3 October.—The time seemed teribly long whilst we were waiting
for the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried
to keep our minds active by using them all the time. I could see
his beneficent purpose, by the side glances which he threw from
time to time at Harker. The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery
that is appalling to see. Last night he was a frank, happy-looking
man, with strong, youthful face, full of energy, and with dark
brown hair. Today he is a drawn, haggard old man, whose white hair
matches well with the hollow burning eyes and griefwritten lines of
his face. His energy is still intact. In fact, he is like a living
flame. This may yet be his salvation, for if all go well, it will
tide him over the despairing period. He will then, in a kind of
way, wake again to the realities of life. Poor fellow, I thought my
own trouble was bad enough, but his … !
The Professor knows this well enough, and is doing his best to
keep his mind active. What he has been saying was, under the
circumstances, of absorbing interest. So well as I can remember,
here it is:
“I have studied, over and over again since they came into my
hands, all the papers relating to this monster, and the more I have
studied, the greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out.
All through there are signs of his advance. Not only of his power,
but of his knowledge of it. As I learned from the researches of my
friend Arminius of Buda-Pesth, he was in life a most wonderful man.
Soldier, statesman, and alchemist. Which latter was the highest
development of the science knowledge of his time. He had a mighty
brain, a learning beyond compare, and a heart that knew no fear and
no remorse. He dared even to attend the Scholomance, and there was
no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay.
“Well, in him the brain powers survived the physical death.
Though it would seem that memory was not all complete. In some
faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child. But he is
growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of
man’s stature. He is experimenting, and doing it well. And if it
had not been that we have crossed his path he would be yet, he may
be yet if we fail, the father or furtherer of a new order of
beings, whose road must lead through Death, not Life.”
Harker groaned and said, “And this is all arrayed against my
darling! But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to
defeat him!”
“He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power,
slowly but surely. That big child-brain of his is working. Well for
us, it is as yet, a child-brain. For had he dared, at the first, to
attempt certain things he would long ago have been beyond our
power. However, he means to succeed, and a man who has centuries
before him can afford to wait and to go slow. Festina lente may
well be his motto.”
“I fail to understand,” said Harker wearily. “Oh, do be more
plain to me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain.”
The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he
spoke, “Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how, of late,
this monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally. How
he has been making use of the zoophagous patient to effect his
entry into friend John’s home. For your Vampire, though in all
afterwards he can come when and how he will, must at the first make
entry only when asked thereto by an inmate. But these are not his
most important experiments. Do we not see how at the first all
these so great boxes were moved by others. He knew not then but
that must be so. But all the time that so great child-brain of his
was growing, and he began to consider whether he might not himself
move the box. So he began to help. And then, when he found that
this be all right, he try to move them all alone. And so he
progress, and he scatter these graves of him. And none but he know
where they are hidden.
“He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So that
only he use them in the night, or at such time as he can change his
form, they do him equal well, and none may know these are his
hiding place! But, my child, do not despair, this knowledge came to
him just too late! Already all of his lairs but one be sterilize as
for him. And before the sunset this shall be so. Then he have no
place where he can move and hide. I delayed this morning that so we
might be sure. Is there not more at stake for us than for him? Then
why not be more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour and
already, if all be well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way
to us. Today is our day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no
chance. See! There are five of us when those absent ones
return.”
Whilst we were speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall
door, the double postman’s knock of the telegraph boy. We all moved
out to the hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his
hand to us to keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it. The
boy handed in a dispatch. The Professor closed the door again, and
after looking at the direction, opened it and read aloud.
“Look out for D. He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax
hurriedly and hastened towards the South. He seems to be going the
round and may want to see you: Mina.”
There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker’s voice, “Now, God
be thanked, we shall soon meet!”
Van Helsing turned to him quickly and said, “God will act in His
own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice as yet. For what
we wish for at the moment may be our own undoings.”
“I care for nothing now,” he answered hotly, “except to wipe out
this brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do
it!”
“Oh, hush, hush, my child!” said Van Helsing. “God does not
purchase souls in this wise, and the Devil, though he may purchase,
does not keep faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your
pain and your devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her
pain would be doubled, did she but hear your wild words. Do not
fear any of us, we are all devoted to this cause, and today shall
see the end. The time is coming for action. Today this Vampire is
limit to the powers of man, and till sunset he may not change. It
will take him time to arrive here, see it is twenty minutes past
one, and there are yet some times before he can hither come, be he
never so quick. What we must hope for is that my Lord Arthur and
Quincey arrive first.”
About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker’s telegram,
there came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall door. It was just an
ordinary knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen,
but it made the Professor’s heart and mine beat loudly. We looked
at each other, and together moved out into the hall. We each held
ready to use our various armaments, the spiritual in the left hand,
the mortal in the right. Van Helsing pulled back the latch, and
holding the door half open, stood back, having both hands ready for
action. The gladness of our hearts must have shown upon our faces
when on the step, close to the door, we saw Lord Godalming and
Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed the door behind
them, the former saying, as they moved along the hall.
“It is all right. We found both places. Six boxes in each and we
destroyed them all.”
“Destroyed?” asked the Professor.
“For him!” We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said,
“There’s nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn’t
turn up by five o’clock, we must start off. For it won’t do to
leave Mrs. Harker alone after sunset.”
“He will be here before long now,’ said Van Helsing, who had
been consulting his pocketbook. “Nota bene, in Madam’s telegram he
went south from Carfax. That means he went to cross the river, and
he could only do so at slack of tide, which should be something
before one o’clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He is
as yet only suspicious, and he went from Carfax first to the place
where he would suspect interference least. You must have been at
Bermondsey only a short time before him. That he is not here
already shows that he went to Mile End next. This took him some
time, for he would then have to be carried over the river in some
way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not have long to wait now. We
should have ready some plan of attack, so that we may throw away no
chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your arms! Be ready!”
He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could hear a key
softly inserted in the lock of the hall door.
I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which
a dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and
adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had
always been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I
had been accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit
seemed to be renewed instinctively. With a swift glance around the
room, he at once laid out our plan of attack, and without speaking
a word, with a gesture, placed us each in position. Van Helsing,
Harker, and I were just behind the door, so that when it was opened
the Professor could guard it whilst we two stepped between the
incomer and the door. Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood
just out of sight ready to move in front of the window. We waited
in a suspense that made the seconds pass with nightmare slowness.
The slow, careful steps came along the hall. The Count was
evidently prepared for some surprise, at least he feared it.
Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room. Winning a
way past us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There
was something so pantherlike in the movement, something so unhuman,
that it seemed to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The
first to act was Harker, who with a quick movement, threw himself
before the door leading into the room in the front of the house. As
the Count saw us, a horrible sort of snarl passed over his face,
showing the eyeteeth long and pointed. But the evil smile as
quickly passed into a cold stare of lion-like disdain. His
expression again changed as, with a single impulse, we all advanced
upon him. It was a pity that we had not some better organized plan
of attack, for even at the moment I wondered what we were to do. I
did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would avail us
anything.
Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he had ready his
great Kukri knife and made a fierce and sudden cut at him. The blow
was a powerful one. Only the diabolical quickness of the Count’s
leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had
shorn through his coat, making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank
notes and a stream of gold fell out. The expression of the Count’s
face was so hellish, that for a moment I feared for Harker, though
I saw him throw the terrible knife aloft again for another stroke.
Instinctively I moved forward with a protective impulse, holding
the Crucifix and Wafer in my left hand. I felt a mighty power fly
along my arm, and it was without surprise that I saw the monster
cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously by each one
of us. It would be impossible to describe the expression of hate
and baffled malignity, of anger and hellish rage, which came over
the Count’s face. His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the
contrast of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead
showed on the pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next
instant, with a sinuous dive he swept under Harker’s arm, ere his
blow could fall, and grasping a handful of the money from the
floor, dashed across the room, threw himself at the window. Amid
the crash and glitter of the falling glass, he tumbled into the
flagged area below. Through the sound of the shivering glass I
could hear the “ting” of the gold, as some of the sovereigns fell
on the flagging.
We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He,
rushing up the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the
stable door. There he turned and spoke to us.
“You think to baffle me, you with your pale faces all in a row,
like sheep in a butcher’s. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you!
You think you have left me without a place to rest, but I have
more. My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and
time is on my side. Your girls that you all love are mine already.
And through them you and others shall yet be mine, my creatures, to
do my bidding and to be my jackals when I want to feed. Bah!”
With a contemptuous sneer, he passed quickly through the door,
and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he fastened it behind him. A
door beyond opened and shut. The first of us to speak was the
Professor. Realizing the difficulty of following him through the
stable, we moved toward the hall.
“We have learnt something … much! Notwithstanding his brave
words, he fears us. He fears time, he fears want! For if not, why
he hurry so? His very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take
that money? You follow quick. You are hunters of the wild beast,
and understand it so. For me, I make sure that nothing here may be
of use to him, if so that he returns.”
As he spoke he put the money remaining in his pocket, took the
title deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the
remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them
with a match.
Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker
had lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had,
however, bolted the stable door, and by the time they had forced it
open there was no sign of him. Van Helsing and I tried to make
inquiry at the back of the house. But the mews was deserted and no
one had seen him depart.
It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off. We
had to recognize that our game was up. With heavy hearts we agreed
with the Professor when he said, “Let us go back to Madam Mina.
Poor, poor dear Madam Mina. All we can do just now is done, and we
can there, at least, protect her. But we need not despair. There is
but one more earth box, and we must try to find it. When that is
done all may yet be well.”
I could see that he spoke as bravely as he could to comfort
Harker. The poor fellow was quite broken down, now and again he
gave a low groan which he could not suppress. He was thinking of
his wife.
With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs.
Harker waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did
honor to her bravery and unselfishness. When she saw our faces, her
own became as pale as death. For a second or two her eyes were
closed as if she were in secret prayer.
And then she said cheerfully, “I can never thank you all enough.
Oh, my poor darling!”
As she spoke, she took her husband’s grey head in her hands and
kissed it.
“Lay your poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well,
dear! God will protect us if He so will it in His good intent.” The
poor fellow groaned. There was no place for words in his sublime
misery.
We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it
cheered us all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat
of food to hungry people, for none of us had eaten anything since
breakfast, or the sense of companionship may have helped us, but
anyhow we were all less miserable, and saw the morrow as not
altogether without hope.
True to our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had
passed. And although she grew snowy white at times when danger had
seemed to threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion
to her was manifested she listened bravely and with calmness. When
we came to the part where Harker had rushed at the Count so
recklessly, she clung to her husband’s arm, and held it tight as
though her clinging could protect him from any harm that might
come. She said nothing, however, till the narration was all
done,and matters had been brought up to the present time.
Then without letting go her husband’s hand she stood up amongst
us and spoke. Oh, that I could give any idea of the scene. Of that
sweet, sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant beauty of her
youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead, of which
she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our teeth,
remembering whence and how it came. Her loving kindness against our
grim hate. Her tender faith against all our fears and doubting. And
we, knowing that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness
and purity and faith, was outcast from God.
“Jonathan,” she said, and the word sounded like music on her
lips it was so full of love and tenderness, “Jonathan dear, and you
all my true, true friends, I want you to bear something in mind
through all this dreadful time. I know that you must fight. That
you must destroy even as you destroyed the false Lucy so that the
true Lucy might live hereafter. But it is not a work of hate. That
poor soul who has wrought all this misery is the saddest case of
all. Just think what will be his joy when he, too, is destroyed in
his worser part that his better part may have spiritual
immortality. You must be pitiful to him, too,though it may not hold
your hands from his destruction.”
As she spoke I could see her husband’s face darken and draw
together, as though the passion in him were shriveling his being to
its core. Instinctively the clasp on his wife’s hand grew closer,
till his knuckles looked white. She did not flinch from the pain
which I knew she must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes
that were more appealing than ever.
As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost tearing
his hand from hers as he spoke.
“May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy
that earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I
could send his soul forever and ever to burning hell I would do
it!”
“Oh, hush! Oh, hush in the name of the good God. Don’t say such
things, Jonathan, my husband, or you will crush me with fear and
horror. Just think, my dear … I have been thinking all this
long, long day of it … that … perhaps … some
day … I, too, may need such pity, and that some other like
you, and with equal cause for anger, may deny it to me! Oh, my
husband! My husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought
had there been another way. But I pray that God may not have
treasured your wild words, except as the heart-broken wail of a
very loving and sorely stricken man. Oh, God, let these poor white
hairs go in evidence of what he has suffered, who all his life has
done no wrong, and on whom so many sorrows have come.”
We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and
we wept openly. She wept, too, to see that her sweeter counsels had
prevailed. Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and
putting his arms round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress.
Van Helsing beckoned to us and we stole out of the room, leaving
the two loving hearts alone with their God.
Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any
coming of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest
in peace. She tried to school herself to the belief, and manifestly
for her husband’s sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave
struggle, and was, I think and believe, not without its reward. Van
Helsing had placed at hand a bell which either of them was to sound
in case of any emergency. When they had retired, Quincey,
Godalming, and I arranged that we should sit up, dividing the night
between us, and watch over the safety of the poor stricken lady.
The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us shall be off to
bed as soon as we can.
Godalming has already turned in, for his is the second watch.
Now that my work is done I, too, shall go to bed.
JONATHAN HARKER’S JOURNAL
3-4 October, close to midnight.—I thought yesterday would never
end. There was over me a yearning for sleep, in some sort of blind
belief that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any
change must now be for the better. Before we parted, we discussed
what our next step was to be, but we could arrive at no result. All
we knew was that one earth box remained, and that the Count alone
knew where it was. If he chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us
for years. And in the meantime, the thought is too horrible, I dare
not think of it even now. This I know, that if ever there was a
woman who was all perfection, that one is my poor wronged darling.
I loved her a thousand times more for her sweet pity of last night,
a pity that made my own hate of the monster seem despicable. Surely
God will not permit the world to be the poorer by the loss of such
a creature. This is hope to me. We are all drifting reefwards now,
and faith is our only anchor. Thank God! Mina is sleeping, and
sleeping without dreams. I fear what her dreams might be like, with
such terrible memories to ground them in. She has not been so calm,
within my seeing, since the sunset. Then, for a while, there came
over her face a repose which was like spring after the blasts of
March. I thought at the time that it was the softness of the red
sunset on her face, but somehow now I think it has a deeper
meaning. I am not sleepy myself, though I am weary … weary to
death. However, I must try to sleep. For there is tomorrow to think
of, and there is no rest for me until …
Later—I must have fallen asleep, for I was awakened by Mina, who
was sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face. I could
see easily, for we did not leave the room in darkness. She had
placed a warning hand over my mouth, and now she whispered in my
ear, “Hush! There is someone in the corridor!” I got up softly, and
crossing the room, gently opened the door.
Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide
awake. He raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me,
“Hush! Go back to bed. It is all right. One of us will be here all
night. We don’t mean to take any chances!”
His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told
Mina. She sighed and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her
poor, pale face as she put her arms round me and said softly, “Oh,
thank God for good brave men!” With a sigh she sank back again to
sleep. I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try
again.
4 October, morning.—Once again during the night I was wakened by
Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the
coming dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas
flame was like a speck rather than a disc of light.
She said to me hurriedly, “Go, call the Professor. I want to see
him at once.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and
matured without my knowing it. He must hypnotize me before the
dawn, and then I shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest, the
time is getting close.”
I went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and
seeing me, he sprang to his feet.
“Is anything wrong?” he asked, in alarm.
“No,” I replied. “But Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at
once.”
“I will go,” he said, and hurried into the Professor’s room.
Two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his
dressing gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr.
Seward at the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a
smile, a positive smile ousted the anxiety of his face.
He rubbed his hands as he said, “Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is
indeed a change. See! Friend Jonathan, we have got our dear Madam
Mina, as of old, back to us today!” Then turning to her, he said
cheerfully, “And what am I to do for you? For at this hour you do
not want me for nothing.”
“I want you to hypnotize me!” she said. “Do it before the dawn,
for I feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for
the time is short!” Without a word he motioned her to sit up in
bed.
Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of
her, from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in
turn. Mina gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my
own heart beat like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was
at hand. Gradually her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still. Only
by the gentle heaving of her bosom could one know that she was
alive. The Professor made a few more passes and then stopped, and I
could see that his forehead was covered with great beads of
perspiration. Mina opened her eyes, but she did not seem the same
woman. There was a far-away look in her eyes, and her voice had a
sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to impose
silence, the Professor motioned to me to bring the others in. They
came on tiptoe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the foot
of the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The
stillness was broken by Van Helsing’s voice speaking in a low level
tone which would not break the current of her thoughts.
“Where are you?” The answer came in a neutral way.
“I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own.” For
several minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the
Professor stood staring at her fixedly.
The rest of us hardly dared to breathe. The room was growing
lighter. Without taking his eyes from Mina’s face, Dr. Van Helsing
motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the day seemed just
upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed to diffuse
itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke
again.
“Where are you now?”
The answer came dreamily, but with intention. It were as though
she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the same tone
when reading her shorthand notes.
“I do not know. It is all strange to me!”
“What do you see?”
“I can see nothing. It is all dark.”
“What do you hear?” I could detect the strain in the Professor’s
patient voice.
“The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap.
I can hear them on the outside.”
“Then you are on a ship?'”
We all looked at each other, trying to glean something each from
the other. We were afraid to think.
The answer came quick, “Oh, yes!”
“What else do you hear?”
“The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is
the creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the
capstan falls into the ratchet.”
“What are you doing?”
“I am still, oh so still. It is like death!” The voice faded
away into a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes
closed again.
By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full
light of day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina’s shoulders,
and laid her head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a
sleeping child for a few moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke
and stared in wonder to see us all around her.
“Have I been talking in my sleep?” was all she said. She seemed,
however, to know the situation without telling,though she was eager
to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the conversation,
and she said, “Then there is not a moment to lose. It may not be
yet too late!”
Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door but the
Professor’s calm voice called them back.
“Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing
anchor at the moment in your so great Port of London. Which of them
is it that you seek? God be thanked that we have once again a clue,
though whither it may lead us we know not. We have been blind
somewhat. Blind after the manner of men, since we can look back we
see what we might have seen looking forward if we had been able to
see what we might have seen! Alas, but that sentence is a puddle,
is it not? We can know now what was in the Count’s mind, when he
seize that money, though Jonathan’s so fierce knife put him in the
danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear me, ESCAPE! He saw
that with but one earth box left, and a pack of men following like
dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He have take
his last earth box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He think
to escape, but no! We follow him. Tally Ho! As friend Arthur would
say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily. Oh! So wily,
and we must follow with wile. I, too, am wily and I think his mind
in a little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there
are between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not
if he would. Unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only
at full or slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day
to sunset is us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast
which we all need, and which we can eat comfortably since he be not
in the same land with us.”
Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked, “But why need we
seek him further, when he is gone away from us?”
He took her hand and patted it as he replied, “Ask me nothing as
yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all questions.” He would
say no more, and we separated to dress.
After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her
gravely for a minute and then said sorrowfully, “Because my dear,
dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him even if we
have to follow him to the jaws of Hell!”
She grew paler as she asked faintly, “Why?”
“Because,” he answered solemnly, “he can live for centuries, and
you are but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded, since once he
put that mark upon your throat.”
I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a
faint.