 CHAPTER XXI. Dr. Seward's Diary. 3 October. Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well as I can remember, since last I made an entry, not a detail that I can recall must be forgotten. In all calmness I must proceed. When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him it became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries. There seemed none of the unity of purpose between the parts of the body which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I could see that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten against the floor. Indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of blood originated. The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as we turned him over, I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and leg and the whole side of his face are paralysed. How such a thing could have happened puzzled the attendant beyond miniature. He seemed quite bewildered and his brows were gathered in as he said, I can't understand the two things. He could mark his face like that by beating his own head on the floor. I saw a young woman do it once at the Eversfield asylum before anyone could lay hands on her, and I suppose he might have broken his neck by falling out of bed if he got in an awkward link. But for the life of me I can't imagine how the two things occurred. If his back was broke he couldn't beat his head, and if his head was like that before the fall out of bed there would be marks of it. I said to him, go to Dr. Ben Helsing and ask him to kindly come here at once. I want him without an instance delay. The man ran off, and within a few minutes the professor in his dressing gown and slippers appeared. When he saw Renfield on the ground he looked keenly at him a moment and then turned to me. I think he recognized my thought in my eyes, for he said very quietly, manifestly for the ears of the attendant, Ha! a sad accident. He will need very careful watching and much attention. I shall stay with you myself, but I shall first dress myself. If you will remain I shall in a few minutes join you. The patient was now breathing statorously, and it was easy to see that he had suffered some terrible injury. Ben Helsing returned with extraordinary celerity, bearing with him a surgical case. He had evidently been thinking and had his mind made up, for almost before he looked at the patient he whispered to me, send the attendant away. We must be alone with him when he becomes conscious after the operation. I said, I think that you will do now, Simmons. We have done all that we can at present. You had better go to your rounds, and Dr. Ben Helsing will operate. Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual anywhere. The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the patient. The wounds of the face were superficial. The real injury was a depressed fracture of the skull extending right up through the motor area. The professor thought a moment and said, we must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions as far as can be. The rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature of his injury. The whole motor area seems affected. The suffusion of the brain will increase quickly, so we must trapping at once, or it may be too late. As he was speaking, there was a soft tapping at the door. I went over and opened it and found in the corridor without Arthur and Quincy in pajamas and slippers. The former spoke. I heard your man call up Dr. Ben Helsing and tell him of an accident, so I woke Quincy or rather called for him as he was not asleep. Things are moving too quickly and too strangely for sound sleep for any of us these times. I have been thinking that tomorrow night we'll not see things as they have been. We'll have to look back and forward a little more than we have done. May we come in? I nodded and held the door open till they entered. Then I closed it again. When Quincy saw the attitude and state of the patient and noted the horrible pool on the floor, he said softly, My God, what happened to him? Poor, poor devil. I told him briefly and added that we expected he would recover consciousness after the operation for a short time at all events. He went at once and sat down on the edge of the bed, with Godowning beside him. We all watched in patience. We shall wait, said Ben Helsing, just long enough to fix the best spot for trafining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove the blood clot, for it is evident that the hemorrhage is increasing. The minutes during which we waited were passed with fearful slowness. I had a horrible sinking in my heart, and from Ben Helsing's face I gathered that he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to come. I dreaded the words Renfield might speak. I was positively afraid to think. But the conviction of what was coming was on me, as I have read of men who have heard the death watch. The poor man's breathing came in uncertain guests. Each instant he seemed as though he would open his eyes and speak, but then would follow a long stratorious breath, and he would relapse into a more fixed insensibility. Inured as I was to sick beds and death, this suspense grew and grew upon me. I could almost hear the beating of my own heart, and the blood surging through my temples sounded like blows from a hammer. The silence finally became agonizing. I looked at my companions one after another and saw from their flushed faces and damp brows that they were enduring equal torture. There was a nervous suspense over us all, as though overhead some dread bell would peel out powerfully when we should least expect it. At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient was sinking fast. He might die at any moment. I looked up at the professor and caught his eyes fixed on mine. His face was sternly set as he spoke. There is no time to lose. His words may be worth many lives. I have been thinking so as I stood here. It may be there is a soul at stake. We shall operate just above the ear. Without another word he made the operation. For a few moments the breathing continued to be stratorious. Then there came a breath so prolonged that it seemed as though it would tear open his chest. Suddenly his eyes opened and became fixed in a wild, helpless stare. This was continued for a few moments. Then it was softened into a glad surprise, and from his lips came a sigh of relief. He moved convulsively, and as he did so said, I'll be quiet, doctor. Tell them to take off the straight waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face? It feels all swollen and it smarts dreadfully. He tried to turn his head, but even with the effort his eyes seemed to grow glassy again, so I gently put it back. Then Van Helsing said in a quiet, grave voice, Tell us your dream, Mr. Renfield. As he heard the voice his face brightened through its mutilation, and he said, That is Dr. Van Helsing. How good it is of you to be here. Give me some water. My lips are dry, and I shall try to tell you. I dreamed. He stopped and seemed fainting. I called quietly to Quincy. To Brandy. It is in my study quick. He flew and returned with the glass, the decanter of Brandy and a carafe of water. We moistened the parched lips, and the patient quickly revived. It seemed, however, that his poor, injured brain had been working in the interval for when he was quite conscious. He looked at me piercingly with an agonized confusion which I shall never forget, and said, I must not deceive myself. It was no dream, but all a grim reality. Then his eyes roved round the room as they caught sight of two figures sitting patiently on the edge of the bed. He went on, If I were not sure already, I would know from them. For an instant his eyes closed, not with pain or sleep, but voluntarily as though he were bringing all his faculties to bear. When he opened them, he said hurriedly and with more energy than he had yet displayed. Quick, doctor, quick, I'm dying. I feel that I have but a few minutes, and then I must go back to death. Or worse, wet my lips with Brandy again. I have something that I must say before I die, or before my poor, crushed brain dies anyhow. Thank you. It was that night after you left me when I implored you to let me go away. I couldn't speak then, for I felt my tongue was tied. But I was the same then, except in that way, as I am now. I was in an agony of despair for a long time after you left me. It seemed ours. Then there came a sudden peace to me. It seemed to become cool again, and I realized where I was. I heard the dogs barked behind our house, but not where he was. As he spoke, Van Helsing's eyes never blinked, but his hand came out and met mine and gripped it hard. He did not, however, betray himself. He nodded slightly and said, Go on. In a low voice. Renfield proceeded. He came up to the window in the mist, as I had seen him often before. But he was solid then, not a ghost. And his eyes were fierce like a man's when angry. He was laughing with his red mouth. The sharp white teeth glinted at the moonlight when he turned to look back over the belt of trees, to where the dogs were barking. I wouldn't ask him to come in at first, though I knew he wanted to, just as he had wanted all along. Then he began promising me things, not in words, but by doing them. He was interrupted by a word from the professor. How? By making them happen, just as he used to send in the flies when the sun was shining. Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their wings, and big moths in the night with skull and crossbones on their backs. Then Helsing nodded to him, as he whispered to me unconsciously, The acherontia atropus of the sphinges, what you call the death's head moth. The patient went on without stopping. Then he began to whisper, Grats, grats, grats, hundreds, thousands, millions of them, and every one a life, and dogs to eat them, and cats too, all lives, all red blood, with years of life in it, and not merely buzzing flies. I laughed at him for I wanted to see what he could do. Then the dogs howled away beyond the dark trees in his house. He beckoned me to the window. I got up and looked out, and he raised his hands, and seemed to call out, without using any words. A dark mass spread over the grass, coming on like the shape of a flame of fire, and then he moved the mist to the right and left. And I could see that there were thousands of rats, with their eyes blazing red, like his, only smaller. He held up his hand, and they all stopped, and I thought he seemed to be saying, All these lives will I give you, I and many more and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down and worship me. And then a red cloud, like the color of blood, seemed to close over my eyes, and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening the sash and saying to him, Come in, Lord and Master. The rats were all gone, but he slid into the room through the sash, though it was only open an inch wide, just as the moon herself has often come in through the tiniest crack, and has stood before me in all her size and splendor. His voice was weaker, so I moistened his lips with the brandy again, and he continued, but it seemed as though his memory had gone on working in the interval for his story, was further advanced. I was about to call him back to the point, but Van Helsing whispered to me, Let him go on, do not interrupt him, he cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed at all if once he lost the thread of his thought. He proceeded. All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send me anything, not even a blowfly, and when the moon got up I was pretty angry with him. When he did slide in through the window, though it was shut and did not even knock, I got mad with him. He sneered at me, and his white face looked out to the mist with his red eyes gleaming, and he went on as though he owned the whole place, and I was no one. He did not even smell the same as he went by me. I could not hold him. I thought that somehow Mrs. Harker had come into the room. The two men sitting on the bed stood up and came over, standing behind him, so that he could not see them, but where they could hear better. They were both silent, but the professor started and quivered. His face, however, grew grimmer and sterner still. Renfield went on without noticing. When Mrs. Harker came in to see me this afternoon, she wasn't the same. It was like the tea after the teapot has been watered. Here we all moved, but no one said a word. He went on. I didn't know that she was here till she spoke, and she didn't look the same. I don't care for the pale people. I like them with lots of blood in them, and hers all seem to have run out. I didn't think of it at the time, but when she went away I began to think, and it made me mad to know that he had been taking the life out of her. I could feel that the rest quivered as I did, but we remained otherwise still. So when he came to-night I was ready for him. I saw the mist stealing in, and I grabbed it tight. I had heard that madmen have unnatural strength, and as I knew I was a madman, at times many how, I'd resolve to use my power. I, and he felt it too, for he had to come out of the mist to struggle with me. I held tight, and I thought I was going to win, for I didn't mean him to take any more of her life till I saw his eyes. They burned into me, and my strength became like water. He slipped through it, and when I tried to cling to him, he raised me up and flung me down. There was a red cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemed to steal away under the door. His voice was becoming fainter, and his breath more stratorious. Van Helsing stood up instinctively. We know the worst now, he said. He is here, and we know his purpose. It may not be too late. Let us be armed, the same as we were the other night, but lose no time. There is not an instant to spare. There was no need to put our fear, nay, our conviction into words. We shared them in common. We all hurried and took from our rooms the same things that we had when we entered the Count's house. The Professor had his ready, and as we met in the corridor, he pointed to them significantly as he said, They may never leave me, and they shall not till this unhappy business is over. Be wise also, my friends, it is no common enemy that we deal with alas, alas, that dear Madame Mina should suffer. He stopped, his voice was breaking, and I do not know if rage or terror predominated in my own heart. Outside the harker's door we paused. Art and Quincy held back, and the latter said, Should we disturb her? We must, said Van Helsing grimly. If the door be locked, I shall break it in. May it not frighten her terribly. It is unusual to break into a lady's room. Van Helsing said solemnly, You are always right, but this is life and death. All chambers are alike to the doctor. And even were they not, they are all as one to me tonight. Friend John, when I turned the handle, If the door does not open, do you put your shoulder down and shove? And you too, my friends, now! He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield. We threw ourselves against it. With a crash it burst open, and we almost fell headlong into the room. The professor did actually fall, and I saw across him as he gathered himself up from hands and knees. What I saw appalled me. I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of my neck, and my heart seemed to stand still. The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind, the room was light enough to see. On the bed, beside the window, lay Jonathan Harker, his face flushed and breathing heavily as though in a stupor. Kneeling on the near edge of the bed, facing outward, was the white clad figure of his wife. By her stood a tall, thin man, clad in black. His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw, we all recognized the count in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his left hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension. His right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream crickled down the man's bare chest, which was shown by his torn open dress. The attitude of the two had a terrible resemblance to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink. As we burst into the room, the count turned his face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion. The great nostrils of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge, and the white sharp teeth behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth clamped together like those of a wild beast, with a wrench which threw his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned and sprang at us. But by this time the professor had gained his feet and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the sacred wafer. The count suddenly stopped, just as poor Lucy had done outside the tomb, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we, lifting our crucifixes, advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as a great black cloud sailed across the sky, and when the gaslight sprang up under Quincy'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, then Helsing Hart 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 gasly, 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 Mademena, 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 behind 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 Quincy Morris run across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great yew-tree. It puzzled me to think why he was doing this. But at the instant I heard Harker's quick exclamation as he woke to partial consciousness and turned to the bed. On his face, as there might well be, was a look of wild amazement. He seemed dazed for a few seconds and then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he started up. His wife was aroused by the quick movement and turned to him with her arms stretched out as though to embrace him. Instantly, however, she drew them in again and putting her elbows together, held her hands before her face, and shuddered till the bed beneath her shook. In God's name, what does this mean? Harker cried out. Dr. Seward, Dr. Van Helsing, what is it? What has happened? What is wrong? Mina, dear, what is it? What does that blood mean? My God! My God has 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 and 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 night-robe was stained with blood where her lips had touched and where the thin open wound in the neck had sent forth drops. The instant she saw it, she drew back with a low wail and whispered amidst choking sobs, Unclean, unclean, I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that it should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy and whom he may have most caused 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 desserts 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 held 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 wouts 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, Quincy and Gadalmin knocked at the door. They entered in obedience to our summons. Van Helsing looked at me questioningly. I understood him to mean if we were to take advantage of their coming to divert, if possible, the thoughts of the unhappy husband and wife from each other and from themselves. So, on nodding acquiescence to him, he asked them what they had seen or done. To which Lord Gadalmin 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 horsely. So he bowed his head, and moistened 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 Quincy, 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, 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 sounds 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 worked 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, protecting me. 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 have become more waitful, 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. Then my 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 this 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 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 wait me, for he lay by my side when next I remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I had noticed before, but I forgot now if you know of this. You will find it in the video which I shall show you later. I felt the same vague terror which had come to me before in the same sense of some presence. I turned to wait, Jonathan, but found that he slept so soundly that it seemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping draft and not I. I tried, but I could not wake him. He 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 at all 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 the thin white line, the parted red lips with the sharp white teeth showing between and the red eyes that I had seen to see in the sunset on the windows of St. Mary's Church at Whitby. I knew too the red scar on his forehead, where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant my heart stood still and I would have screamed out only that I was paralyzed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen cutting whisper, pointing as he spoke to Jonathan silence. If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes. I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or say anything. With a mocking smile he placed one hand upon my shoulder and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did so first. A little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well be quiet. It is not the first time or the second that your veins have appeased my thirst. I was bewildered and strangely enough I did not want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that such is when his touch is on his victim. And oh my God, my God pity me he placed his reeking lips upon my throat. Her husband groaned again. She clasped his hand harder and looked at him pityingly as if he were the injured one and went on. I felt my strength fading away and I was in a half swoon. How long this horrible thing lasted. I know not but it seemed that a long time must have passed before he took his foul. Awful. Sneering mouth away. I saw it drip with the fresh blood. The remembrance seen 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 haunt 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 me who commanded nations and intrigued for them and fought for them hundreds of years before they were born I was counter mining them and you their best beloved one are now to me flesh my flesh blood of my blood kin of my kin my bountiful wine press and shall be later on my companion and my helper you shall be avenged in turn for not one of them shall minister to your needs but as yet you are not 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 oh 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 and 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 dracula by bram stoker chapter 22 read by mb jonathan harker's journal 3 october as I must do something or go mad I write this diary it is now six o'clock and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and take something to eat for dr van helsing and dr seward I'll agree 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 or 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 meaner or me anywhere worse than we are today however we must trust and hope poor meaner 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 paul 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 dosing then he heard loud voices in the room and that renfield had called out loudly several times 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 our 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 only been one he could swear to it if required that the word God was spoken by the patient dr seward said to us when we were alone that he did not wish to go into the matter the question of an inquest had to be considered and it would never do to put forward the truth as no one would believe it because he thought that on the attendance evidence he could give a certificate of death by misadventure in falling from the 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 matter how painful should be kept from her she herself agreed as to its wisdom and it was painful 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 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 may be of new hope or 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 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 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 I would have done 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 some here who would stand between you and death you must not die you must not die by any hand but least of all your own unlike 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 not die nay nor think of death till this great evil be passed 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 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 hear after 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 and interest as usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else and was prepared with an exact ordering of our work it is perhaps well he said that at our meeting after our visit to Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth boxes that lay there had we done so the count must have guessed our purpose and would doubtless have taken measures in advance to frustrate such an effort with regard to the others but now he does not know our intentions nay, more in all probability he does not know that such a power exists to us as can sterilize his lairs so that he cannot use them as of old we are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as to their disposition that when we have examined the house in Piccadilly we may track the very last of them today then is ours and in it rests our hope the sun that rose on our sorrow this morning guards us in its course until it sets tonight that monster must retain whatever form he now has he is confined within the limitations of his earthly envelope he cannot melt into thin air nor disappear through cracks or chinks or crannies if he go through a doorway he must open the door like a mortal and so we have this day to hunt out all his lairs and sterilize them so we shall if we have not yet catch him and destroy him drive him to bay in some place where the catching and 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 meaner'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 act and act with desperate quick when the time has come but think in all probable the key of the situation is 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 checks 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 of the house 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 own fox so is it not then let us come at once I cried we are wasting time the professor did not move but simply said and how are we going to get into that house in Piccadilly anyway 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 wish 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 are 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 house breaker 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 keenly as he spoke all that is in doubt is the conscience of the employer and the belief of your policeman as to whether or not that employer has a good conscience or a bad one your police must indeed be zealous men and clever oh so clever in reading the heart that they trouble themselves in such matter no no my friend Jonathan you go take the lock off a hundred empty houses in this old 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 owned them then he go to a builder and he sell him that house 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 finds only an empty hole where his house had been this was all done on regal and in our work we shall be on regal too we shall not go so early that the policeman who have then settled 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 where we indeed owners of the house I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of Meno's face became relaxed in the thought there was hope in such good council 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 places where there be more earth boxes at Bermondsey and Mile End Lord Goddling stood up I can be of some use here he said I shall wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will be most convenient look here old fellow said Morris it is a capital idea to have already in case we want to go horsebacking 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 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 Quincy 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 Paul Lucy when the Count had sucked her blood and yet there was no sign in 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 events 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 Godelming and Quincy found the lairs at Warworth and Mile End and destroyed them it was possible if not likely the Professor urged that the Count might appear in Piccadilly during the day and that if so we might be able to cope with him then and there at any rate we might be able to follow him in force to this plan I strenuously objected and so far as my going was concerned for I said that I intended to stay and protect Mina I thought that my mind was made up on the subject but Mina would not listen to my objection she said that there might be some law matter in which I could be useful that amongst the Count's papers might be some clue which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania and that as it was all the strength we could muster was required to cope with the Count's extraordinary power I had to give in for Mina's resolution was fixed she said that it was the last hope for her that we should all work together as for me she said I have no fear things have been as bad as they can be and whatever may happen must have in it some element of hope and comfort go my husband God can if he wishes it guard me as well alone as with anyone 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 do you forget he said with actually a smile that last night he banquet it 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 over mastered 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 had said he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her oh Madam Mina he said dear dear Madam Mina alas 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 the sweet that I take it all together now you must all be going 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 a 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 must go forth to our terrible enterprise are we all armed as we were on that night when first we visited our enemies 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 touched 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 it had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white hot metal my poor darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as her nerves received the pain of it and the two so overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream but the words to her thought came quickly the echo of the scream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came the reaction and she sank on her knees on the floor in an agony of a basement 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 judgment day they all paused I had thrown myself beside her in the agony of helpless grief and putting my arms around her 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 sees fit as he most surely shall on the judgment day to redress all the wrongs of his earth and of his children that he 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 is mean shall pass away and leave your forehead so pure as the heart we know for so surely as we live that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift his 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 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 took each of the old man's hands and bent over and kissed it then without a word we all knelt down together and all holding hands swore to be true to each other we men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom each in his own way we loved and we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us it was then time to start so I said farewell to Mina a parting which neither of us shall forget to our dying day and we set out to one thing I have made up my mind if we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible land alone I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant many just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks we entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on the first occasion it was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such fear as already we knew had not our minds been made up and had there not been terrible memories to spur us on we could hardly have proceeded with our task we found no papers or any sign of use in the house and in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen from 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 holy still it was sanctified to such use of man now we sanctify it to God as he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench and very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open the earth smelled musty and close but we did not somehow seem to mind for our attention was concentrated on the professor taking from his box a piece of the sacred wafer he laid it reverently on the earth and then shutting down the lid began to screw it home we aiding him as he worked one by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes and left them as we had found them to all appearance but in each was a portion of the host when we closed the door behind us the professor said solemnly so much is already done it may be that with all the others we can be so successful then the sunset of this evening may shine of madam Mina's forehead all white is ivory and with no stain as we passed along 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 1230 o'clock just before we reached Fenchurch Street Lord Godelming said to me Quincy 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 demured as to my not sharing any danger even of odium but he went on besides it will attract less attention if there are 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 inside 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 this is good, said Van Helsing so we said no more Godelming and Morris hurried off in a cab we following in another at the corner of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strode into the Green Park my heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was centred looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst its more lively looking neighbours we sat down on a bench within good view and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little attention as possible the minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we waited for the coming of the others at length we saw a four-wheeler drive up out of it in leisurely fashion got Lord Godelming 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 Godelming 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 Godelming 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 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 Godelming who took out his purse and gave him something the man touched his hat took his bag, put on his coat and departed not a soul took the slightest notice of the whole transaction when the man had fairly gone we three crossed the street locked at the door it was immediately opened by Quincy Morris beside whom stood Lord Godelming 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 the case of attack for we knew we had a strong and vilely 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 horse 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 the deeds of the Piccadilly House in a great bundle deeds of the purchase of the houses at Myland and Bermondsy newspaper, 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 heap of keys of all sorts and sizes probably those belonging to the other houses when we had examined this last find Lord Godelming and Quincy 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 all the coming of the count