 CHAPTER 1 M.B. 3 May, Bistritz. Left Munich at 8.35 p.m. on 1 May, arriving at Vienna early next morning, should have arrived at 6.46, but train was an hour late. Budapest seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible. The impression I had was that we were leaving the west and entering the east. The most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish rule. We left in pretty good time, and came after nightfall to Klausenberg. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale. I had for dinner, or rather supper, a chicken done up some way with red pepper, which was very good, but thirsty. M.B. Get recipe for Mina. I asked the waiter, and he said it was called Paprika Händel, and that, as it was a national dish, I should be able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians. I found my smattering of German very useful here. Indeed, I don't know how I should be able to get on without it. Having had some time at my disposal when in London, I had visited the British Museum, and made search among the books and maps in the library regarding Transylvania. It had struck me that some foreknowledge of the country could hardly fail to have some importance in dealing with the noblemen of that country. I find that the district he named is in the extreme east of the country, just on the borders of three states, Transylvania, Moldavia, and Bukovina, in the midst of the Carpathian Mountains, one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe. I was not able to light on any map or work, giving the exact locality of the Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare with our own Ordnance Survey maps. But I found that Bistritz, the post-town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my travels with Mina. In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities. Saxons in the south, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the descendants of the Dacians, Magyars in the west, and Circays in the east and north. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool. If so, my stay may be very interesting. Ma'am, I must ask the Count all about them. I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had all sorts of queer dreams. There was a dog howling all night under my window, which may have had something to do with it. Or it may have been the paprika, for I had to drink up all the water in my carafe, and was still thirsty. Towards morning I slept, and was wakened by the continuous knocking at my door, so I guess I must have been sleeping soundly then. I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour which they said was mamaliga, and eggplant stuffed with forced meat, a very excellent dish, which they call implotata. Ma'am, get the recipe for this also. I had to hurry breakfast, for the train started a little before eight, or rather it ought to have done so, for after rushing to the station at seven thirty I had to sit in the carriage for more than an hour before we began to move. It seems to me that the further east you go, the more unpunctual are the trains. What hope they to be in China? All day long we seemed to dawdle through a country which was full of beauty of every kind. Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on the top of steep hills, such as we see in old missiles. Sometimes we ran by rivers and streams, which seemed from the wide stony margin on each side of them to be subject to great floods. It takes a lot of water, and running strong, to sweep the outside edge of a river clear. At every station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds, and in all sorts of attire. Some of them were just like the peasants at home, or those I saw coming through France and Germany, with short jackets and round hats and homemade trousers, but others were very picturesque. The women looked pretty except when you got near them, but they were very clumsy about the waist. They had all full white sleeves of some kind or other, and most of them had big belts with a lot of strips of something fluttering from them like the dresses in a ballet. But of course there were petticoats under them. The strangest figures we saw were the Slovaks, who were more barbarian than the rest, with their big cowboy hats, great baggy, dirty white trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous heavy leather belts, nearly a foot wide, all studded over with brass nails. They wore high boots with their trousers tucked into them, and had long black hair and heavy black moustaches. They are very picturesque, but do not look pre-possessing. On the stage they would be set down at once as some sort of old oriental band of brigands. They are, however, I am told, very harmless and rather wanting in natural self-assertion. It was on the dark side of twilight when we got to Bistritz, which is a very interesting old place, being practically on the frontier, for the Borg-O-Pass leads from it into Bukovina. It has had a very stormy existence, and it certainly shows marks of it. Fifty years ago a series of great fires took place, which made terrible havoc on five separate occasions. At the very beginning of the seventeenth century it underwent a siege of three weeks and lost thirteen thousand people, the casualties of war proper being assisted by famine and disease. Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Crone Hotel, which I found to my great delight to be thoroughly old-fashioned, for of course I wanted to see all I could of the ways of the country. I was evidently expected, for when I got near the door I faced a cheery-looking elderly woman in the usual peasant dress, white undergarment with a long double apron front and back, of coloured stuff fitting almost too tight for modesty. When I came close she bowed and said, The hair Englishman? Yes, I said, Jonathan Harker. She smiled and gave some message to an elderly man in white shirt sleeves, who had followed her to the door. He went, but immediately returned with a letter. My friend, welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting you. Sleep well tonight. At three tomorrow the diligence will start for Bucavina. A place on it is kept for you. At the Borg-o Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land. Your friend, Dracula. I have made the castle. The grey of the morning has passed, and the sun is high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or hills, I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are mixed. I am not sleepy, and as I am not to be called till I awake, naturally I write till sleep comes. There are many odd things to put down, and lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I left his writs, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they call robber steak, bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in simple style of the London cats' meat. The wine was golden mediash, which produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not disagreeable. I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else. When I got on the coach, the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him talking to the landlady. They were evidently talking of me, for every now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting on the bench outside the door came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them pityingly. I could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for there were many nationalities in the crowd, so I quietly got my polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out. I must say they were not cheering for me, for amongst them were Ordog, Satan, Pocole, Hell, Stragoica, Witch, Vrolok, and Volkoslak, both mean the same thing, one being Slovak and the other Serviant, for something that is either werewolf or vampire. Ma'am, I must ask the count about these superstitions. When we started, the crowd round the indoor, which had by this time swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards me. With some difficulty I got a fellow passenger to tell me what they meant. He would not answer at first, but on learning that I was English he explained that it was a charm or guard against the evil eye. This was not very pleasant for me, just starting for an unknown place to meet an unknown man, but everyone seemed so kind-hearted and so sorrowful and so sympathetic that I could not but be touched. I shall never forget the last glimpse which I had of the innyard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing themselves as they stood round the wide archway, with its background of rich foliage of oleander and orange trees and green tubs clustered in the centre of the yard. Then our driver, whose wide linen drawers covered the whole front of the box seat, Goetzer, they call them, cracked his big whip over his four small horses which ran abreast and we set off on our journey. I soon lost sight and recollection of ghostly fears in the beauty of the scene as we drove along, although had I known the language or rather languages which my fellow passengers were speaking I might not have been able to throw them off so easily. Before us lay a green sloping land full of forests and woods, with here and there steep hills, crowned with clumps of trees or with farmhouses, the blank gable end to the road. There was everywhere a bewildering mass of fruit blossom. Apple, plum, pear, cherry, as we drove by I could see the green grass under the trees spangled with the fallen petals. In and out among these green hills of what they call here the middle land ran the road, losing itself as it swept round the grassy curve or was shut out by the straggling ends of pine woods, which here and there ran down the hillsides like tongues of flame. The road was rugged, but still we seemed to fly over it with a feverish haste. I could not understand, then, what the haste meant, but the driver was evidently bent on losing no time in reaching Bogo Prond. I was told that this road is in summertime excellent, but that it had not yet been put in order after the winter snows. In this respect it is different from the general run of roads in the Carpathians, for it is an old tradition that they are not to be kept in too good order. Of old the hospedars would not repair them lest the Turk should think that they were preparing to bring in foreign troops, and so hasten the war, which was always really at loading point. Beyond the green swelling hills of the middle land, rose mighty slopes of forest up to the lofty steeps of the Carpathians themselves. Right and left of us they towered, with the afternoon sun falling full upon them and bringing out all the glorious colours of beautiful range, deep blue and purple in the shadows of the peaks. Green and brown were grass and rock mingled, and an endless perspective of jagged rock and pointed crags, till these were themselves lost in the distance, where the snowy peaks rose grandly. Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again the white gleam of falling water. One of my companions touched my arm as we swept round the base of a hill and opened up the lofty, snow-covered peak of a mountain, which seemed as we wound on our serpentine way to be right before us. Look, east and sec, God's seat, and he crossed himself reverently. As we wound on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower behind us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us. This was emphasised by the fact that the snowy mountaintop still held the sunset and seemed to glow out with a delicate cool pink. Here and there we passed Czechs and Slovaks, all in picturesque attire, but I noticed that Goitre was painfully prevalent. By the roadside were many crosses, and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves. Here and there was a peasant man or woman kneeling before a shrine who did not even turn round as we approached, but seemed in the self-surrender of devotion to have neither eyes nor ears for the outer world. There were many things new to me, for instance, hay-ricks in the trees, and here and there very beautiful masses of weeping birch, their white stems shining like silver through the delicate green of the leaves. Now and again we passed a lighter wagon, the ordinary peasant's cart, with its long, snake-like vertebra calculated to suit the inequalities of the road. On this were sure to be seated quite a group of homecoming peasants, the Czechs with their white, and the Slovaks with their coloured sheepskins, the latter carrying lance-version their long staves with axe at end. As the evening fell, it began to get very cold, and the growing twilight seemed to merge into one dark mistiness, the gloom of the trees, oak, beech, and pine, though in the valleys which ran deep between the spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the pass, the dark furs stood out here and there against the background of late-lying snow. Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods that seemed in the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of greyness which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a peculiarly weird and solemn effect which carried on the thoughts and grim fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the falling sunset threw into strange relief the ghostlike clouds which amongst the Carpathians seemed to wind ceaselessly through the valleys. Sometimes the hills were so steep that, despite our driver's haste, the horses could only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them as we do at home, but the driver would not hear of it. No, no, he said, you must not walk here. The dogs are too fierce, and then he added with what he evidently meant for grim pleasantry, for he looked round to catch the approving smile of the rest, and you may have enough of such matters before you go to sleep. The only stop he would make was a moment's pause to light his lamps. When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement among the passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as though urging him to further speed. He lashed the horses unmercifully with his long whip, and with wild cries of encouragement urged them on to further exertions. Then through the darkness I could see a sort of patch of gray light ahead of us, as though there were a cleft in the hills. The excitement of the passengers grew greater, the crazy coat rocked on its great leather springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a stormy sea. I had to hold on. The road grew more level, and we appeared to fly along. Then the mountains seemed to come nearer to us on each side, and to frown down upon us. We were entering on the Borgo Pass. One by one several of the passengers offered me gifts, which they pressed upon me with an earnestness which would take no denial. These were certainly of an odd and varied kind, but each was given in simple good faith with a kindly word and a blessing, and that same strange mixture of fear-meaning movements which I had seen outside the hotel at Bistritz, the sign of the cross and the guard against the evil eye. Then as we flew along the driver leaned forward, and on each side the passengers, craning over the edge of the coach, peered eagerly into the darkness. It was evident that something very exciting was either happening or expected, but though I asked each passenger, no one would give me the slightest explanation. This state of excitement kept on for some little time, and last we saw before us the pass opening out on the eastern side. There were dark rolling clouds overhead, and in the air the heavy oppressive sense of thunder. It seemed as though the mountain range had separated two atmospheres, and that now we had got into the thunderous one. I was now myself looking out for the conveyance which was to take me to the Count. Each moment I expected to see the glare of lamps through the blackness, but all was dark. The only light was the flickering rays of our own lamps, in which the steam from our hard-driven horses rose in a white cloud. We could see now the sandy road, lying white before us, but there was on it no sign of a vehicle. The passengers drew back with a sigh of gladness, which seemed to mock my own disappointment. I was already thinking what I had best do, when the driver, looking at his watch, said to the others something which I could hardly hear. It was spoken so quietly and in so lower tone. I thought it was an hour less than the time. Then, turning to me, he spoke in German worse than my own. There is no carriage here. The hero is not expected after all. He will now come on to Bukovina and return tomorrow, or the next day, better the next day. Whilst he was speaking, the horses began to neigh and snort and plunge wildly, so that the driver had to hold them up. Then amongst a chorus of screams from the peasants and a universal crossing of themselves, a collage with four horses drove up behind us, overtook us, and drew up beside the coach. I could see from the flash of our lamps, as the rays fell on them, that the horses were cold black and splendid animals. They were driven by a tall man with a long brown beard and a great black hat which seemed to hide his face from us. I could only see the gleam of a pair of very bright eyes which seemed red in the lamp light as he turned to us. He said to the driver, You are early tonight, my friend. The man stammered in reply, The English hare was in a hurry. To which the stranger replied, That is why I suppose you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot deceive me, my friend. I know too much, and my horses are swift. As he spoke, he smiled, and the lamp light fell on a hard-looking mouth with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth as white as ivory. One of my companions whispered to another the line from Berger's Lenora, Dendi totin ridin schnell. For the dead travel fast. The strange driver evidently heard the words, for he looked up with a gleaming smile. The passenger turned his face away, at the same time putting out his two fingers and crossing himself. Give me the hare's luggage, said the driver, and with exceeding alacrity my bags were handed out and put in the collage. Then I descended from the side of the coach. As the collage was close alongside, the driver helping me with a hand which caught my arm in a grip of steel, his strength must have been prodigious. Without a word he shook his reins, the horses turned, and we swept into the darkness of the pass. As I looked back, I saw the steam from the horses of the coach by the light of the lamps, and projected against it the figures of my late companions crossing themselves. Then the driver cracked his whip and called to the horses, and off they swept on their way to Bukovina. As they sank into the darkness I felt a strange chill and a lonely feeling come over me. But a cloak was thrown over my shoulders and a rug across my knees, and the driver said, in excellent German. The light is chill, mine hair, and my master the count bade me take all care of you. There is a flask of slivovits, the plum brandy of the country, underneath the seat if you should require it. I did not take any, but it was a comfort to know it was there all the same. I felt a little strangely, and not a little frightened. I think had there been any alternative I should have taken it instead of prosecuting that unknown night journey. When a carriage went at a hard pace straight along, then we made a complete turn, and went along another straight road. It seemed to me that we were simply going over and over the same ground again, and so I took note of some salient point, and found that this was so. I would have liked to have asked the driver what this all meant, but I really feared to do so for I thought that, placed as I was, any protest would have had no effect, in case there had been an intention to delay. By and by, however, as I was curious to know how time was passing, I struck a match and by its flame looked at my watch. It was within a few minutes of midnight. This gave me a sort of shock, for I suppose the general supposition about midnight was increased by my recent experiences. I waited with a sick feeling of suspense. Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road, a long agonized wailing as if from fear. The sound was taken up by another dog, and then another and another till born on the wind, which now sighed softly through the pass, a wild howling began, which seemed to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp it through the gloom of the night. At the first howl the horses began to strain and rear, but the driver spoke to them soothingly and they quieted down, but shivered and sweated as though after a runaway from sudden fright. Then, far off in the distance, from the mountains on each side of us, began a louder and sharper howling, that of wolves, which effected both the horses and myself in the same way, for I was minded to jump from the collision run, whilst they reared again and plunged madly, so that the driver had to use all his great strength to keep them from bolting. In a few minutes, however, my own ears got accustomed to the sound, and the horses so far became quiet that the driver was able to descend and to stand before them. He petted and soothed them and whispered something in their ears, as I have heard of horse tamers doing, and with extraordinary effect, for under his caresses they became quite manageable again, though they still trembled. The driver again took his seat and, shaking his reins, started off at a great pace. This time, after going to the far side of the pass, he suddenly turned down a narrow roadway which ran sharply to the right. Soon we were hemmed in with trees, which in places arched right over the roadway, till we passed us through a tunnel, and again great frowning rocks guarded us boldly on either side. Though we were in shelter, we could hear the rising wind, for it moaned and whistled through the rocks, and the branches of the trees crashed together as we swept along. It grew colder and colder still, and fine powdery snow began to fall, so that soon we and all around us were covered with a white blanket. The keen wind still carried the howling of the dogs, though this grew fainter as we went on our way. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side. I grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses shared my fear. The driver, however, was not in the least disturbed. He kept turning his head to left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness. Suddenly, away on our left, I saw a faint flickering blue flame. The driver saw it at the same moment. He had once checked the horses, and jumping to the ground disappeared into the darkness. I did not know what to do, the less as the howling of the wolves grew closer. But while I wondered, the driver suddenly appeared again, and without a word took his seat and we resumed our journey. I think I must have fallen asleep and kept dreaming of the incident, for it seemed to be repeated endlessly, and now, looking back, it is like a sort of awful nightmare. Once the flame appeared so near the road that, even in the darkness around us, I could watch the driver's motions. He went rapidly to where the blue flame arose. It must have been very faint, for it did not seem to illuminate the place around it at all, and gathering a few stones forms them into some device. Once there appeared a strange optical effect. When he stood between me and the flame, he did not obstruct it, for I could see its ghostly flicker all the same. This startled me, but as the effect was only momentary, I took it that my eyes deceived me straining through the darkness. Then for a time there were no blue flames, and we sped onwards through the gloom, with the howling of the wolves around us, as though they were following in a moving circle. At last there came a time when the driver went further afield than he had yet gone, and during his absence the horses began to tremble worse than ever and to snort and scream with fright. I could not see any cause for it, for the howling of the wolves had ceased altogether. But just then the moon, sailing through the black clouds, appeared behind the jagged crest of a beatling pineclad rock, and by its light I saw around us a ring of wolves, with white teeth and lowling red tongues, with long, sinewy limbs and shaggy hair. There were a hundred times more terrible in the grim silence which held them than even when they howled. For myself I felt a sort of paralysis of fear. It is only when a man feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand their true import. All at once the wolves began to howl, as though the moonlight had some peculiar effect on them. The horses jumped about in reared and looked helplessly round with eyes that rolled in a way painful to see, but the living ring of terror encompassed them on every side, and they had perforced to remain within it. I called to the coachman to come, for it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the ring, and to aid his approach I shouted and beat the side of the clash, hoping by the noise to scare the wolves from the side, so as to give him a chance of reaching the trap. How he came there I know not, but I heard his voice raised in a tone of imperious command, and looking towards the sound, saw him standing in the roadway. As he swept his long arms, as though brushing aside some impalpable obstacle, the wolves fell back and back further still. Just then a heavy cloud passed across the face of the moon, so that we were again in darkness. When I could see again, the driver was climbing into the clash, and the wolves disappeared. This was also strange and uncanny that a dreadful fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time seemed interminable as we swept down our way, now in almost complete darkness, for the rolling clouds obscured the moon. We kept on ascending, with occasional periods of quick descent, but in the main always ascending. Suddenly I became conscious of the fact that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the sky. CHAPTER II M.B. Jonathan Harker's Journal V. May I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark ways led from it under great round arches it perhaps seemed bigger than it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight. When the Kalesh stopped the driver jumped down and held out his hand to assist me to a light. Again I could not but notice his prodigious strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vise that could have crushed mine if it had chosen. Then he took my traps and placed them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone was massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and weather. As I stood the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the reins. The horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared down one of the dark openings. I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell or knocker there was no sign. Through these frowning walls and dark window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. The time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor's clerk, Mina would not like that. Solicitor, for just before leaving London I got word that my examination was successful, and I am now a full-blown solicitor. I began to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if I were awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I expected that I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home with the dawn struggling in through the windows, as I had now and again felt in the morning after a day of overwork. But my flesh answered the pinching test, and my eyes were not to be deceived. I was indeed awake, and among the Carpathians. All I could do now was to be patient, and to wait the coming of morning. Just as I had come to this conclusion, I heard a heavy step approaching behind the great door, and saw through the chinks a gleam of a coming light. Then there was the sound of rattling chains, and the clanking of massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise of long disuse, and the great door swung back. Within stood a tall old man, clean-shaven, save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver lamp, in which the flame burned without a chimney or globe of any kind, throwing long, quivering shadows as it flickered in the draft of the open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand, with a courtly gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange intonation. Welcome to my house. Enter freely and of your own free will. He made no motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, that I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and holding out his hand grasped mine with the strength which made me wince, an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed cold as ice. More like the hand of a dead-than-a-living man. Again, he said, welcome to my house. Enter freely. Go safely and leave something of the happiness you bring. The strength of the handshake was so much akin to that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not seen, that for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was speaking. So to make sure, I said interrogatively, count Dracula. He bowed in a courtly way, as he replied, I am Dracula, and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house. Come in. The night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest. As he was speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out took my luggage. He had carried it in before I could forestall him. I protested, but he insisted, Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late and my people are not available. Let me see to your comfort myself. He insisted on carrying my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced to see within a well-lit room, in which a table spread for supper, and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, flamed and flared. The count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and, crossing the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room, lit by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing through this he opened another door, and motioned me to enter. It was a welcome sight, for here was a great bedroom well-lighted and warmed with another log fire, and also added to, but lately, for the top logs were fresh, which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. The count himself left my luggage inside, and withdrew, saying before he closed the door, You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared. The light and warmth and the count's courteous welcome seemed to have dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normal state, I discovered that I was half-famished with hunger. So making a hasty toilet, I went into the other room. I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of the great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave of his hand to the table, and said, I pray you, be seated, and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse me, that I do not join you, but I have dined already, and I do not sup. I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to me. He opened it and read it gravely. Then with a charming smile he handed it to me to read. One passage of it at least gave me a thrill of pleasure. I must regret that an attack of gout from which malady I am a constant sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to come, but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take your instructions in all matters. The count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and I fell too at once on an excellent roast chicken. This with some cheese and a salad and a bottle of old toquet, of which I had two glasses, was my supper. During the time I was eating it the count asked me many questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I had experienced. By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had drawn up a chair by the fire, and begun to smoke a cigar, which he offered me at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I had now an opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked physiognomy. His face was a strong, a very strong aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily around the temples but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth. These protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his ears. For the rest his ears were pale, and the tops extremely pointed. The chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm, though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary power. Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine. But seeing them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather coarse broad with squat fingers, strange to say there were hairs in the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine and cut to a sharp point. As the count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal. The count, evidently noticing it, drew back, and with a grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yet done his protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side of the fireplace. We were both silent for a while, and as I looked towards the window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a strange stillness over everything. But as I listened, I heard as if from down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The count's eyes gleamed, and he said, Listen to them, the children of the night, what music they make. Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him. He added, Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the mind of the hunter. Then he rose and said, But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and tomorrow you shall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon, so sleep well and dream well. With a courteous bow he opened for me himself off the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom. I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt, I fear, I think strange things which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me, seven May. It is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the last twenty-four hours. I slept till late in the day, and awoke of my own accord. When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot by the pot being placed on the hearth. There was a card on the table, on which was written, I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me, D. I set to, and enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell so that I might let the servants know I had finished, but I could not find one. There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house, considering the extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round me. The table-services of gold, and so beautifully wrought, that it must be of immense value. The curtains and the post-tree of the chairs and sofas, and the hangings of my bed, are of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must have been of fabulous value when they were made, for they are centuries old, though in excellent order. I saw something like them in Hampton Court, but they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten. But still in none of the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I could either shave or brush my hair. I have not yet seen a servant anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle, except the howling of wolves. Sometime after I had finished my meal, I do not know whether to call it breakfast or dinner, for it was between five and six o'clock when I had it. I looked for something to read, for I did not like to go about the castle till I had asked the Count's permission. There was absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper, or even writing materials, so I opened another door in the room and found a sort of library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found locked. In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English books, whole shells full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and newspapers. A table in the centre was littered with English magazines and newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date. The books were of the most varied kind, history, geography, politics, political economy, botany, geology, law, all relating to England and English life and customs and manners. There were even such books of reference as The London Directory, The Red and Blue Books, Whitaker's Almanac, The Army and Navy Lists, and it somehow gladdened my heart to see it, the law list. Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened and the count entered. He saluted me in a hearty way and hoped that I had had a good night's rest, then he went on. I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much that will interest you. These companions, and he laid his hand on some of the books, have been good friends to me and for some years past, ever since I had the idea of going to London, have given me many, many hours of pleasure. Through them I have come to know your great England and to know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its death and all that makes it what it is. But alas, as yet I only know your tongue through books. To you, my friend, I look that I know it to speak, but count, I said, you know and speak English thoroughly. He bowed gravely. I thank you, my friend, for your all-too-flattering estimate, but yet I fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel. True, I know the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them. Indeed, I said, you speak excellently. Not so, he answered. Well, I know that. Did I move and speak in your London? None there are who would not know me for a stranger. That is not enough for me. Here, I am noble. I am a boyar. The common people know me and I am master, but a stranger in a strange land, he is no one. Men know him not, and know not is to care not for. I am content if I am like the rest, so that no man stops if he sees me, or pauses in speaking if he hears my words. Aha, a stranger! I have been so long alone that I would be master still, or at least that none other should be master of me. You come to me not alone as an agent of my friend Peter Hawkins of Exeter to tell me all about my new estate in London. You shall, I trust, rest with me here a while, so that by our talking I may learn the English into nation. And I would that you would tell me when I make error even in the smallest in my speaking. I am sorry that I had to be away so long today, but you will, I know, forgive one who has many important affairs in hand. Of course, I said all I could about being willing and asked if I might come into that room when I chose. He answered, Yes, certainly, and added, You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are locked, where, of course, you will not wish to go. There is reason that all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand. I said I was sure of this, and then he went on, We are in Transylvania, and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay, from what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of what strange things there may be. This led to much conversation, as it was evident that he wanted to talk, if only for talking's sake. I asked him many questions regarding things that had already happened to me, or come within my notice. Sometimes he sheared off the subject, or turned the conversation by pretending not to understand, but generally he answered all I asked, most frankly. Then, as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked him of the strange things of the preceding night, as for instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue flames. Then he explained to me that it was commonly believed that, on a certain night of the year, last night, in fact, when all the evil spirits are supposed to have unchecked sway, a blue flame is seen over any place where treasure has been concealed. That treasure has been hidden, he went on, in the region through which you came last night. There can be but little doubt. For it was the ground photo of a centuries by the Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk, why there is hardly a foot of soil in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, patriots, or invaders. In the old days there were stirring times, when the Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out to meet the men and women, the aged and the children too, and waited there coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was has been sheltered in the friendly soil. But how, said I, can it have remained so long undiscovered, when there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look? The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long, sharp canine teeth showed out strangely. He answered, Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool. Those flames only appear on one night, and on that night no man of this land will, if he can help it, stir without his doors. And dear sir, even if he did he would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell me of, who marked the place of the flame, would not know where to look in daylight, even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to find these places again. There you are right, I said, I know no more than the dead were even to look for them. Then we drifted into other matters. Come, he said at last, tell me of London and of the house which you have procured for me. With an apology for my remissness, I went into my own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in order, I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and as I passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared, and the lamp lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also lit in the study or library, and I found the count lying on the sofa, reading, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw's guide. When I came in he cleared the books and papers from the table, and with him I went into the plans and deeds and figures of all sorts. He was interested in everything, and asked me a myriad questions about the place and its surroundings. He clearly had studied beforehand all he could get on the subject of the neighborhood, for he evidently at the end knew very much more than I did. When I remarked this he answered, Well, but my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there I shall be all alone, and my friend, Harker Jonathan, nay pardon me, I fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first. My friend Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid me. He will be an exciter, miles away, probably working at papers of the law with my other friend Peter Hawkins. So, we went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at Perfleet. When I told him the facts and got his signature to the necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post to Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a place. I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and which I inscribe here. At Perfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as seemed to be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the place was for sale. It was surrounded by a high wall of ancient structure built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large number of years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with rust. The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old Cat Fass, as the house is fore-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded by the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it, which make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond or small lake evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear and flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is very large, and of all periods back I should say to medieval times, for one part is of stone immensely thick, with only a few windows high up, heavily barred with iron. It looks like part of a keep, and is close to an old chapel or church. I could not enter it, for I had not the key of the door leading to it from the house, but I have taken with my Kodak views of it from various points. The house had been added to, but in a very straggling way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it covers, which must be very great. There are but few houses at hand, one being a very large house, only recently added to, and formed into a private lunatic asylum. It is not, however, visible from the grounds. When I had finished, he said, I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and to live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable in a day, and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I rejoice also that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian nobles love not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead. I seek not gaiting or mirth, nor the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and sparkling waters, which please the young and gay. I am no longer young in my heart, through weary years of mourning over the dead, is not attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken, the shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken battlements and casements. I love the shade and the shadow, and would be alone with my thoughts when I may. Somehow his words and his look did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast of face made his smile look malignant and saturnine. Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to pull my papers together. He was some little time away, and I began to look at some of the books around me. One was an atlas which I found opened naturally to England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at it I found in certain places little rings marked, and on examining these I noticed that one was near London on the east side, manifestly where his new estate was situated. The other two were Exeter and Whitby on the Yorkshire coast. It was the better part of an hour when the count returned. Aha! he said, still at your books? Good, but you must not work always. Come, I am informed that your supper is ready. He took my arm, and we went into the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready on the table. The count again excused himself, as he had dined on his being away from home. But he sat as on the previous night, and chatted whilst I ate. After supper, I smoked as on the last evening, and the count stayed with me, chatting and asking questions on every conceivable subject, hour after hour. I felt that it was getting very late indeed, but I did not say anything for I felt under obligation to meet my host's wishes in every way. I was not sleepy, as the long sleep yesterday had fortified me, but I could not help experiencing that chill which comes over one at the coming of the dawn, which is like, in its way, the turn of the tide. They say that people who are near death died generally at the changed dawn, or at the turn of the tide. Anyone who has, when tired, and tired as it were to his post, experience this change in the atmosphere can well believe it. All at once we heard the crow of the cock coming up with preternatural shrillness through the clear morning air. Count Dracula, jumping to his feet, said, Why, there is morning again. How remiss I am to let you stay up so long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of England less interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by us. And with a courtly bow he quickly left me. I went into my room and drew the curtains, but there was little to notice. My window opened into the courtyard. All I could see was the warm gray of quickening sky, so I pulled the curtains again and have written of this day, 8 May. I began to fear, as I wrote in this book, that I was getting too diffuse. But now I am glad that I went into detail from the first, for there is something so strange about this place and all in it that I cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it or that I had never come. It may be that this strange night existence is telling on me, but would that that were all. If there were anyone to talk to, I could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to speak with and he. I fear I am myself the only living soul within the place. Let me be prosaic so far as facts can be. It will help me to bear up, and the imagination must not run riot with me. If it does, I am lost. Let me say at once how I stand or seem to. I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving-glass by the window and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard the Count's voice saying to me, Good morning. I started, for it amazed me that I had not seen him since the reflection of the glass covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count's salutation, having answered the Count's salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been mistaken. This time there could be no error, for the man was close to me, and I could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in the mirror. The whole room behind me was displayed, but there was no sign of a man in it except myself. This was startling and coming on top of so many strange things was beginning to increase that vague feeling of uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near. But at the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little and the blood was trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so half round, to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with the sort of demonic fury and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe it was ever there. Take care, he said, take care how you cut yourself. It is more dangerous than you think in this country. Then, seizing the shaving glass, he went on, and this is the wretched thing that has done the mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity away with it, and opening the window with one wrench of his terrible hand he flung out the glass which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave unless, in my watch case, or the bottom of the shaving pot which is fortunately of metal. When I went into the dining room, breakfast was prepared, but I could not find the Count anywhere, so I breakfasted alone. It is strange that, as yet, I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be a very peculiar man. After breakfast I did a little exploring in the castle. I went out on the stairs and found a room looking towards the south. The view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every opportunity of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge of a terrific precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching anything. As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green treetops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges through the forests. But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I explored further. Doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted. In no place saved from the windows in the castle walls is there an available exit. The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of Dracula This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Dracula by Bram Stoker Chapter 3 read by M.B. Jonathan Harker's Journal continued When I found that I was a prisoner, a sort of wild feeling came over me. I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out of every window I could find, but after a little the conviction of my helplessness overpowered all other feelings. When I looked back after a few hours, I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me that I was helpless, I sat down quietly, as quietly as I have ever done anything in my life, and began to think over what was best to be done. I am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of one thing only, am I certain, that it is no use making my ideas known to the count. He knows well that I am imprisoned, and as he has done it himself, and doubtless has his own motives for it, would only deceive me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see, my only plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes open. I am I know either being deceived, like a baby by my own fears, or else I am in desperate straits, and if the latter be so, I need and shall need all my brains to get through. I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great door below shut, and knew that the count had returned. He did not come at once into the library, so I went cautiously to my own room, and found him making the bed. This was odd, but only confirmed what I had thought all along, that there are no servants in the house. When later I saw him through the chink of the hinges of the door, laying the table in the dining room, I was assured of it. For if he does himself all these menial offices, surely it is proof that there is no one else in the castle. It must have been the count himself who was the driver of the coach that brought me here. This is a terrible thought, for if so, what does it mean that he could control the wolves as he did, by only holding up his hand for silence? How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the coach had some terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash? Bless that good, good woman who hung the crucifix round my neck, for it is a comfort and a strength to me whenever I touch it. It is odd that a thing which I have been taught to regard with disfavor and as idolatrous should in a time of loneliness and trouble be of help. Is it that there is something in the essence of the thing itself, or that it is a medium, a tangible help in conveying memories of sympathy and comfort? Sometimes, if it may be, I must examine this matter and try to make up my mind about it. In the meantime I must find out all I can about Count Dracula, as it may help me to understand. Tonight he may talk of himself if I turn the conversation that way. I must be very careful, however, not to awake his suspicion. Midnight. I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few questions on Transylvania history, and he warmed up to the subject wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially of battles, he spoke as if he'd been present at them all. This he afterwards explained by saying that, to a boyar, the pride of his house, and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said, we, and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking. I wish I could have put down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most fascinating. It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country. He grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room, pulling his great white moustache, and grasping anything on which he laid his hands, as though it would crush him by main strength. One thing he said, which I shall put down as nearly as I can, for it tells in its way the story of his race. We, Circays, have a right to be proud, for in our veins flow's the blood of many brave races who fought as the lion fights for lordship. Here, in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Woden gave them, which their berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the sea-boards of Europe, I and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the werewolves themselves had come. Here too, when they came, they found the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame, till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those old witches who, expelled from Scythia, had mated with the devils in the desert. Fools! Fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great as a tiller, whose blood is in these veins? He held up his arms. Is it a wonder that we are a conquering race, that we were proud, that when the Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured his thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that when Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian Fatherland, he found us here when he reached the frontier, that the Honfaglalas was completed there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the Cichellis were claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars, and to us for centuries was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkeyland? I, and more than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for as the Turks say, water sleeps and the enemy is sleepless. Who more gladly than we, throughout the four nations, received the bloody sword, or at its warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the king, when was proclaimed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Kosova, when the flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent? Who was it but one of my own race who has voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed. Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sowed his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them? Was it not this Dracula indeed who inspired that other of his race, who in a later age, again and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkeyland, who, when he was beaten back, came again and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph? They said that he thought only of himself, Bah, what good are peasants without a leader? Where ends the war without a brain and heart conducted? Again, when, after the battle of Mohaks, we threw off the Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders, for our spirit would not brook that we were not free. Ah, young sir, the Sakeys and the Dracula as their heart's blood, their brains and their swords, can boast a record that mushroom grows like the Hapsburgs and the Romanovs can never reach. The war-like days are over. Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonourable peace, and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told. It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed. Mem, this diary seems horribly like the beginning of the Arabian nights. For everything has to break off at Cockro, or like the ghost of Hamlet's father. 12th May Let me begin with facts, bare, meager facts, verified by books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must not confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own observation or my memory of them. Last evening when the count came from his room, he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on the doing of certain kinds of business. I had to spend the day virally over books, and simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of the matters I had been examined in at Lincoln's Inn. There was a certain method in the Count's inquiries, so I shall try to put them down in sequence. The knowledge may somehow or sometime be useful to me. First he asked if the man in England might have two solicitors or more. I told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not be wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as only one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to militate against his interest. He seemed thoroughly to understand, and went on to ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having one man to attend, say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in case local help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking solicitor. I asked to explain more fully, so that I might not by any chance mislead him, so he said, I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr Peter Hawkins, from under the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far from London, buys for me through your good self my place at London. Good! Now here let me say frankly, lest you should think it's strange that I have sought the services of one so far off from London, instead of someone resident there, that my motive was that no local interest might be served save my wish only, and as one of London residents might perhaps have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I went thus afield to seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my interest. Now, suppose I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship goods, say, to Newcastle or Durham or Horwich or Dover, might it not be that it could with more ease be done by consigning to one in those ports? I answered that certainly it would be most easy, but that we solicitors had a system of agency, one for the other, so that local work could be done locally on instruction from any solicitor, so that the client, simply placing himself in the hands of one man, could have his wishes carried out by him without further trouble. But, said he, I could be at liberty to direct myself, is it not so? Of course, I replied, and such is often done by men of business who do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one person. Good, he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making consignments and the forms to be gone through, and all sorts of difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded against. I explained all these things to him to the best of my ability, and he certainly left me under the impression that he would have made a wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not think of or foresee. For a man who was never in the country and who did not evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were wonderful. When he had satisfied himself on these points of which he had spoken, and I had verified as well as I could by the books available, he suddenly stood up and said, Have you written since your first letter to our friend, Mr. Peter Hawkins, or to any other? It was with some bitterness in my heart that I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity of sending letters to anybody. Then right now, my young friend, he said, laying a heavy hand on my shoulder, write to our friend and to any other, and say if it will please you that you shall stay with me until a month from now. Do you wish me to stay so long? I asked, for my heart grew cold at the thought. I desire it much, nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, employer, what you will, engaged that someone should come on his behalf, it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I have not stinted. Is it not so? What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins' interest, not mine, and I had to think of him, not myself. And besides, while Count Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it I could have no choice. The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them, but in his own smooth, restless way. I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of things other than business in your letters. It will doubtless please your friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to getting home to them, is it not so? As he spoke he handed me three sheets of note paper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinnest foreign post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet smile with the sharp canine teeth lying over the red underlip, I understood as well as if he had spoken that I should be more careful what I wrote, for he would be able to read it. So I determined to write only three formal notes now, but to write to Mr Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for to her I could write shorthand which would puzzle the Count if he did see it. When I had written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a book whilst the Count wrote several notes, referring as he wrote them to some books on his table. Then he took up my two and placed them with his own, and put by his writing materials, after which the instant the door had closed behind him I leaned over and looked at the letters, which were faced down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so for, under the circumstances, I felt that I should protect myself in every way I could. One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, number seven the Crescent Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna, the third was to Kutz in Company London, and the fourth to Heron Klopp, Stark and Bilroit, Bankers, Budapest. The second and fourth were unsealed, I was just about to look at them when I saw the door handle move. I sank back in my seat, having just had time to resume my book before the Count, holding still another letter in his hand, entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and stamped them carefully, and then turning to me said, I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private this evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish. At the door he turned and, after a moment's pause, said, Let me advise you, my dear young friend. Nay, let me warn you with all seriousness that should you leave these rooms you will not, by any chance, go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old and has many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be warned, should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be liked to do, then haste to your own chamber or these rooms, for your rest will then be safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then he finished his speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands as if he were washing them. I quite understood. My only doubt was as to whether any dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible net of gloom and mystery which seemed closing around me. Later I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no doubt in question. I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed. I imagine that my rest is thus freer from dreams, and there it shall remain. When he left me I went to my room. After a little while not hearing any sound, I came out and went up the vast stone stair to where I could look out towards the south. There was some sense of freedom in the vast expanse, inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the narrow darkness of the courtyard. Looking out on this I felt that I was indeed in prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air though it were of the night. I am now beginning to feel this nocturnal existence tell on me. It is destroying my nerve. I start at my own shadow, and am full of all sorts of horrible imaginings. God knows that there is ground for my terrible fear in this accursed place. I looked out over the beautiful expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight till it was almost as light as day. In the soft light the distant hills became melted, and the shadows in the valleys and gorges of velvety blackness. The mere beauty seemed to cheer me. There was peace and comfort in every breath I drew. As I leaned from the window my eye was caught by something moving a story below me, and somewhat to my left, where I imagined, from the order of the rooms, that the windows of the Count's own room would look out. The window at which I stood was tall and deep, stone mullioned, and though weatherworn was still complete, but it was evidently many a day since the case had been there. I drew back behind the stonework and looked carefully out. What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window. I did not see the face, but I knew the man by the neck had the movement of his back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands, which I had had some many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over the dreadful abyss, faced down with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow, but I kept looking and it could be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable speed just as a lizard moves along a wall. What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me. I am in fear, in awful fear, and there is no escape for me. I am encompassed with terrors that I dare not think of. Fifteen, May. Once more I have seen the count go out in his lizard fashion. He moved downwards in a side-long way some hundred feet down, and a good deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When his head had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without avail. The distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the room, and, ticking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had expected, and the locks were comparatively new, but I went down the stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I found I could pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chains, but the door was locked and the key was gone. That key must be in the council room. I must watch should this door be unlocked, so that I may get it and escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in them, except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eaten. At last, however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it seemed locked, gave a little under pressure. I tried it harder and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which I might not have again, so I exerted myself, and with my many efforts forced it back so that I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle, further to the right than the rooms I knew, and a story lower down. From the windows I could see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the windows of the end room, looking out both west and south. On the latter side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here, where sling or bow or coverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion of the castle occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more an air of comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to see colors, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over all, and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and moth. My lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the presence of the Count, and, after trying a little to school my nerves, I found a soft quiet who had come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak table wherein old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much thought and many blushes, her ill-spelled love letter, and writing in my diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is the nineteenth century up to date with the vengeance, and yet, unless my senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere modernity cannot kill. Later, the morning of 16 May. God preserve my sanity, for to this I am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not go mad, if indeed I be not mad already. If I be sane then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place, the Count is the least dreadful to me, that to him alone I can look for safety, even though this may be only whilst I can serve his purpose. Great God, merciful God, let me be calm, for out of that way lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which have puzzled me. Up to now I never knew quite what Shakespeare meant when he made Hamlet say, My tablets, quick my tablets, tis meat that I put it down, etc. For now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged, or as if the shock had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me. It frightens me more not when I think of it, for in the future he is a frightful hold upon me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say. When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book and pen in my pocket I felt sleepy. The Count's warning came into my mind, but I took pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was upon me and with it the obscenity which sleep brings as outrider. The soft moonlight soothed and the wide expanse without gave a sense of freedom which refreshed me. I determined not to return tonight to the gloom haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where of old ladies had sat and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars. I drew a great couch out of its place near the corner, so that as I lay I could look at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and uncaring for the dust composed myself for sleep. I suppose I must have fallen asleep. I hope so, but I fear for all that followed was startlingly real, so real that now sitting here in the broad full sunlight of the morning I cannot in the least believe that it was all sleep. I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I came into it. I could see along the floor in the brilliant moonlight my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long accumulation of dust. In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by their dress and manner. I thought at the time that I must be dreaming when I saw them, they threw no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some time, and then whispered together. Three were dark and had high aquiline noses like the count, and great dark piercing eyes that seemed to be almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was fair, as fair as can be, with great masses of golden hair and eyes like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face and to know it in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect at the moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing, and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this down, lest some day it should mean as eyes and cause her pain, but it is the truth. They whispered together, and then they all three laughed, such a silvery musical laugh, as hard as though the sound never could have come through the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand. The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two urged her on. One said, Go on, you are first, and we shall follow. Yours is the right to begin. The other added, He is young and strong. There are kisses for us all. I lay quiet, looking out from under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation. The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement of her breath upon me. Sweet it was, in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter underlying sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood. I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees and bent over me, simply gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck, she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips, and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below the range of my mouth and chin, and seemed to fasten on my throat. Then she paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her tongue as it licked her teeth and lips, and I could feel the hot breath on my neck. Then the skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches nearer, nearer. I could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dense of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed my eyes in languorous ecstasy, and waited, waited with beating heart. But at that instant another sensation swept through me as quick as lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the count, and of his being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily, I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman, and with giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion. But the count never did I imagine such wroth and fury, even to the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was as lurid as if the flames of hell fire blazed behind them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were like hard-drawn wires. The thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm he hurled the woman from him, and then motioned to the others as though he were beating them back. It was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper, seemed to cut through the air and then ring in the room, he said, How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast your eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all, this man belongs to me. Beware how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me. The fair girl, with the laugh of ribald cockatry, turned to answer him, You yourself have never loved, you never love. On this the other women joined, and such a merciless, hard, soulless laughter rang throughout the room that had almost made me faint to hear. It seemed like the pleasure of fiends. Then the count turned after looking at my face attentively and said in a soft whisper, Yes, I too can love. You yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him, you shall kiss him at your will. Now go, go! I must awaken him, for there is work to be done. Are we to have nothing to light? Said one of them with a low laugh as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor, and which moved as though there was some living thing within it. For answer he nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. My ears did not deceive me. There was a gasp and a low wail, as of a half-smothered child. The women closed round while I was aghast with horror. But as I looked they disappeared, and with them the dreadful bag. There was no door near them, and they could not have passed without my noticing. They simply seemed to fade into the rays of the moonlight, and pass out through the window, for I could see outside the dim, shadowy forms for a moment before they entirely faded away. Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious.