more
restlessly, and I fancied that the narcotic was wearing off.  I did
not stay to make sure, but returned to Van Helsing.  He rubbed the
brandy, as on another occasion, on her lips and gums and on her wrists
and the palms of her hands.  He said to me, "I can do this, all that
can be at the present.  You go wake those maids.  Flick them in the
face with a wet towel, and flick them hard.  Make them get heat and
fire and a warm bath.  This poor soul is nearly as cold as that beside
her.  She will need be heated before we can do anything more."

I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking three of the
women.  The fourth was only a young girl, and the drug had evidently
affected her more strongly so I lifted her on the sofa and let her
sleep.

The others were dazed at first, but as remembrance came back to them
they cried and sobbed in a hysterical manner.  I was stern with them,
however, and would not let them talk.  I told them that one life was
bad enough to lose, and if they delayed they would sacrifice Miss
Lucy.  So, sobbing and crying they went about their way, half clad as
they were, and prepared fire and water.  Fortunately, the kitchen and
boiler fires were still alive, and there was no lack of hot water.  We
got a bath and carried Lucy out as she was and placed her in it.
Whilst we were busy chafing her limbs there was a knock at the hall
door.  One of the maids ran off, hurried on some more clothes, and
opened it.  Then she returned and whispered to us that there was a
gentleman who had come with a message from Mr. Holmwood.  I bade her
simply tell him that he must wait, for we could see no one now.  She
went away with the message, and, engrossed with our work, I clean
forgot all about him.

I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly
earnest.  I knew, as he knew, that it was a stand-up fight with death,
and in a pause told him so.  He answered me in a way that I did not
understand, but with the sternest look that his face could wear.

"If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let her
fade away into peace, for I see no light in life over her horizon."  He
went on with his work with, if possible, renewed and more frenzied
vigour.

Presently we both began to be conscious that the heat was beginning to
be of some effect.  Lucy's heart beat a trifle more audibly to the
stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement.  Van Helsing's
face almost beamed, and as we lifted her from the bath and rolled her
in a hot sheet to dry her he said to me, "The first gain is ours!
Check to the King!"

We took Lucy into another room, which had by now been prepared, and
laid her in bed and forced a few drops of brandy down her throat.  I
noticed that Van Helsing tied a soft silk handkerchief round her
throat.  She was still unconscious, and was quite as bad as, if not
worse than, we had ever seen her.

Van Helsing called in one of the women, and told her to stay with her
and not to take her eyes off her till we returned, and then beckoned
me out of the room.

"We must consult as to what is to be done," he said as we descended
the stairs.  In the hall he opened the dining room door, and we passed
in, he closing the door carefully behind him.  The shutters had been
opened, but the blinds were already down, with that obedience to the
etiquette of death which the British woman of the lower classes always
rigidly observes.  The room was, therefore, dimly dark.  It was,
however, light enough for our purposes.  Van Helsing's sternness was
somewhat relieved by a look of perplexity.  He was evidently torturing
his mind about something, so I waited for an instant, and he spoke.

"What are we to do now?  Where are we to turn for help?  We must have
another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor girl's life
won't be worth an hour's purchase.  You are exhausted already.  I am
exhausted too.  I fear to trust those women, even if they would have
courage to submit.  What are we to do for some one who will open his
veins for her?"

"What's the matter with me, anyhow?"

The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought
relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincey Morris.

Van Helsing started angrily at the first sound, but his face softened
and a glad look came into his eyes as I cried out, "Quincey Morris!"
and rushed towards him with outstretched hands.

t/dracula.DOS.txt  view on Meta::CPAN

showed the pale gums drawn back from the teeth, which looked
positively longer and sharper than usual.  When she woke the softness
of her eyes evidently changed the expression, for she looked her own
self, although a dying one.  In the afternoon she asked for Arthur,
and we telegraphed for him.  Quincey went off to meet him at the
station.

When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting
full and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and
gave more colour to the pale cheeks.  When he saw her, Arthur was
simply choking with emotion, and none of us could speak.  In the hours
that had passed, the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that
passed for it, had grown more frequent, so that the pauses when
conversation was possible were shortened.  Arthur's presence, however,
seemed to act as a stimulant.  She rallied a little, and spoke to him
more brightly than she had done since we arrived.  He too pulled
himself together, and spoke as cheerily as he could, so that the best
was made of everything.

It is now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with
her.  I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering
this on Lucy's phonograph.  Until six o'clock they are to try to rest.
I fear that tomorrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too
great.  The poor child cannot rally.  God help us all.




LETTER MINA HARKER TO LUCY WESTENRA

(Unopened by her)

17 September

My dearest Lucy,

"It seems an age since I heard from you, or indeed since I
wrote.  You will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when
you have read all my budget of news.  Well, I got my husband back
all right.  When we arrived at Exeter there was a carriage
waiting for us, and in it, though he had an attack of gout, Mr.
Hawkins.  He took us to his house, where there were rooms for us
all nice and comfortable, and we dined together.  After dinner
Mr. Hawkins said,

"'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity, and
may every blessing attend you both.  I know you both from
children, and have, with love and pride, seen you grow up.
Now I want you to make your home here with me.  I have left
to me neither chick nor child.  All are gone, and in my
will I have left you everything.'  I cried, Lucy dear, as
Jonathan and the old man clasped hands.  Our evening was a
very, very happy one.

"So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and
from both my bedroom and the drawing room I can see the
great elms of the cathedral close, with their great black
stems standing out against the old yellow stone of the cathedral,
and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and cawing and
chattering and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner
of rooks--and humans.  I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging
things and housekeeping.  Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins are busy all
day, for now that Jonathan is a partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to
tell him all about the clients.

"How is your dear mother getting on?  I wish I could run up
to town for a day or two to see you, dear, but I dare not
go yet, with so much on my shoulders, and Jonathan wants
looking after still.  He is beginning to put some flesh on
his bones again, but he was terribly weakened by the long
illness.  Even now he sometimes starts out of his sleep in
a sudden way and awakes all trembling until I can coax him
back to his usual placidity.  However, thank God, these
occasions grow less frequent as the days go on, and they
will in time pass away altogether, I trust.  And now I have
told you my news, let me ask yours.  When are you to be
married, and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and
what are you to wear, and is it to be a public or private
wedding?  Tell me all about it, dear, tell me all about
everything, for there is nothing which interests you which
will not be dear to me.  Jonathan asks me to send his 'respectful
duty', but I do not think that is good enough from the junior
partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker.  And so, as you
love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and
tenses of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead.
Goodbye, my dearest Lucy, and blessings on you.

"Yours,

"Mina Harker"



REPORT FROM PATRICK HENNESSEY, MD, MRCSLK, QCPI, ETC, ETC,
TO JOHN SEWARD, MD

20 September

My dear Sir:

"In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the
conditions of everything left in my charge.  With regard to
patient, Renfield, there is more to say.  He has had another
outbreak, which might have had a dreadful ending, but which, as
it fortunately happened, was unattended with any unhappy results.
This afternoon a carrier's cart with two men made a call at the
empty house whose grounds abut on ours, the house to which, you
will remember, the patient twice ran away.  The men stopped at
our gate to ask the porter their way, as they were strangers.

"I was myself looking out of the study window, having a
smoke after dinner, and saw one of them come up to the
house.  As he passed the window of Renfield's room, the
patient began to rate him from within, and called him all
the foul names he could lay his tongue to.  The man, who
seemed a decent fellow enough, contented himself by telling
him to 'shut up for a foul-mouthed beggar', whereon our man
accused him of robbing him and wanting to murder him and
said that he would hinder him if he were to swing for it.
I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice, so
he contented himself after looking the place over and making up
his mind as to what kind of place he had got to by saying, 'Lor'

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LATER.--After lunch Harker and his wife went back to their own room,
and as I passed a while ago I heard the click of the typewriter.  They
are hard at it.  Mrs. Harker says that they are knitting together in
chronological order every scrap of evidence they have.  Harker has got
the letters between the consignee of the boxes at Whitby and the
carriers in London who took charge of them.  He is now reading his
wife's transcript of my diary.  I wonder what they make out of it.
Here it is . . .

Strange that it never struck me that the very next house might be the
Count's hiding place!  Goodness knows that we had enough clues from
the conduct of the patient Renfield!  The bundle of letters relating
to the purchase of the house were with the transcript.  Oh, if we had
only had them earlier we might have saved poor Lucy!  Stop!  That way
madness lies!  Harker has gone back, and is again collecting material.
He says that by dinner time they will be able to show a whole
connected narrative.  He thinks that in the meantime I should see
Renfield, as hitherto he has been a sort of index to the coming and
going of the Count.  I hardly see this yet, but when I get at the
dates I suppose I shall.  What a good thing that Mrs. Harker put my
cylinders into type!  We never could have found the dates otherwise.

I found Renfield sitting placidly in his room with his hands folded,
smiling benignly.  At the moment he seemed as sane as any one I ever
saw.  I sat down and talked with him on a lot of subjects, all of
which he treated naturally.  He then, of his own accord, spoke of
going home, a subject he has never mentioned to my knowledge during
his sojourn here.  In fact, he spoke quite confidently of getting his
discharge at once.  I believe that, had I not had the chat with Harker
and read the letters and the dates of his outbursts, I should have
been prepared to sign for him after a brief time of observation.  As
it is, I am darkly suspicious.  All those out-breaks were in some way
linked with the proximity of the Count.  What then does this absolute
content mean?  Can it be that his instinct is satisfied as to the
vampire's ultimate triumph?  Stay.  He is himself zoophagous, and in
his wild ravings outside the chapel door of the deserted house he
always spoke of 'master'.  This all seems confirmation of our idea.
However, after a while I came away.  My friend is just a little too
sane at present to make it safe to probe him too deep with questions.
He might begin to think, and then . . . So I came away.  I mistrust
these quiet moods of of his, so I have given the attendant a hint to
look closely after him, and to have a strait waistcoat ready in case
of need.





JOHNATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

29 September, in train to London.--When I received Mr. Billington's
courteous message that he would give me any information in his power I
thought it best to go down to Whitby and make, on the spot, such
inquiries as I wanted.  It was now my object to trace that horrid
cargo of the Count's to its place in London.  Later, we may be able to
deal with it.  Billington junior, a nice lad, met me at the station,
and brought me to his father's house, where they had decided that I
must spend the night.  They are hospitable, with true Yorkshire
hospitality, give a guest everything and leave him to do as he likes.
They all knew that I was busy, and that my stay was short, and Mr.
Billington had ready in his office all the papers concerning the
consignment of boxes.  It gave me almost a turn to see again one of
the letters which I had seen on the Count's table before I knew of his
diabolical plans.  Everything had been carefully thought out, and done
systematically and with precision.  He seemed to have been prepared
for every obstacle which might be placed by accident in the way of his
intentions being carried out.  To use an Americanism, he had 'taken no
chances', and the absolute accuracy with which his instructions were
fulfilled was simply the logical result of his care.  I saw the
invoice, and took note of it.  'Fifty cases of common earth, to be used
for experimental purposes'.  Also the copy of the letter to Carter
Paterson, and their reply.  Of both these I got copies.  This was all
the information Mr. Billington could give me, so I went down to the
port and saw the coastguards, the Customs Officers and the harbour
master, who kindly put me in communication with the men who had
actually received the boxes.  Their tally was exact with the list, and
they had nothing to add to the simple description 'fifty cases of
common earth', except that the boxes were 'main and mortal heavy', and
that shifting them was dry work.  One of them added that it was hard
lines that there wasn't any gentleman 'such like as like yourself,
squire', to show some sort of appreciation of their efforts in a
liquid form.  Another put in a rider that the thirst then generated
was such that even the time which had elapsed had not completely
allayed it.  Needless to add, I took care before leaving to lift,
forever and adequately, this source of reproach.

30 September.--The station master was good enough to give me a line to
his old companion the station master at King's Cross, so that when I
arrived there in the morning I was able to ask him about the arrival
of the boxes.  He, too put me at once in communication with the proper
officials, and I saw that their tally was correct with the original
invoice.  The opportunities of acquiring an abnormal thirst had been
here limited.  A noble use of them had, however, been made, and again
I was compelled to deal with the result in ex post facto manner.

From thence I went to Carter Paterson's central office, where I met
with the utmost courtesy.  They looked up the transaction in their day
book and letter book, and at once telephoned to their King's Cross
office for more details.  By good fortune, the men who did the teaming
were waiting for work, and the official at once sent them over,
sending also by one of them the way-bill and all the papers connected
with the delivery of the boxes at Carfax.  Here again I found the
tally agreeing exactly.  The carriers' men were able to supplement the
paucity of the written words with a few more details.  These were, I
shortly found, connected almost solely with the dusty nature of the
job, and the consequent thirst engendered in the operators.  On my
affording an opportunity, through the medium of the currency of the
realm, of the allaying, at a later period, this beneficial evil, one
of the men remarked,

"That 'ere 'ouse, guv'nor, is the rummiest I ever was in.  Blyme!  But
it ain't been touched sence a hundred years.  There was dust that
thick in the place that you might have slep' on it without 'urtin' of
yer bones.  An' the place was that neglected that yer might 'ave
smelled ole Jerusalem in it.  But the old chapel, that took the cike,
that did!  Me and my mate, we thort we wouldn't never git out quick
enough.  Lor', I wouldn't take less nor a quid a moment to stay there
arter dark."

Having been in the house, I could well believe him, but if he knew

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contempt to me, "You will, of course, understand, Mrs. Harker, that
when a man is so loved and honoured as our host is, everything
regarding him is of interest in our little community.  Dr. Seward is
loved not only by his household and his friends, but even by his
patients, who, being some of them hardly in mental equilibrium, are
apt to distort causes and effects.  Since I myself have been an inmate
of a lunatic asylum, I cannot but notice that the sophistic tendencies
of some of its inmates lean towards the errors of non causa and
ignoratio elenche."

I positively opened my eyes at this new development.  Here was my own
pet lunatic, the most pronounced of his type that I had ever met with,
talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a polished
gentleman.  I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which had
touched some chord in his memory.  If this new phase was spontaneous,
or in any way due to her unconscious influence, she must have some
rare gift or power.

We continued to talk for some time, and seeing that he was seemingly
quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me questioningly as she
began, to lead him to his favourite topic.  I was again astonished,
for he addressed himself to the question with the impartiality of
the completest sanity.  He even took himself as an example when he
mentioned certain things.

"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief.
Indeed, it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted on
my being put under control.  I used to fancy that life was a positive
and perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of live
things, no matter how low in the scale of creation, one might
indefinitely prolong life.  At times I held the belief so strongly
that I actually tried to take human life.  The doctor here will bear
me out that on one occasion I tried to kill him for the purpose of
strengthening my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body of
his life through the medium of his blood, relying of course, upon the
Scriptural phrase, 'For the blood is the life.'  Though, indeed, the
vendor of a certain nostrum has vulgarized the truism to the very
point of contempt.  Isn't that true, doctor?"

I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to either
think or say, it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat up his
spiders and flies not five minutes before.  Looking at my watch, I saw
that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing, so I told Mrs.
Harker that it was time to leave.

She came at once, after saying pleasantly to Mr. Renfield, "Goodbye,
and I hope I may see you often, under auspices pleasanter to
yourself."

To which, to my astonishment, he replied, "Goodbye, my dear.  I pray
God I may never see your sweet face again.  May He bless and keep
you!"

When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys behind
me.  Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since Lucy first
took ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self than he has
been for many a long day.

Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness of a
boy.  He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying, "Ah, friend
John, how goes all?  Well?  So!  I have been busy, for I come here to
stay if need be.  All affairs are settled with me, and I have much to
tell.  Madam Mina is with you?  Yes.  And her so fine husband?  And
Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too?  Good!"

As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of how my
own diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's suggestion,
at which the Professor interrupted me.

"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina!  She has man's brain, a brain that a
man should have were he much gifted, and a woman's heart.  The good
God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made that so good
combination.  Friend John, up to now fortune has made that woman of
help to us, after tonight she must not have to do with this so
terrible affair.  It is not good that she run a risk so great.  We men
are determined, nay, are we not pledged, to destroy this monster?  But
it is no part for a woman.  Even if she be not harmed, her heart may
fail her in so much and so many horrors and hereafter she may suffer,
both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams.  And,
besides, she is young woman and not so long married, there may be
other things to think of some time, if not now.  You tell me she has
wrote all, then she must consult with us, but tomorrow she say goodbye
to this work, and we go alone."

I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we had found in
his absence, that the house which Dracula had bought was the very next
one to my own.  He was amazed, and a great concern seemed to come on
him.

"Oh that we had known it before!" he said, "for then we might have
reached him in time to save poor Lucy.  However, 'the milk that is
spilt cries not out afterwards,' as you say.  We shall not think of
that, but go on our way to the end."  Then he fell into a silence that
lasted till we entered my own gateway.  Before we went to prepare for
dinner he said to Mrs. Harker, "I am told, Madam Mina, by my friend
John that you and your husband have put up in exact order all things
that have been, up to this moment."

"Not up to this moment, Professor," she said impulsively, "but up to
this morning."

"But why not up to now?  We have seen hitherto how good light all the
little things have made.  We have told our secrets, and yet no one who
has told is the worse for it."

Mrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets, she
said, "Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it must go
in.  It is my record of today.  I too have seen the need of putting
down at present everything, however trivial, but there is little in
this except what is personal.  Must it go in?"

The Professor read it over gravely, and handed it back, saying, "It
need not go in if you do not wish it, but I pray that it may.  It can
but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your friends,
more honour you, as well as more esteem and love."  She took it back
with another blush and a bright smile.

And so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are complete
and in order.  The Professor took away one copy to study after dinner,
and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine o'clock.  The rest of
us have already read everything, so when we meet in the study we shall

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A minute later he came in and said, "It was an idiotic thing of me to
do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. Harker, most sincerely, I fear I must
have frightened you terribly.  But the fact is that whilst the
Professor was talking there came a big bat and sat on the window sill.
I have got such a horror of the damned brutes from recent events that
I cannot stand them, and I went out to have a shot, as I have been
doing of late of evenings, whenever I have seen one.  You used to
laugh at me for it then, Art."

"Did you hit it?" asked Dr. Van Helsing.

"I don't know, I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood."  Without
saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began to resume
his statement.

"We must trace each of these boxes, and when we are ready, we must
either capture or kill this monster in his lair, or we must, so to
speak, sterilize the earth, so that no more he can seek safety in it.
Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man between the hours
of noon and sunset, and so engage with him when he is at his most
weak.

"And now for you, Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well.
You are too precious to us to have such risk.  When we part tonight,
you no more must question.  We shall tell you all in good time.  We
are men and are able to bear, but you must be our star and our hope,
and we shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger,
such as we are."

All the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved, but it did not seem to me
good that they should brave danger and, perhaps lessen their safety,
strength being the best safety, through care of me, but their minds
were made up, and though it was a bitter pill for me to swallow, I
could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care of me.

Mr. Morris resumed the discussion, "As there is no time to lose, I
vote we have a look at his house right now.  Time is everything with
him, and swift action on our part may save another victim."

I own that my heart began to fail me when the time for action came so
close, but I did not say anything, for I had a greater fear that if I
appeared as a drag or a hindrance to their work, they might even leave
me out of their counsels altogether.  They have now gone off to
Carfax, with means to get into the house.

Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep, as if a woman can
sleep when those she loves are in danger!  I shall lie down, and
pretend to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he
returns.




DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

1 October, 4 A.M.--Just as we were about to leave the house, an urgent
message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would see him at
once, as he had something of the utmost importance to say to me.  I
told the messenger to say that I would attend to his wishes in the
morning, I was busy just at the moment.

The attendant added, "He seems very importunate, sir.  I have never
seen him so eager.  I don't know but what, if you don't see him soon,
he will have one of his violent fits."  I knew the man would not have
said this without some cause, so I said, "All right, I'll go now," and
I asked the others to wait a few minutes for me, as I had to go and
see my patient.

"Take me with you, friend John," said the Professor.  "His case in your
diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again on our
case.  I should much like to see him, and especial when his mind is
disturbed."

"May I come also?" asked Lord Godalming.

"Me too?" said Quincey Morris.  "May I come?" said Harker.  I nodded,
and we all went down the passage together.

We found him in a state of considerable excitement, but far more
rational in his speech and manner than I had ever seen him.  There was
an unusual understanding of himself, which was unlike anything I had
ever met with in a lunatic, and he took it for granted that his
reasons would prevail with others entirely sane.  We all five went
into the room, but none of the others at first said anything.  His
request was that I would at once release him from the asylum and send
him home.  This he backed up with arguments regarding his complete
recovery, and adduced his own existing sanity.

"I appeal to your friends," he said, "they will, perhaps, not mind
sitting in judgement on my case.  By the way, you have not introduced
me."

I was so much astonished, that the oddness of introducing a madman in
an asylum did not strike me at the moment, and besides, there was a
certain dignity in the man's manner, so much of the habit of equality,
that I at once made the introduction, "Lord Godalming, Professor Van
Helsing, Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas, Mr. Jonathan Harker, Mr.
Renfield."

He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn, "Lord Godalming, I
had the honour of seconding your father at the Windham; I grieve to
know, by your holding the title, that he is no more.  He was a man
loved and honoured by all who knew him, and in his youth was, I have
heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much patronized on Derby
night.  Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your great state.  Its
reception into the Union was a precedent which may have far-reaching
effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics may hold alliance to
the Stars and Stripes.  The power of Treaty may yet prove a vast
engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine takes its true place
as a political fable.  What shall any man say of his pleasure at
meeting Van Helsing?  Sir, I make no apology for dropping all forms of
conventional prefix.  When an individual has revolutionized
therapeutics by his discovery of the continuous evolution of brain
matter, conventional forms are unfitting, since they would seem to
limit him to one of a class.  You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by
heredity, or by the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold
your respective places in the moving world, I take to witness that I
am as sane as at least the majority of men who are in full possession
of their liberties.  And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian
and medico-jurist as well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to

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and locked it, and bringing the dogs with us, began our search of the
house.  We found nothing throughout except dust in extraordinary
proportions, and all untouched save for my own footsteps when I had
made my first visit.  Never once did the dogs exhibit any symptom of
uneasiness, and even when we returned to the chapel they frisked about
as though they had been rabbit hunting in a summer wood.

The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the front.
Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall door from the bunch, and
locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key into his pocket
when he had done.

"So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful.  No harm
has come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have ascertained
how many boxes are missing.  More than all do I rejoice that this, our
first, and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous, step has been
accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam Mina
or troubling her waking or sleeping thoughts with sights and sounds
and smells of horror which she might never forget.  One lesson, too,
we have learned, if it be allowable to argue a particulari, that the
brute beasts which are to the Count's command are yet themselves not
amenable to his spiritual power, for look, these rats that would come
to his call, just as from his castle top he summon the wolves to your
going and to that poor mother's cry, though they come to him, they run
pell-mell from the so little dogs of my friend Arthur.  We have other
matters before us, other dangers, other fears, and that monster . . .
He has not used his power over the brute world for the only or the
last time tonight.  So be it that he has gone elsewhere.  Good!  It
has given us opportunity to cry 'check' in some ways in this chess
game, which we play for the stake of human souls.  And now let us go
home.  The dawn is close at hand, and we have reason to be content
with our first night's work.  It may be ordained that we have many
nights and days to follow, if full of peril, but we must go on, and
from no danger shall we shrink."

The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature who
was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning
sound from Renfield's room.  The poor wretch was doubtless torturing
himself, after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of
pain.

I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so
softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it.  She looks paler than
usual.  I hope the meeting tonight has not upset her.  I am truly
thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even of
our deliberations.  It is too great a strain for a woman to bear.  I
did not think so at first, but I know better now.  Therefore I am glad
that it is settled.  There may be things which would frighten her to
hear, and yet to conceal them from her might be worse than to tell her
if once she suspected that there was any concealment.  Henceforth our
work is to be a sealed book to her, till at least such time as we can
tell her that all is finished, and the earth free from a monster of
the nether world.  I daresay it will be difficult to begin to keep
silence after such confidence as ours, but I must be resolute, and
tomorrow I shall keep dark over tonight's doings, and shall refuse to
speak of anything that has happened.  I rest on the sofa, so as not to
disturb her.


1 October, later.--I suppose it was natural that we should have all
overslept ourselves, for the day was a busy one, and the night had no
rest at all.  Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though I
slept till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call
two or three times before she awoke.  Indeed, she was so sound asleep
that for a few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with
a sort of blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad
dream.  She complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest
till later in the day.  We now know of twenty-one boxes having been
removed, and if it be that several were taken in any of these removals
we may be able to trace them all.  Such will, of course, immensely
simplify our labor, and the sooner the matter is attended to the
better.  I shall look up Thomas Snelling today.



DR. SEWARD'S DIARY

1 October.--It was towards noon when I was awakened by the Professor
walking into my room.  He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and
it is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some of
the brooding weight off his mind.

After going over the adventure of the night he suddenly said, "Your
patient interests me much.  May it be that with you I visit him this
morning?  Or if that you are too occupy, I can go alone if it may be.
It is a new experience to me to find a lunatic who talk philosophy,
and reason so sound."

I had some work to do which pressed, so I told him that if he would go
alone I would be glad, as then I should not have to keep him waiting,
so I called an attendant and gave him the necessary instructions.
Before the Professor left the room I cautioned him against getting any
false impression from my patient.

"But," he answered, "I want him to talk of himself and of his delusion
as to consuming live things.  He said to Madam Mina, as I see in your
diary of yesterday, that he had once had such a belief.  Why do you
smile, friend John?"

"Excuse me," I said, "but the answer is here."  I laid my hand on the
typewritten matter.  "When our sane and learned lunatic made that very
statement of how he used to consume life, his mouth was actually
nauseous with the flies and spiders which he had eaten just before
Mrs. Harker entered the room."

Van Helsing smiled in turn.  "Good!" he said.  "Your memory is true,
friend John.  I should have remembered.  And yet it is this very
obliquity of thought and memory which makes mental disease such a
fascinating study.  Perhaps I may gain more knowledge out of the folly
of this madman than I shall from the teaching of the most wise.  Who
knows?"

I went on with my work, and before long was through that in hand.  It
seemed that the time had been very short indeed, but there was Van
Helsing back in the study.

"Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he stood at the door.

"Not at all," I answered.  "Come in.  My work is finished, and I am
free.  I can go with you now, if you like."