sprang up under Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapor.
This, as we looked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil
from its bursting open, had swung back to its old position. Van
Helsing, Art, and I moved forward to Mrs. Harker, who by this time
had drawn her breath and with it had given a scream so wild, so
ear-piercing, so despairing that it seems to me now that it will
ring in my ears till my dying day. For a few seconds she lay in her
helpless attitude and disarray. Her face was ghastly, with a pallor
which was accentuated by the blood which smeared her lips and
cheeks and chin. From her throat trickled a thin stream of blood.
Her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face her
poor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of
the Count's terrible grip, and from behind them came a low desolate
wail which made the terrible scream seem only the quick expression
of an endless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and drew the
coverlet gently over her body, whilst Art, after looking at her
face for an instant despairingly, ran out of the room.
Van Helsing whispered to me, "Jonathan is in a stupor such as we
know the Vampire can produce. We can do nothing with poor Madam
Mina for a few moments till she recovers herself. I must wake
him!"
He dipped the end of a towel in cold water and with it began to
flick him on the face, his wife all the while holding her face
between her hands and sobbing in a way that was heart breaking to
hear. I raised the blind, and looked out of the window. There was
much moonshine, and as I looked I could see Quincey Morris run
across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great yew tree.
It puzzled me to think why he was doing this. But at the instant I
heard Harker's quick exclamation as he woke to partial
consciousness, and turned to the bed. On his face, as there might
well be, was a look of wild amazement. He seemed dazed for a few
seconds, and then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all
at once, and he started up.seconds, and then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all
at once, and he started up.
His wife was aroused by the quick movement, and turned to him
with her arms stretched out, as though to embrace him. Instantly,
however, she drew them in again, and putting her elbows together,
held her hands before her face,and shuddered till the bed beneath
her shook.
"In God's name what does this mean?" Harker cried out. "Dr.
Seward, Dr. Van Helsing, what is it? What has happened? What is
wrong? Mina, dear what is it? What does that blood mean? My God, my
God! Has it come to this!" And, raising himself to his knees, he
beat his hands wildly together."Good God help us! Help her! Oh,
help her!"
With a quick movement he jumped from bed, and began to pull on
his clothes, all the man in him awake at the need for instant
exertion. "What has happened? Tell me all about it!" he cried
without pausing. "Dr. Van Helsing you love Mina, I know. Oh, do
something to save her. It cannot have gone too far yet. Guard her
while I look for him!"
His wife, through her terror and horror and distress, saw some
sure danger to him. Instantly forgetting her own grief, she seized
hold of him and cried out.
"No! No! Jonathan, you must not leave me. I have suffered enough
tonight, God knows, without the dread of his harming you. You must
stay with me. Stay with these friends who will watch over you!" Her
expression became frantic as she spoke. And, he yielding to her,
she pulled him down sitting on the bedside, and clung to him
fiercely.
Van Helsing and I tried to calm them both. The Professor held up
his golden crucifix, and said with wonderful calmness, "Do not
fear, my dear. We are here, and whilst this is close to you no foul
thing can approach. You are safe for tonight, and we must be calm
and take counsel together."
She shuddered and was silent, holding down her head on her
husband's breast. When she raised it, his white nightrobe was
stained with blood where her lips had touched, and where the thinstained with blood where her lips had touched, and where the thin
open wound in the neck had sent forth drops. The instant she saw it
she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst choking
sobs.
"Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh,
that it should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom
he may have most cause to fear."
To this he spoke out resolutely, "Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame
to me to hear such a word. I would not hear it of you. And I shall
not hear it from you. May God judge me by my deserts, and punish me
with more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or
will of mine anything ever come between us!"
He put out his arms and folded her to his breast. And for a
while she lay there sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head,
with eyes that blinked damply above his quivering nostrils. His
mouth was set as steel.
After a while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and
then he said to me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt
tried his nervous power to the utmost.
"And now, Dr. Seward, tell me all about it. Too well I know the
broad fact. Tell me all that has been."
I told him exactly what had happened and he listened with
seeming impassiveness, but his nostrils twitched and his eyes
blazed as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count had held his
wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth to the
open wound in his breast. It interested me, even at that moment, to
see that whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively
over the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the
ruffled hair. Just as I had finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked
at the door. They entered in obedience to our summons. Van Helsing
looked at me questioningly. I understood him to mean if we were to
take advantage of their coming to divert if possible the thoughts
of the unhappy husband and wife from each other and from
themselves. So on nodding acquiescence to him he asked them what


themselves. So on nodding acquiescence to him he asked them what
they had seen or done. To which Lord Godalming answered.
"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our
rooms. I looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had
gone. He had, however … " He stopped suddenly, looking at the
poor drooping figure on the bed.
Van Helsing said gravely, "Go on, friend Arthur. We want here no
more concealments. Our hope now is in knowing all. Tell
freely!"
So Art went on, "He had been there, and though it could only
have been for a few seconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the
manuscript had been burned, and the blue flames were flickering
amongst the white ashes. The cylinders of your phonograph too were
thrown on the fire, and the wax had helped the flames."
Here I interrupted. "Thank God there is the other copy in the
safe!"
His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he went on. "I ran
downstairs then, but could see no sign of him. I looked into
Renfield's room, but there was no trace there except … " Again
he paused.
"Go on," said Harker hoarsely. So he bowed his head and
moistening his lips with his tongue, added, "except that the poor
fellow is dead."
Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other of us
she said solemnly, "God's will be done!"
I could not but feel that Art was keeping back something. But,
as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing.
Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked,"And you, friend Quincey,
have you any to tell?"
"A little," he answered. "It may be much eventually, but at
present I can't say. I thought it well to know if possible where
the Count would go when he left the house. I did not see him, but I
saw a bat rise from Renfield's window, and flap westward. I
expected to see him in some shape go back to Carfax, but he
evidently sought some other lair. He will not be back tonight, for
the sky is reddening in the east, and the dawn is close. We must
work tomorrow!"
He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space ofwork tomorrow!"
He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space of
perhaps a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy
that I could hear the sound of our hearts beating.
Then Van Helsing said, placing his hand tenderly on Mrs.
Harker's head, "And now, Madam Mina, poor dear, dear, Madam Mina,
tell us exactly what happened. God knows that I do not want that
you be pained, but it is need that we know all. For now more than
ever has all work to be done quick and sharp, and in deadly
earnest. The day is close to us that must end all, if it may be so,
and now is the chance that we may live and learn."
The poor dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her
nerves as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head
lower and lower still on his breast. Then she raised her head
proudly, and held out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his,
and after stooping and kissing it reverently, held it fast. The
other hand was locked in that of her husband, who held his other
arm thrown round her protectingly. After a pause in which she was
evidently ordering her thoughts, she began.
"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me,
but for a long time it did not act. I seemed to become more
wakeful, and myriads of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my
mind. All of them connected with death, and vampires, with blood,
and pain, and trouble." Her husband involuntarily groaned as she
turned to him and said lovingly, "Do not fret, dear. You must be
brave and strong, and help me through the horrible task. If you
only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing
at all, you would understand how much I need your help. Well, I saw
I must try to help the medicine to its work with my will, if it was
to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself to sleep. Sure enough
sleep must soon have come to me, for I remember no more. Jonathan
coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side when next I
remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I hadremember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I had
before noticed. But I forget now if you know of this. You will find
it in my diary which I shall show you later. I felt the same vague
terror which had come to me before and the same sense of some
presence. I turned to wake Jonathan, but found that he slept so
soundly that it seemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping
draught, and not I. I tried, but I could not wake him. This caused
me a great fear, and I looked around terrified. Then indeed, my
heart sank within me. Beside the bed, as if he had stepped out of
the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for
it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in black.
I knew him at once from the description of the others. The waxen
face, the high aquiline nose, on which the light fell in a thin
white line, the parted red lips, with the sharp white teeth showing
between, and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the sunset on
the windows of St. Mary's Church at Witby. I knew, too, the red
scar on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant
my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I
was paralyzed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting
whisper, pointing as he spoke to Jonathan.
"`Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his
brains out before your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too
bewildered to do or say anything. With a mocking smile, he placed
one hand upon my shoulder and, holding me tight, bared my throat
with the other, saying as he did so, `First, a little refreshment
to reward my exertions. You may as well be quiet. It is not the
first time, or the second, that your veins have appeased my
thirst!' I was bewildered, and strangely enough, I did not want to
hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that such
is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pity
me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned


me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned
again. She clasped his hand harder, and looked at him pityingly, as
if he were the injured one, and went on.
"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon. How
long this horrible thing lasted I know not, but it seemed that a
long time must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering
mouth away. I saw it drip with the fresh blood!"The remembrance
seemed for a while to overpower her, and she drooped and would have
sunk down but for her husband's sustaining arm. With a great effort
she recovered herself and went on.
"Then he spoke to me mockingly, `And so you, like the others,
would play your brains against mine. You would help these men to
hunt me and frustrate me in my design! You know now, and they know
in part already, and will know in full before long, what it is to
cross my path. They should have kept their energies for use closer
to home. Whilst they played wits against me, against me who
commanded nations, and intrigued for them, and fought for them,
hundreds of years before they were born, I was countermining them.
And you, their best beloved one, are now to me, flesh of my flesh,
blood of my blood, kin of my kin, my bountiful wine-press for a
while, and shall be later on my companion and my helper. You shall
be avenged in turn, for not one of them but shall minister to your
needs. But as yet you are to be punished for what you have done.
You have aided in thwarting me. Now you shall come to my call. When
my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall cross land or sea to do my
bidding. And to that end this!'
With that he pulled open his shirt, and with his long sharp
nails opened a vein in his breast. When the blood began to spurt
out, he took my hands in one of his, holding them tight, and with
the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound, so that
I must either suffocate or swallow some to the … Oh, my God!
My God! What have I done? What have I done to deserve such a fate,My God! What have I done? What have I done to deserve such a fate,
I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all my days.
God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril.
And in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub
her lips as though to cleanse them from pollution.
As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to
quicken, and everything became more and more clear. Harker was
still and quiet. But over his face, as the awful narrative went on,
came a grey look which deepened and deepened in the morning light,
till when the first red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the
flesh stood darkly out against the whitening hair.
We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the
unhappy pair till we can meet together and arrange about taking
action.
Of this I am sure. The sun rises today on no more miserable
house in all the great round of its daily course.3 October.—As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary.
It is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an
hour and take something to eat, for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward
are agreed that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best
will be, God knows, required today. I must keep writing at every
chance, for I dare not stop to think. All, big and little, must go
down. Perhaps at the end the little things may teach us most. The
teaching, big or little, could not have landed Mina or me anywhere
worse than we are today. However, we must trust and hope. Poor Mina
told me just now, with the tears running down her dear cheeks, that
it is in trouble and trial that our faith is tested. That we must
keep on trusting, and that God will aid us up to the end. The end!
Oh my God! What end? … To work! To work!
When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing
poor Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr.
Seward told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to
the room below they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a
heap. His face was all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the
neck were broken.
Dr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if
he had heard anything. He said that he had been sitting down, he
confessed to half dozing, when he heard loud voices in the room,
and then Renfield had called out loudly several times, "God! God!
God!" After that there was a sound of falling, and when he entered
the room he found him lying on the floor, face down, just as the
doctors had seen him. Van Helsing asked if he had heard "voices" or
"a voice," and he said he could not say. That at first it had
seemed to him as if there were two, but as there was no one in the
room it could have been only one. He could swear to it, if
required, that the word "God" was spoken by the patient.
Dr. Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish
to go into the matter. The question of an inquest had to beto go into the matter. The question of an inquest had to be
considered, and it would never do to put forward the truth, as no
one would believe it. As it was, he thought that on the attendant's
evidence he could give a certificate of death by misadventure in
falling from bed. In case the coroner should demand it, there would
be a formal inquest, necessarily to the same result.
When the question began to be discussed as to what should be our
next step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be
in full confidence. That nothing of any sort, no matter how
painful, should be kept from her. She herself agreed as to its
wisdom, and it was pitiful to see her so brave and yet so
sorrowful, and in such a depth of despair.
"There must be no concealment," she said. "Alas! We have had too
much already. And besides there is nothing in all the world that
can give me more pain than I have already endured, than I suffer
now! Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage
to me!"
Van Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said,
suddenly but quietly, "But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid. Not
for yourself, but for others from yourself, after what has
happened?"
Her face grew set in its lines, but her eyes shone with the
devotion of a martyr as she answered, "Ah no! For my mind is made
up!"
"To what?" he asked gently, whilst we were all very still, for
each in our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she
meant.
Her answer came with direct simplicity, as though she was simply
stating a fact, "Because if I find in myself, and I shall watch
keenly for it, a sign of harm to any that I love, I shall die!"
"You would not kill yourself?" he asked, hoarsely.
"I would. If there were no friend who loved me, who would save
me such a pain, and so desperate an effort!" She looked at him
meaningly as she spoke.
He was sitting down, but now he rose and came close to her and
put his hand on her head as he said solemnly. "My child, there is


put his hand on her head as he said solemnly. "My child, there is
such an one if it were for your good. For myself I could hold it in
my account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, even at
this moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But my child …
"
For a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his
throat. He gulped it down and went on, "There are here some who
would stand between you and death. You must not die. You must not
die by any hand, but least of all your own. Until the other, who
has fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not die. For if
he is still with the quick Undead, your death would make you even
as he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to live,
though death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death
himself, though he come to you in pain or in joy. By the day, or
the night, in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you
that you do not die. Nay, nor think of death, till this great evil
be past."
The poor dear grew white as death, and shook and shivered, as I
have seen a quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide.
We were all silent. We could do nothing. At length she grew more
calm and turning to him said sweetly, but oh so sorrowfully, as she
held out her hand, "I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will
let me live, I shall strive to do so. Till, if it may be in His
good time, this horror may have passed away from me."
She was so good and brave that we all felt that our hearts were
strengthened to work and endure for her, and we began to discuss
what we were to do. I told her that she was to have all the papers
in the safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we might
hereafter use, and was to keep the record as she had done before.
She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do, if "pleased"
could be used in connection with so grim an interest.
As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was
prepared with an exact ordering of our work.prepared with an exact ordering of our work.
"It is perhaps well," he said, "that at our meeting after our
visit to Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth boxes
that lay there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our
purpose, and would doubtless have taken measures in advance to
frustrate such an effort with regard to the others. But now he does
not know our intentions. Nay, more, in all probability, he does not
know that such a power exists to us as can sterilize his lairs, so
that he cannot use them as of old.
"We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as to
their disposition that, when we have examined the house in
Piccadilly, we may track the very last of them. Today then, is
ours, and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow
this morning guards us in its course. Until it sets tonight, that
monster must retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within
the limitations of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin
air nor disappear through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go
through a doorway, he must open the door like a mortal. And so we
have this day to hunt out all his lairs and sterilize them. So we
shall, if we have not yet catch him and destroy him, drive him to
bay in some place where the catching and the destroying shall be,
in time, sure."
Here I started up for I could not contain myself at the thought
that the minutes and seconds so preciously laden with Mina's life
and happiness were flying from us, since whilst we talked action
was impossible. But Van Helsing held up his hand warningly.
"Nay, friend Jonathan," he said, "in this, the quickest way home
is the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all act and act
with desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in all
probable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly.
The Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will
have deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper
that he write on. He will have his book of cheques. There are manythat he write on. He will have his book of cheques. There are many
belongings that he must have somewhere. Why not in this place so
central, so quiet, where he come and go by the front or the back at
all hours, when in the very vast of the traffic there is none to
notice. We shall go there and search that house. And when we learn
what it holds, then we do what our friend Arthur call, in his
phrases of hunt `stop the earths' and so we run down our old fox,
so? Is it not?"
"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the
precious, precious time!"
The Professor did not move, but simply said, "And how are we to
get into that house in Piccadilly?"
"Any way!" I cried. "We shall break in if need be."
"And your police? Where will they be, and what will they
say?"
I was staggered, but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a
good reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could, "Don't wait
more than need be. You know, I am sure, what torture I am in."
"Ah, my child, that I do. And indeed there is no wish of me to
add to your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the
world be at movement. Then will come our time. I have thought and
thought, and it seems to me that the simplest way is the best of
all. Now we wish to get into the house, but we have no key. Is it
not so?"I nodded.
"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house,
and could not still get in. And think there was to you no
conscience of the housebreaker, what would you do?"
"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to
pick the lock for me."
"And your police, they would interfere, would they not?"
"Oh no! Not if they knew the man was properly employed."
"Then," he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, "all that is in
doubt is the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your
policemen as to whether or not that employer has a good conscience
or a bad one. Your police must indeed be zealous men and clever, oh
so clever, in reading the heart, that they trouble themselves in


so clever, in reading the heart, that they trouble themselves in
such matter. No, no, my friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a
hundred empty houses in this your London, or of any city in the
world, and if you do it as such things are rightly done, and at the
time such things are rightly done, no one will interfere. I have
read of a gentleman who owned a so fine house in London, and when
he went for months of summer to Switzerland and lock up his house,
some burglar come and broke window at back and got in. Then he went
and made open the shutters in front and walk out and in through the
door, before the very eyes of the police. Then he have an auction
in that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice. And when
the day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of
that other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he sell
him that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take
all away within a certain time. And your police and other authority
help him all they can. And when that owner come back from his
holiday in Switzerland he find only an empty hole where his house
had been. This was all done en regle, and in our work we shall be
en regle too. We shall not go so early that the policemen who have
then little to think of, shall deem it strange. But we shall go
after ten o'clock, when there are many about, and such things would
be done were we indeed owners of the house."
I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of
Mina's face became relaxed in thought. There was hope in such good
counsel.
Van Helsing went on, "When once within that house we may find
more clues. At any rate some of us can remain there whilst the rest
find the other places where there be more earth boxes, at
Bermondsey and Mile End."
Lord Godalming stood up. "I can be of some use here," he said.
"I shall wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they
will be most convenient."
"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea towill be most convenient."
"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea to
have all ready in case we want to go horse backing, but don't you
think that one of your snappy carriages with its heraldic
adornments in a byway of Walworth or Mile End would attract too
much attention for our purpose? It seems to me that we ought to
take cabs when we go south or east. And even leave them somewhere
near the neighborhood we are going to."
"Friend Quincey is right!" said the Professor. "His head is what
you call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we
go to do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it
may."
Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to
see that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a
time the terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale,
almost ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing
her teeth in somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last,
lest it should give her needless pain, but it made my blood run
cold in my veins to think of what had occurred with poor Lucy when
the Count had sucked her blood. As yet there was no sign of the
teeth growing sharper, but the time as yet was short, and there was
time for fear.
When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts
and of the disposition of our forces, there were new sources of
doubt. It was finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we
should destroy the Count's lair close at hand. In case he should
find it out too soon, we should thus be still ahead of him in our
work of destruction. And his presence in his purely material shape,
and at his weakest, might give us some new clue.
As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor
that, after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in
Piccadilly. That the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst
Lord Godalming and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End
and destroyed them. It was possible, if not likely, the Professorand destroyed them. It was possible, if not likely, the Professor
urged, that the Count might appear in Piccadilly during the day,
and that if so we might be able to cope with him then and there. At
any rate, we might be able to follow him in force. To this plan I
strenuously objected, and so far as my going was concerned, for I
said that I intended to stay and protect Mina. I thought that my
mind was made up on the subject, but Mina would not listen to my
objection. She said that there might be some law matter in which I
could be useful. That amongst the Count's papers might be some clue
which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania. And
that, as it was, all the strength we could muster was required to
cope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to give in, for
Mina's resolution was fixed. She said that it was the last hope for
her that we should all work together.
"As for me," she said, "I have no fear. Things have been as bad
as they can be. And whatever may happen must have in it some
element of hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if He wishes
it, guard me as well alone as with any one present."
So I started up crying out, "Then in God's name let us come at
once, for we are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly
earlier than we think."
"Not so!" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand.
"But why?" I asked.
"Do you forget," he said, with actually a smile, "that last
night he banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?"
Did I forget! Shall I ever … can I ever! Can any of us ever
forget that terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave
countenance, but the pain overmastered her and she put her hands
before her face, and shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had
not intended to recall her frightful experience. He had simply lost
sight of her and her part in the affair in his intellectual
effort.
When it struck him what he said, he was horrified at his
thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her.
"Oh, Madam Mina," he said,"dear, dear, Madam Mina, alas! That I


"Oh, Madam Mina," he said,"dear, dear, Madam Mina, alas! That I
of all who so reverence you should have said anything so forgetful.
These stupid old lips of mine and this stupid old head do not
deserve so, but you will forget it, will you not?" He bent low
beside her as he spoke.
She took his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said
hoarsely, "No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember.
And with it I have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I
take it all together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is
ready, and we must all eat that we may be strong."
Breakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful
and encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most
cheerful of us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said,
"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are
we all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our
enemy's lair. Armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?"
We all assured him.
"Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case quite
safe here until the sunset. And before then we shall return …
if … We shall return! But before we go let me see you armed
against personal attack. I have myself, since you came down,
prepared your chamber by the placing of things of which we know, so
that He may not enter. Now let me guard yourself. On your forehead
I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the name of the Father, the
Son, and …
There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to
hear. As he had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared
it … had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece
of whitehot metal. My poor darling's brain had told her the
significance of the fact as quickly as her nerves received the pain
of it, and the two so overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature
had its voice in that dreadful scream.
But the words to her thought came quickly. The echo of the
scream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came thescream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came the
reaction, and she sank on her knees on the floor in an agony of
abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair over her face, as the leper
of old his mantle, she wailed out.
"Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I
must bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgement
Day."
They all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of
helpless grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a
few minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends
around us turned away their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van
Helsing turned and said gravely. So gravely that I could not help
feeling that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things
outside himself.
"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself
see fit, as He most surely shall, on the Judgement Day, to redress
all wrongs of the earth and of His children that He has placed
thereon. And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you
be there to see, when that red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of
what has been, shall pass away, and leave your forehead as pure as
the heart we know. For so surely as we live, that scar shall pass
away when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon us.
Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His
Will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of His good
pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through
stripes and shame. Through tears and blood. Through doubts and
fear, and all that makes the difference between God and man."
There was hope in his words, and comfort. And they made for
resignation. Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each
took one of the old man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then
without a word we all knelt down together, and all holding hands,
swore to be true to each other. We men pledged ourselves to raise
the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way,the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way,
we loved. And we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task
which lay before us. It was then time to start. So I said farewell
to Mina, a parting which neither of us shall forget to our dying
day, and we set out.
To one thing I have made up my mind. If we find out that Mina
must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that
unknown and terrible land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old
times one vampire meant many. Just as their hideous bodies could
only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting
sergeant for their ghastly ranks.
We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same
as on the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so
prosaic surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any
ground for such fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been
made up, and had there not been terrible memories to spur us on, we
could hardly have proceeded with our task. We found no papers, or
any sign of use in the house. And in the old chapel the great boxes
looked just as we had seen them last.
Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before him, "And
now, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilize this
earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far
distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it
has been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make
it more holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we
sanctify it to God."
As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and
very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth
smelled musty and close, but we did not somehow seem to mind, for
our attention was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his
box a piece of the Scared Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth,
and then shutting down the lid began to screw it home, we aiding
him as he worked.
One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes,


him as he worked.
One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes,
and left them as we had found them to all appearance. But in each
was a portion of the Host. When we closed the door behind us, the
Professor said solemnly, "So much is already done. It may be that
with all the others we can be so successful, then the sunset of
this evening may shine of Madam Mina's forehead all white as ivory
and with no stain!"
As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch
our train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly,
and in the window of my own room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her,
and nodded to tell that our work there was successfully
accomplished. She nodded in reply to show that she understood. The
last I saw, she was waving her hand in farewell. It was with a
heavy heart that we sought the station and just caught the train,
which was steaming in as we reached the platform. I have written
this in the train.
Piccadilly, 12:30 o'clock.—Just before we reached Fenchurch
Street Lord Godalming said to me, "Quincey and I will find a
locksmith. You had better not come with us in case there should be
any difficulty. For under the circumstances it wouldn't seem so bad
for us to break into an empty house. But you are a solicitor and
the Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you should have
known better."
I demurred as to my not sharing any danger even of odium, but he
went on, "Besides, it will attract less attention if there are not
too many of us. My title will make it all right with the locksmith,
and with any policeman that may come along. You had better go with
Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park. Somewhere in
sight of the house, and when you see the door opened and the smith
has gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the lookout
for you, and shall let you in."
"The advice is good!" said Van Helsing, so we said no more.
Godalming and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another.Godalming and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another.
At the corner of Arlington Street our contingent got out and
strolled into the Green Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on
which so much of our hope was centered, looming up grim and silent
in its deserted condition amongst its more lively and
spruce-looking neighbors. We sat down on a bench within good view ,
and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little attention as
possible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we waited
for the coming of the others.
At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in
leisurely fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris. And down from the
box descended a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of
tools. Morris paid the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away.
Together the two ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out
what he wanted done. The workman took off his coat leisurely and
hung it on one of the spikes of the rail, saying something to a
policeman who just then sauntered along. The policeman nodded
acquiescence, and the man kneeling down placed his bag beside him.
After searching through it, he took out a selection of tools which
he proceeded to lay beside him in orderly fashion. Then he stood
up, looked in the keyhole, blew into it, and turning to his
employers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and the man
lifted a good sized bunch of keys. Selecting one of them, he began
to probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling
about for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once
the door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two
others entered the hall. We sat still. My own cigar burnt
furiously, but Van Helsing's went cold altogether. We waited
patiently as we saw the workman come out and bring his bag. Then he
held the door partly open, steadying it with his knees, whilst he
fitted a key to the lock. This he finally handed to Lord Godalming,
who took out his purse and gave him something. The man touched hiswho took out his purse and gave him something. The man touched his
hat, took his bag, put on his coat and departed. Not a soul took
the slightest notice of the whole transaction.
When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and
knocked at the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris,
beside whom stood Lord Godalming lighting a cigar.
"The place smells so vilely," said the latter as we came in. It
did indeed smell vilely. Like the old chapel at Carfax. And with
our previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been
using the place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all
keeping together in case of attack, for we knew we had a strong and
wily enemy to deal with, and as yet we did not know whether the
Count might not be in the house.
In the dining room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found
eight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine which we
sought! Our work was not over, and would never be until we should
have found the missing box.
First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out
across a narrow stone flagged yard at the blank face of a stable,
pointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There were no
windows in it, so we were not afraid of being overlooked. We did
not lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we
had brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as
we had treated those others in the old chapel. It was evident to us
that the Count was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to
search for any of his effects.
After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement
to attic, we came to the conclusion that the dining room contained
any effects which might belong to the Count. And so we proceeded to
minutely examine them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on
the great dining room table.
There were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great
bundle, deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and
Bermondsey, notepaper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All wereBermondsey, notepaper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were
covered up in thin wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There
were also a clothes brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin.
The latter containing dirty water which was reddened as if with
blood. Last of all was a little heap of keys of all sorts and
sizes, probably those belonging to the other houses.
When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming and Quincey
Morris taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the houses
in the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great
bunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest
of us are, with what patience we can, waiting their return, or the
coming of the Count.


3 October.—The time seemed teribly long whilst we were waiting
for the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried
to keep our minds active by using them all the time. I could see
his beneficent purpose, by the side glances which he threw from
time to time at Harker. The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery
that is appalling to see. Last night he was a frank, happy-looking
man, with strong, youthful face, full of energy, and with dark
brown hair. Today he is a drawn, haggard old man, whose white hair
matches well with the hollow burning eyes and griefwritten lines of
his face. His energy is still intact. In fact, he is like a living
flame. This may yet be his salvation, for if all go well, it will
tide him over the despairing period. He will then, in a kind of
way, wake again to the realities of life. Poor fellow, I thought my
own trouble was bad enough, but his … !
The Professor knows this well enough, and is doing his best to
keep his mind active. What he has been saying was, under the
circumstances, of absorbing interest. So well as I can remember,
here it is:
"I have studied, over and over again since they came into my
hands, all the papers relating to this monster, and the more I have
studied, the greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out.
All through there are signs of his advance. Not only of his power,
but of his knowledge of it. As I learned from the researches of my
friend Arminius of Buda-Pesth, he was in life a most wonderful man.
Soldier, statesman, and alchemist. Which latter was the highest
development of the science knowledge of his time. He had a mighty
brain, a learning beyond compare, and a heart that knew no fear and
no remorse. He dared even to attend the Scholomance, and there was
no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay.
"Well, in him the brain powers survived the physical death.
Though it would seem that memory was not all complete. In some
faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child. But he isfaculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child. But he is
growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of
man's stature. He is experimenting, and doing it well. And if it
had not been that we have crossed his path he would be yet, he may
be yet if we fail, the father or furtherer of a new order of
beings, whose road must lead through Death, not Life."
Harker groaned and said, "And this is all arrayed against my
darling! But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to
defeat him!"
"He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power,
slowly but surely. That big child-brain of his is working. Well for
us, it is as yet, a child-brain. For had he dared, at the first, to
attempt certain things he would long ago have been beyond our
power. However, he means to succeed, and a man who has centuries
before him can afford to wait and to go slow. Festina lente may
well be his motto."
"I fail to understand," said Harker wearily. "Oh, do be more
plain to me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain."
The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he
spoke, "Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how, of late,
this monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally. How
he has been making use of the zoophagous patient to effect his
entry into friend John's home. For your Vampire, though in all
afterwards he can come when and how he will, must at the first make
entry only when asked thereto by an inmate. But these are not his
most important experiments. Do we not see how at the first all
these so great boxes were moved by others. He knew not then but
that must be so. But all the time that so great child-brain of his
was growing, and he began to consider whether he might not himself
move the box. So he began to help. And then, when he found that
this be all right, he try to move them all alone. And so he
progress, and he scatter these graves of him. And none but he know
where they are hidden.
"He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So thatwhere they are hidden.
"He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So that
only he use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his
form, they do him equal well, and none may know these are his
hiding place! But, my child, do not despair, this knowledge came to
him just too late! Already all of his lairs but one be sterilize as
for him. And before the sunset this shall be so. Then he have no
place where he can move and hide. I delayed this morning that so we
might be sure. Is there not more at stake for us than for him? Then
why not be more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour and
already, if all be well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way
to us. Today is our day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no
chance. See! There are five of us when those absent ones
return."
Whilst we were speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall
door, the double postman's knock of the telegraph boy. We all moved
out to the hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his
hand to us to keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it. The
boy handed in a dispatch. The Professor closed the door again, and
after looking at the direction, opened it and read aloud.
"Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax
hurriedly and hastened towards the South. He seems to be going the
round and may want to see you: Mina."
There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice, "Now, God
be thanked, we shall soon meet!"
Van Helsing turned to him quickly and said, "God will act in His
own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice as yet. For what
we wish for at the moment may be our own undoings."
"I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out
this brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do
it!"
"Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing. "God does not
purchase souls in this wise, and the Devil, though he may purchase,
does not keep faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your
pain and your devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her


pain and your devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her
pain would be doubled, did she but hear your wild words. Do not
fear any of us, we are all devoted to this cause, and today shall
see the end. The time is coming for action. Today this Vampire is
limit to the powers of man, and till sunset he may not change. It
will take him time to arrive here, see it is twenty minutes past
one, and there are yet some times before he can hither come, be he
never so quick. What we must hope for is that my Lord Arthur and
Quincey arrive first."
About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker's telegram,
there came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall door. It was just an
ordinary knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen,
but it made the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly. We looked
at each other, and together moved out into the hall. We each held
ready to use our various armaments, the spiritual in the left hand,
the mortal in the right. Van Helsing pulled back the latch, and
holding the door half open, stood back, having both hands ready for
action. The gladness of our hearts must have shown upon our faces
when on the step, close to the door, we saw Lord Godalming and
Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed the door behind
them, the former saying, as they moved along the hall.
"It is all right. We found both places. Six boxes in each and we
destroyed them all."
"Destroyed?" asked the Professor.
"For him!" We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said,
"There's nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn't
turn up by five o'clock, we must start off. For it won't do to
leave Mrs. Harker alone after sunset."
"He will be here before long now,' said Van Helsing, who had
been consulting his pocketbook. "Nota bene, in Madam's telegram he
went south from Carfax. That means he went to cross the river, and
he could only do so at slack of tide, which should be something
before one o'clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He isbefore one o'clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He is
as yet only suspicious, and he went from Carfax first to the place
where he would suspect interference least. You must have been at
Bermondsey only a short time before him. That he is not here
already shows that he went to Mile End next. This took him some
time, for he would then have to be carried over the river in some
way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not have long to wait now. We
should have ready some plan of attack, so that we may throw away no
chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your arms! Be ready!"
He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could hear a key
softly inserted in the lock of the hall door.
I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which
a dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and
adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had
always been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I
had been accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit
seemed to be renewed instinctively. With a swift glance around the
room, he at once laid out our plan of attack, and without speaking
a word, with a gesture, placed us each in position. Van Helsing,
Harker, and I were just behind the door, so that when it was opened
the Professor could guard it whilst we two stepped between the
incomer and the door. Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood
just out of sight ready to move in front of the window. We waited
in a suspense that made the seconds pass with nightmare slowness.
The slow, careful steps came along the hall. The Count was
evidently prepared for some surprise, at least he feared it.
Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room. Winning a
way past us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There
was something so pantherlike in the movement, something so unhuman,
that it seemed to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The
first to act was Harker, who with a quick movement, threw himselffirst to act was Harker, who with a quick movement, threw himself
before the door leading into the room in the front of the house. As
the Count saw us, a horrible sort of snarl passed over his face,
showing the eyeteeth long and pointed. But the evil smile as
quickly passed into a cold stare of lion-like disdain. His
expression again changed as, with a single impulse, we all advanced
upon him. It was a pity that we had not some better organized plan
of attack, for even at the moment I wondered what we were to do. I
did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would avail us
anything.
Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had ready his
great Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The blow
was a powerful one. Only the diabolical quickness of the Count's
leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had
shorn through his coat, making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank
notes and a stream of gold fell out. The expression of the Count's
face was so hellish, that for a moment I feared for Harker, though
I saw him throw the terrible knife aloft again for another stroke.
Instinctively I moved forward with a protective impulse, holding
the Crucifix and Wafer in my left hand. I felt a mighty power fly
along my arm, and it was without surprise that I saw the monster
cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously by each one
of us. It would be impossible to describe the expression of hate
and baffled malignity, of anger and hellish rage, which came over
the Count's face. His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the
contrast of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead
showed on the pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next
instant, with a sinuous dive he swept under Harker's arm, ere his
blow could fall, and grasping a handful of the money from the
floor, dashed across the room, threw himself at the window. Amid
the crash and glitter of the falling glass, he tumbled into the
flagged area below. Through the sound of the shivering glass I


flagged area below. Through the sound of the shivering glass I
could hear the "ting" of the gold, as some of the sovereigns fell
on the flagging.
We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He,
rushing up the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the
stable door. There he turned and spoke to us.
"You think to baffle me, you with your pale faces all in a row,
like sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you!
You think you have left me without a place to rest, but I have
more. My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and
time is on my side. Your girls that you all love are mine already.
And through them you and others shall yet be mine, my creatures, to
do my bidding and to be my jackals when I want to feed. Bah!"
With a contemptuous sneer, he passed quickly through the door,
and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he fastened it behind him. A
door beyond opened and shut. The first of us to speak was the
Professor. Realizing the difficulty of following him through the
stable, we moved toward the hall.
"We have learnt something … much! Notwithstanding his brave
words, he fears us. He fears time, he fears want! For if not, why
he hurry so? His very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take
that money? You follow quick. You are hunters of the wild beast,
and understand it so. For me, I make sure that nothing here may be
of use to him, if so that he returns."
As he spoke he put the money remaining in his pocket, took the
title deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the
remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them
with a match.
Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker
had lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had,
however, bolted the stable door, and by the time they had forced it
open there was no sign of him. Van Helsing and I tried to make
inquiry at the back of the house. But the mews was deserted and no
one had seen him depart.inquiry at the back of the house. But the mews was deserted and no
one had seen him depart.
It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off. We
had to recognize that our game was up. With heavy hearts we agreed
with the Professor when he said, "Let us go back to Madam Mina.
Poor, poor dear Madam Mina. All we can do just now is done, and we
can there, at least, protect her. But we need not despair. There is
but one more earth box, and we must try to find it. When that is
done all may yet be well."
I could see that he spoke as bravely as he could to comfort
Harker. The poor fellow was quite broken down, now and again he
gave a low groan which he could not suppress. He was thinking of
his wife.
With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs.
Harker waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did
honor to her bravery and unselfishness. When she saw our faces, her
own became as pale as death. For a second or two her eyes were
closed as if she were in secret prayer.
And then she said cheerfully, "I can never thank you all enough.
Oh, my poor darling!"
As she spoke, she took her husband's grey head in her hands and
kissed it.
"Lay your poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well,
dear! God will protect us if He so will it in His good intent." The
poor fellow groaned. There was no place for words in his sublime
misery.
We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it
cheered us all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat
of food to hungry people, for none of us had eaten anything since
breakfast, or the sense of companionship may have helped us, but
anyhow we were all less miserable, and saw the morrow as not
altogether without hope.
True to our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had
passed. And although she grew snowy white at times when danger had
seemed to threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion
to her was manifested she listened bravely and with calmness. When
we came to the part where Harker had rushed at the Count sowe came to the part where Harker had rushed at the Count so
recklessly, she clung to her husband's arm, and held it tight as
though her clinging could protect him from any harm that might
come. She said nothing, however, till the narration was all
done,and matters had been brought up to the present time.
Then without letting go her husband's hand she stood up amongst
us and spoke. Oh, that I could give any idea of the scene. Of that
sweet, sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant beauty of her
youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead, of which
she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our teeth,
remembering whence and how it came. Her loving kindness against our
grim hate. Her tender faith against all our fears and doubting. And
we, knowing that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness
and purity and faith, was outcast from God.
"Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like music on her
lips it was so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear, and you
all my true, true friends, I want you to bear something in mind
through all this dreadful time. I know that you must fight. That
you must destroy even as you destroyed the false Lucy so that the
true Lucy might live hereafter. But it is not a work of hate. That
poor soul who has wrought all this misery is the saddest case of
all. Just think what will be his joy when he, too, is destroyed in
his worser part that his better part may have spiritual
immortality. You must be pitiful to him, too,though it may not hold
your hands from his destruction."
As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw
together, as though the passion in him were shriveling his being to
its core. Instinctively the clasp on his wife's hand grew closer,
till his knuckles looked white. She did not flinch from the pain
which I knew she must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes
that were more appealing than ever.
As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing
his hand from hers as he spoke.


As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing
his hand from hers as he spoke.
"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy
that earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I
could send his soul forever and ever to burning hell I would do
it!"
"Oh, hush! Oh, hush in the name of the good God. Don't say such
things, Jonathan, my husband, or you will crush me with fear and
horror. Just think, my dear … I have been thinking all this
long, long day of it … that … perhaps … some
day … I, too, may need such pity, and that some other like
you, and with equal cause for anger, may deny it to me! Oh, my
husband! My husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought
had there been another way. But I pray that God may not have
treasured your wild words, except as the heart-broken wail of a
very loving and sorely stricken man. Oh, God, let these poor white
hairs go in evidence of what he has suffered, who all his life has
done no wrong, and on whom so many sorrows have come."
We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and
we wept openly. She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had
prevailed. Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and
putting his arms round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress.
Van Helsing beckoned to us and we stole out of the room, leaving
the two loving hearts alone with their God.
Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any
coming of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest
in peace. She tried to school herself to the belief, and manifestly
for her husband's sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave
struggle, and was, I think and believe, not without its reward. Van
Helsing had placed at hand a bell which either of them was to sound
in case of any emergency. When they had retired, Quincey,
Godalming, and I arranged that we should sit up, dividing the night
between us, and watch over the safety of the poor stricken lady.between us, and watch over the safety of the poor stricken lady.
The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us shall be off to
bed as soon as we can.
Godalming has already turned in, for his is the second watch.
Now that my work is done I, too, shall go to bed.
JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL
3-4 October, close to midnight.—I thought yesterday would never
end. There was over me a yearning for sleep, in some sort of blind
belief that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any
change must now be for the better. Before we parted, we discussed
what our next step was to be, but we could arrive at no result. All
we knew was that one earth box remained, and that the Count alone
knew where it was. If he chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us
for years. And in the meantime, the thought is too horrible, I dare
not think of it even now. This I know, that if ever there was a
woman who was all perfection, that one is my poor wronged darling.
I loved her a thousand times more for her sweet pity of last night,
a pity that made my own hate of the monster seem despicable. Surely
God will not permit the world to be the poorer by the loss of such
a creature. This is hope to me. We are all drifting reefwards now,
and faith is our only anchor. Thank God! Mina is sleeping, and
sleeping without dreams. I fear what her dreams might be like, with
such terrible memories to ground them in. She has not been so calm,
within my seeing, since the sunset. Then, for a while, there came
over her face a repose which was like spring after the blasts of
March. I thought at the time that it was the softness of the red
sunset on her face, but somehow now I think it has a deeper
meaning. I am not sleepy myself, though I am weary … weary to
death. However, I must try to sleep. For there is tomorrow to think
of, and there is no rest for me until …
Later—I must have fallen asleep, for I was awakened by Mina, who
was sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face. I could
see easily, for we did not leave the room in darkness. She hadsee easily, for we did not leave the room in darkness. She had
placed a warning hand over my mouth, and now she whispered in my
ear, "Hush! There is someone in the corridor!" I got up softly, and
crossing the room, gently opened the door.
Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide
awake. He raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me,
"Hush! Go back to bed. It is all right. One of us will be here all
night. We don't mean to take any chances!"
His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told
Mina. She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her
poor, pale face as she put her arms round me and said softly, "Oh,
thank God for good brave men!" With a sigh she sank back again to
sleep. I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try
again.
4 October, morning.—Once again during the night I was wakened by
Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the
coming dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas
flame was like a speck rather than a disc of light.
She said to me hurriedly, "Go, call the Professor. I want to see
him at once."
"Why?" I asked.
"I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and
matured without my knowing it. He must hypnotize me before the
dawn, and then I shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest, the
time is getting close."
I went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and
seeing me, he sprang to his feet.
"Is anything wrong?" he asked, in alarm.
"No," I replied. "But Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at
once."
"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room.
Two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his
dressing gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr.
Seward at the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a
smile, a positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face.
He rubbed his hands as he said, "Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is
indeed a change. See! Friend Jonathan, we have got our dear Madam


indeed a change. See! Friend Jonathan, we have got our dear Madam
Mina, as of old, back to us today!" Then turning to her, he said
cheerfully, "And what am I to do for you? For at this hour you do
not want me for nothing."
"I want you to hypnotize me!" she said. "Do it before the dawn,
for I feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for
the time is short!" Without a word he motioned her to sit up in
bed.
Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of
her, from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in
turn. Mina gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my
own heart beat like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was
at hand. Gradually her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still. Only
by the gentle heaving of her bosom could one know that she was
alive. The Professor made a few more passes and then stopped, and I
could see that his forehead was covered with great beads of
perspiration. Mina opened her eyes, but she did not seem the same
woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes, and her voice had a
sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to impose
silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in. They
came on tiptoe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the foot
of the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The
stillness was broken by Van Helsing's voice speaking in a low level
tone which would not break the current of her thoughts.
"Where are you?" The answer came in a neutral way.
"I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own." For
several minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the
Professor stood staring at her fixedly.
The rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room was growing
lighter. Without taking his eyes from Mina's face, Dr. Van Helsing
motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the day seemed just
upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse
itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke
again.
"Where are you now?"itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke
again.
"Where are you now?"
The answer came dreamily, but with intention. It were as though
she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the same tone
when reading her shorthand notes.
"I do not know. It is all strange to me!"
"What do you see?"
"I can see nothing. It is all dark."
"What do you hear?" I could detect the strain in the Professor's
patient voice.
"The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap.
I can hear them on the outside."
"Then you are on a ship?'"
We all looked at each other, trying to glean something each from
the other. We were afraid to think.
The answer came quick, "Oh, yes!"
"What else do you hear?"
"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is
the creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the
capstan falls into the ratchet."
"What are you doing?"
"I am still, oh so still. It is like death!" The voice faded
away into a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes
closed again.
By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full
light of day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders,
and laid her head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a
sleeping child for a few moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke
and stared in wonder to see us all around her.
"Have I been talking in my sleep?" was all she said. She seemed,
however, to know the situation without telling,though she was eager
to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the conversation,
and she said, "Then there is not a moment to lose. It may not be
yet too late!"
Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the
Professor's calm voice called them back.
"Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing
anchor at the moment in your so great Port of London. Which of them
is it that you seek? God be thanked that we have once again a clue,
though whither it may lead us we know not. We have been blind
somewhat. Blind after the manner of men, since we can look back wesomewhat. Blind after the manner of men, since we can look back we
see what we might have seen looking forward if we had been able to
see what we might have seen! Alas, but that sentence is a puddle,
is it not? We can know now what was in the Count's mind, when he
seize that money, though Jonathan's so fierce knife put him in the
danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear me, ESCAPE! He saw
that with but one earth box left, and a pack of men following like
dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He have take
his last earth box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He think
to escape, but no! We follow him. Tally Ho! As friend Arthur would
say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily. Oh! So wily,
and we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind
in a little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there
are between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not
if he would. Unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only
at full or slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day
to sunset is us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast
which we all need, and which we can eat comfortably since he be not
in the same land with us."
Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked, "But why need we
seek him further, when he is gone away from us?"
He took her hand and patted it as he replied, "Ask me nothing as
yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all questions." He would
say no more, and we separated to dress.
After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her
gravely for a minute and then said sorrowfully, "Because my dear,
dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him even if we
have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!"
She grew paler as she asked faintly, "Why?"
"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and
you are but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded, since once he
put that mark upon your throat."
I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a
faint.


SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING
This to Jonathan Harker.
You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make
our search, if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing,
and we seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her
today. This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing
can find him here.
Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already,
for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away. He have gone
back to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a
great hand of fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this
in some way, and that last earth box was ready to ship somewheres.
For this he took the money. For this he hurry at the last, lest we
catch him before the sun go down. It was his last hope, save that
he might hide in the tomb that he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he
thought like him, keep open to him. But there was not of time. When
that fail he make straight for his last resource, his last
earthwork I might say did I wish double entente. He is clever, oh
so clever! He know that his game here was finish. And so he decide
he go back home. He find ship going by the route he came, and he go
in it.
We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound. When we have
discover that, we come back and tell you all. Then we will comfort
you and poor Madam Mina with new hope. For it will be hope when you
think it over, that all is not lost. This very creature that we
pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as London. And yet
in one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out.
He is finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not
as we do. But we are strong, each in our purpose, and we are all
more strong together. Take heart afresh, dear husband of Madam
Mina. This battle is but begun and in the end we shall win. So sure
as that God sits on high to watch over His children. Therefore be
of much comfort till we return.
VAN HELSING.
JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNALof much comfort till we return.
VAN HELSING.
JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL
4 October.—When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the
phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably. Already the
certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her
comfort. And comfort is strength to her. For my own part, now that
his horrible danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost
impossible to believe in it. Even my own terrible experiences in
Castle Dracula seem like a long forgotten dream. Here in the crisp
autumn air in the bright sunlight.
Alas! How can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye
fell on the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead. Whilst
that lasts, there can be no disbelief. Mina and I fear to be idle,
so we have been over all the diaries again and again. Somehow,
although the reality seem greater each time, the pain and the fear
seem less. There is something of a guiding purpose manifest
throughout, which is comforting. Mina says that perhaps we are the
instruments of ultimate good. It may be! I shall try to think as
she does. We have never spoken to each other yet of the future. It
is better to wait till we see the Professor and the others after
their investigations.
The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day
could run for me again. It is now three o'clock.
MINA HARKER'S JOURNAL
5 October, 5 p. m.—Our meeting for report. Present: Professor
Van Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris,
Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker.
Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day
to discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his
escape.
"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt
sure that he must go by the Danube mouth, or by somewhere in the
Black Sea, since by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that
was before us. Omme Ignotum pro magnifico. And so with heavy hearts
we start to find what ships leave for the Black Sea last night. He
was in sailing ship, since Madam Mina tell of sails being set.was in sailing ship, since Madam Mina tell of sails being set.
These not so important as to go in your list of the shipping in the
Times, and so we go, by suggestion of Lord Godalming, to your
Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that sail, however so small.
There we find that only one Black Sea bound ship go out with the
tide. She is the Czarina Catherine, and she sail from Doolittle's
Wharf for Varna, and thence to other ports and up the Danube. `So!'
said I, `this is the ship whereon is the Count.' So off we go to
Doolittle's Wharf, and there we find a man in an office. From him
we inquire of the goings of the Czarina Catherine. He swear much,
and he red face and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same.
And when Quincey give him something from his pocket which crackle
as he roll it up, and put it in a so small bag which he have hid
deep in his clothing, he still better fellow and humble servant to
us. He come with us, and ask many men who are rough and hot. These
be better fellows too when they have been no more thirsty. They say
much of blood and bloom, and of others which I comprehend not,
though I guess what they mean. But nevertheless they tell us all
things which we want to know.
"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about
five o'clock comes a man so hurry. A tall man, thin and pale, with
high nose and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning.
That he be all in black, except that he have a hat of straw which
suit not him or the time. That he scatter his money in making quick
inquiry as to what ship sails for the Black Sea and for where. Some
took him to the office and then to the ship, where he will not go
aboard but halt at shore end of gangplank, and ask that the captain
come to him. The captain come, when told that he will be pay well,
and though he swear much at the first he agree to term. Then the
thin man go and some one tell him where horse and cart can be
hired. He go there and soon he come again, himself driving cart on


hired. He go there and soon he come again, himself driving cart on
which a great box. This he himself lift down, though it take
several to put it on truck for the ship. He give much talk to
captain as to how and where his box is to be place. But the captain
like it not and swear at him in many tongues, and tell him that if
he like he can come and see where it shall be. But he say `no,'
that he come not yet, for that he have much to do. Whereupon the
captain tell him that he had better be quick, with blood, for that
his ship will leave the place, of blood, before the turn of the
tide, with blood. Then the thin man smile and say that of course he
must go when he think fit, but he will be surprise if he go quite
so soon. The captain swear again, polyglot, and the thin man make
him bow, and thank him, and say that he will so far intrude on his
kindness as to come aboard before the sailing. Final the captain,
more red than ever, and in more tongues, tell him that he doesn't
want no Frenchmen, with bloom upon them and also with blood, in his
ship, with blood on her also. And so, after asking where he might
purchase ship forms, he departed.
"No one knew where he went `or bloomin' well cared' as they
said, for they had something else to think of, well with blood
again. For it soon became apparent to all that the Czarina
Catherine would not sail as was expected. A thin mist began to
creep up from the river, and it grew, and grew. Till soon a dense
fog enveloped the ship and all around her. The captain swore
polyglot, very polyglot, polyglot with bloom and blood, but he
could do nothing. The water rose and rose, and he began to fear
that he would lose the tide altogether. He was in no friendly mood,
when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gangplank again
and asked to see where his box had been stowed. Then the captain
replied that he wished that he and his box, old and with much bloom
and blood, were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, andand blood, were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, and
went down with the mate and saw where it was place, and came up and
stood awhile on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for
none notice him. Indeed they thought not of him, for soon the fog
begin to melt away, and all was clear again. My friends of the
thirst and the language that was of bloom and blood laughed, as
they told how the captain's swears exceeded even his usual
polyglot, and was more than ever full of picturesque, when on
questioning other mariners who were on movement up and down the
river that hour, he found that few of them had seen any of fog at
all, except where it lay round the wharf. However, the ship went
out on the ebb tide, and was doubtless by morning far down the
river mouth. She was then, when they told us, well out to sea.
"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a
time, for our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on
his way to the Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time, go she
never so quick. And when we start to go on land more quick, and we
meet him there. Our best hope is to come on him when in the box
between sunrise and sunset. For then he can make no struggle, and
we may deal with him as we should. There are days for us, in which
we can make ready our plan. We know all about where he go. For we
have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us invoices and all
papers that can be. The box we seek is to be landed in Varna, and
to be given to an agent, one Ristics who will there present his
credentials. And so our merchant friend will have done his part.
When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so, he can telegraph
and have inquiry made at Varna, we say `no,' for what is to be done
is not for police or of the customs. It must be done by us alone
and in our own way."
When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were
certain that the Count had remained on board the ship. He replied,
"We have the best proof of that, your own evidence, when in the"We have the best proof of that, your own evidence, when in the
hypnotic trance this morning."
I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should
pursue the Count, for oh! I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know
that he would surely go if the others went. He answered in growing
passion, at first quietly. As he went on, however, he grew more
angry and more forceful, till in the end we could not but see
wherein was at least some of that personal dominance which made him
so long a master amongst men.
"Yes, it is necessary, necessary, necessary! For your sake in
the first, and then for the sake of humanity. This monster has done
much harm already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and
in the short time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so
small measure in darkness and not knowing. All this have I told
these others. You, my dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the
phonograph of my friend John, or in that of your husband. I have
told them how the measure of leaving his own barren land, barren of
peoples,and coming to a new land where life of man teems till they
are like the multitude of standing corn, was the work of centuries.
Were another of the Undead, like him, to try to do what he has
done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have been, or
that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of
nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked
together in some wonderous way. The very place, where he have been
alive, Undead for all these centuries, is full of strangeness of
the geologic and chemical world. There are deep caverns and
fissures that reach none know whither. There have been volcanoes,
some of whose openings still send out waters of strange properties,
and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless, there is
something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations of
occult forces which work for physical life in strange way, and in
himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and


himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and
warlike time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more
subtle brain, more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital
principle have in strange way found their utmost. And as his body
keep strong and grow and thrive, so his brain grow too. All this
without that diabolic aid which is surely to him. For it have to
yield to the powers that come from, and are, symbolic of good. And
now this is what he is to us. He have infect you, oh forgive me, my
dear, that I must say such, but it is for good of you that I speak.
He infect you in such wise, that even if he do no more, you have
only to live, to live in your own old, sweet way, and so in time,
death, which is of man's common lot and with God's sanction, shall
make you like to him. This must not be! We have sworn together that
it must not. Thus are we ministers of God's own wish. That the
world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to
monsters, whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us
to redeem one soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the
Cross to redeem more. Like them we shall travel towards the
sunrise. And like them, if we fall, we fall in good cause."
He paused and I said, "But will not the Count take his rebuff
wisely? Since he has been driven from England, will he not avoid
it, as a tiger does the village from which he has been hunted?"
"Aha!" he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I
shall adopt him. Your maneater, as they of India call the tiger who
has once tasted blood of the human, care no more for the other
prey, but prowl unceasing till he get him. This that we hunt from
our village is a tiger, too, a maneater, and he never cease to
prowl. Nay, in himself he is not one to retire and stay afar. In
his life, his living life, he go over the Turkey frontier and
attack his enemy on his own ground. He be beaten back, but did he
stay? No! He come again, and again, and again. Look at hisstay? No! He come again, and again, and again. Look at his
persistence and endurance. With the child-brain that was to him he
have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city. What
does he do? He find out the place of all the world most of promise
for him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the
task. He find in patience just how is his strength, and what are
his powers. He study new tongues. He learn new social life, new
environment of old ways, the politics, the law, the finance, the
science, the habit of a new land and a new people who have come to
be since he was. His glimpse that he have had, whet his appetite
only and enkeen his desire. Nay, it help him to grow as to his
brain. For it all prove to him how right he was at the first in his
surmises. He have done this alone, all alone! From a ruin tomb in a
forgotten land. What more may he not do when the greater world of
thought is open to him. He that can smile at death, as we know him.
Who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole
peoples. Oh! If such an one was to come from God, and not the
Devil, what a force for good might he not be in this old world of
ours. But we are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in
silence, and our efforts all in secret. For in this enlightened
age, when men believe not even what they see, the doubting of wise
men would be his greatest strength. It would be at once his sheath
and his armor, and his weapons to destroy us, his enemies, who are
willing to peril even our own souls for the safety of one we love.
For the good of mankind, and for the honor and glory of God."
After a general discussion it was determined that for tonight
nothing be definitely settled. That we should all sleep on the
facts, and try to think out the proper conclusions. Tomorrow, at
breakfast, we are to meet again, and after making our conclusions
known to one another, we shall decide on some definite cause of
action …
I feel a wonderful peace and rest tonight. It is as if someaction …
I feel a wonderful peace and rest tonight. It is as if some
haunting presence were removed from me. Perhaps …
My surmise was not finished, could not be, for I caught sight in
the mirror of the red mark upon my forehead, and I knew that I was
still unclean.
DR. SEWARD'S DIARY
5 October.—We all arose early, and I think that sleep did much
for each and all of us. When we met at early breakfast there was
more general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to
experience again.
It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human
nature. Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in
any way, even by death, and we fly back to first principles of hope
and enjoyment. More than once as we sat around the table, my eyes
opened in wonder whether the whole of the past days had not been a
dream. It was only when I caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs.
Harker's forehead that I was brought back to reality. Even now,
when I am gravely revolving the matter, it is almost impossible to
realize that the cause of all our trouble is still existent. Even
Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of her trouble for whole spells. It
is only now and again, when something recalls it to her mind, that
she thinks of her terrible scar. We are to meet here in my study in
half an hour and decide on our course of action. I see only one
immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct rather than reason. We
shall all have to speak frankly. And yet I fear that in some
mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue is tied. I know that she
forms conclusions of her own, and from all that has been I can
guess how brilliant and how true they must be. But she will not, or
cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing,
and he and I are to talk it over when we are alone. I suppose it is
some of that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning
to work. The Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van
Helsing called "the Vampire's baptism of blood." Well, there may be


Helsing called "the Vampire's baptism of blood." Well, there may be
a poison that distills itself out of good things. In an age when
the existence of ptomaines is a mystery we should not wonder at
anything! One thing I know, that if my instinct be true regarding
poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a terrible difficulty,
an unknown danger, in the work before us. The same power that
compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think
further, for so I should in my thoughts dishonor a noble woman!
Later.—When the Professor came in, we talked over the state of
things. I could see that he had something on his mind, which he
wanted to say, but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject.
After beating about the bush a little, he said,"Friend John, there
is something that you and I must talk of alone, just at the first
at any rate. Later, we may have to take the others into our
confidence."
Then he stopped, so I waited. He went on, "Madam Mina, our poor,
dear Madam Mina is changing."
A cold shiver ran through me to find my worst fears thus
endorsed. Van Helsing continued.
"With the sad experience of Miss Lucy, we must this time be
warned before things go too far. Our task is now in reality more
difficult than ever, and this new trouble makes every hour of the
direst importance. I can see the characteristics of the vampire
coming in her face. It is now but very, very slight. But it is to
be seen if we have eyes to notice without prejudge. Her teeth are
sharper, and at times her eyes are more hard. But these are not
all, there is to her the silence now often, as so it was with Miss
Lucy. She did not speak, even when she wrote that which she wished
to be known later. Now my fear is this. If it be that she can, by
our hypnotic trance, tell what the Count see and hear, is it not
more true that he who have hypnotize her first, and who have drink
of her very blood and make her drink of his, should if he will,
compel her mind to disclose to him that which she know?"compel her mind to disclose to him that which she know?"
I nodded acquiescence. He went on, "Then, what we must do is to
prevent this. We must keep her ignorant of our intent, and so she
cannot tell what she know not. This is a painful task! Oh, so
painful that it heartbreak me to think of it, but it must be. When
today we meet, I must tell her that for reason which we will not to
speak she must not more be of our council, but be simply guarded by
us."
He wiped his forehead, which had broken out in profuse
perspiration at the thought of the pain which he might have to
inflict upon the poor soul already so tortured. I knew that it
would be some sort of comfort to him if I told him that I also had
come to the same conclusion. For at any rate it would take away the
pain of doubt. I told him, and the effect was as I expected.
It is now close to the time of our general gathering. Van
Helsing has gone away to prepare for the meeting, and his painful
part of it. I really believe his purpose is to be able to pray
alone.
Later.—At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief
was experienced by both Van Helsing and myself. Mrs. Harker had
sent a message by her husband to say that she would not join us at
present, as she thought it better that we should be free to discuss
our movements without her presence to embarrass us. The Professor
and I looked at each other for an instant, and somehow we both
seemed relieved. For my own part, I thought that if Mrs. Harker
realized the danger herself, it was much pain as well as much
danger averted. Under the circumstances we agreed, by a questioning
look and answer, with finger on lip, to preserve silence in our
suspicions, until we should have been able to confer alone again.
We went at once into our Plan of Campaign.
Van Helsing roughly put the facts before us first,"The Czarina
Catherine left the Thames yesterday morning. It will take her at
the quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to reachthe quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to reach
Varna. But we can travel overland to the same place in three days.
Now, if we allow for two days less for the ship's voyage, owing to
such weather influences as we know that the Count can bring to
bear, and if we allow a whole day and night for any delays which
may occur to us, then we have a margin of nearly two weeks.
"Thus, in order to be quite safe, we must leave here on 17th at
latest. Then we shall at any rate be in Varna a day before the ship
arrives, and able to make such preparations as may be necessary. Of
course we shall all go armed, armed against evil things, spiritual
as well as physical."
Here Quincey Morris added,"I understand that the Count comes
from a wolf country, and it may be that he shall get there before
us. I propose that we add Winchesters to our armament. I have a
kind of belief in a Winchester when there is any trouble of that
sort around. Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack after us at
Tobolsk? What wouldn't we have given then for a repeater
apiece!"
"Good!" said Van Helsing, "Winchesters it shall be. Quincey's
head is level at times, but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor
be more dishonor to science than wolves be of danger to man. In the
meantime we can do nothing here. And as I think that Varna is not
familiar to any of us, why not go there more soon? It is as long to
wait here as there. Tonight and tomorrow we can get ready, and then
if all be well, we four can set out on our journey."
"We four?" said Harker interrogatively, looking from one to
another of us.
"Of course!" answered the Professor quickly. "You must remain to
take care of your so sweet wife!"
Harker was silent for awhile and then said in a hollow voice,
"Let us talk of that part of it in the morning. I want to consult
with Mina."
I thought that now was the time for Van Helsing to warn him not
to disclose our plan to her, but he took no notice. I looked at him
significantly and coughed. For answer he put his finger to his lips