{"id":42,"date":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/dracula-18\/"},"modified":"2019-02-26T01:28:22","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T01:28:22","slug":"dracula-18","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/dracula-18\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 18 - Dr. Seward's Diary","rendered":"Chapter 18 – Dr. Seward’s Diary"},"content":{"raw":"\r\n
\r\n\r\n30 September.\u2014I got home at five o'clock, and found that\r\nGodalming and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied\r\nthe transcript of the various diaries and letters which Harker had\r\nnot yet returned from his visit to the carriers' men, of whom Dr.\r\nHennessey had written to me. Mrs. Harker gave us a cup of tea, and\r\nI can honestly say that, for the first time since I have lived in\r\nit, this old house seemed like home. When we had finished, Mrs.\r\nHarker said,\r\n\r\n\"Dr. Seward, may I ask a favor? I want to see your patient, Mr.\r\nRenfield. Do let me see him. What you have said of him in your\r\ndiary interests me so much!\"\r\n\r\nShe looked so appealing and so pretty that I could not refuse\r\nher, and there was no possible reason why I should, so I took her\r\nwith me. When I went into the room, I told the man that a lady\r\nwould like to see him, to which he simply answered, \"Why?\"\r\n\r\n\"She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in\r\nit,\" I answered.\r\n\r\n\"Oh, very well,\" he said,\"let her come in, by all means, but\r\njust wait a minute till I tidy up the place.\"\r\n\r\nHis method of tidying was peculiar, he simply swallowed all the\r\nflies and spiders in the boxes before I could stop him. It was\r\nquite evident that he feared, or was jealous of, some interference.\r\nWhen he had got through his disgusting task, he said cheerfully,\r\n\"Let the lady come in,\" and sat down on the edge of his bed with\r\nhis head down, but with his eyelids raised so that he could see her\r\nas she entered. For a moment I thought that he might have some\r\nhomicidal intent. I remembered how quiet he had been just before he\r\nattacked me in my own study, and I took care to stand where I could\r\nseize him at once if he attempted to make a spring at her.\r\n\r\nShe came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at\r\nonce command the respect of any lunatic, for easiness is one of the\r\nqualities mad people most respect. She walked over to him, smiling\r\npleasantly, and held out her hand.\r\n\r\n\"Good evening, Mr. Renfield,\" said she. \"You see, I know you,\r\nfor Dr. Seward has told me of you.\" He made no immediate reply, but\r\neyed her all over intently with a set frown on his face. This look\r\ngave way to one of wonder, which merged in doubt, then to my\r\nintense astonishment he said, \"You're not the girl the doctor\r\nwanted to marry, are you? You can't be, you know, for she's\r\ndead.\"\r\n\r\nMrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied, \"Oh no! I have a\r\nhusband of my own, to whom I was married before I ever saw Dr.\r\nSeward, or he me. I am Mrs. Harker.\"\r\n\r\n\"Then what are you doing here?\"\r\n\r\n\"My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward.\"\r\n\r\n\"Then don't stay.\"\r\n\r\n\"But why not?\"\r\n\r\nI thought that this style of conversation might not be pleasant\r\nto Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in, \"How\r\ndid you know I wanted to marry anyone?\"\r\n\r\nHis reply was simply contemptuous, given in a pause in which he\r\nturned his eyes from Mrs. Harker to me, instantly turning them back\r\nagain, \"What an asinine question!\"\r\n\r\n\"I don't see that at all, Mr. Renfield,\"said Mrs. Harker, at\r\nonce championing me.\r\n\r\nHe replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as he had\r\nshown contempt to me, \"You will, of course, understand, Mrs.\r\nHarker, that when a man is so loved and honored as our host is,\r\neverything regarding him is of interest in our little community.\r\nDr. Seward is loved not only by his household and his friends, but\r\neven by his patients, who, being some of them hardly in mental\r\nequilibrium, are apt to distort causes and effects. Since I myself\r\nhave been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I cannot but notice that\r\nthe sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates lean towards the\r\nerrors of non causa and ignoratio elenche.\"\r\n\r\nI positively opened my eyes at this new development. Here was my\r\nown pet lunatic, the most pronounced of his type that I had ever\r\nmet with, talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a\r\npolished gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which\r\nhad touched some chord in his memory. If this new phase was\r\nspontaneous, or in any way due to her unconscious influence, she\r\nmust have some rare gift or power.\r\n\r\nWe continued to talk for some time, and seeing that he was\r\nseemingly quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me\r\nquestioningly as she began, to lead him to his favorite topic. I\r\nwas again astonished, for he addressed himself to the question with\r\nthe impartiality of the completest sanity. He even took himself as\r\nan example when he mentioned certain things.\r\n\r\n\"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief.\r\nIndeed, it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted\r\non my being put under control. I used to fancy that life was a\r\npositive and perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of\r\nlive things, no matter how low in the scale of creation, one might\r\nindefinitely prolong life. At times I held the belief so strongly\r\nthat I actually tried to take human life. The doctor here will bear\r\nme out that on one occasion I tried to kill him for the purpose of\r\nstrengthening my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body\r\nof his life through the medium of his blood, relying of course,\r\nupon the Scriptural phrase, `For the blood is the life.' Though,\r\nindeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has vulgarized the truism\r\nto the very point of contempt. Isn't that true, doctor?\"\r\n\r\nI nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to\r\neither think or say, it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat\r\nup his spiders and flies not five minutes before. Looking at my\r\nwatch, I saw that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing,\r\nso I told Mrs. Harker that it was time to leave.\r\n\r\nShe came at once, after saying pleasantly to Mr. Renfield,\r\n\"Goodbye, and I hope I may see you often, under auspices pleasanter\r\nto yourself.\"\r\n\r\nTo which, to my astonishment, he replied, \"Goodbye, my dear. I\r\npray God I may never see your sweet face again. May He bless and\r\nkeep you!\"\r\n\r\nWhen I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys\r\nbehind me. Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since\r\nLucy first took ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self\r\nthan he has been for many a long day.\r\n\r\nVan Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness\r\nof a boy. He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying, \"Ah,\r\nfriend John, how goes all? Well? So! I have been busy, for I come\r\nhere to stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me, and I\r\nhave much to tell. Madam Mina is with you? Yes. And her so fine\r\nhusband? And Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too?\r\nGood!\"\r\n\r\nAs I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of\r\nhow my own diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's\r\nsuggestion, at which the Professor interrupted me.\r\n\r\n\"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain, a brain\r\nthat a man should have were he much gifted, and a woman's heart.\r\nThe good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made\r\nthat so good combination. Friend John, up to now fortune has made\r\nthat woman of help to us, after tonight she must not have to do\r\nwith this so terrible affair. It is not good that she run a risk so\r\ngreat. We men are determined, nay, are we not pledged, to destroy\r\nthis monster? But it is no part for a woman. Even if she be not\r\nharmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors and\r\nhereafter she may suffer, both in waking,from her nerves, and in\r\nsleep,from her dreams. And, besides, she is young woman and not so\r\nlong married, there may be other things to think of some time, if\r\nnot now. You tell me she has wrote all, then she must consult with\r\nus, but tomorrow she say goodbye to this work, and we go\r\nalone.\"\r\n\r\nI agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we had\r\nfound in his absence, that the house which Dracula had bought was\r\nthe very next one to my own. He was amazed, and a great concern\r\nseemed to come on him.\r\n\r\n\"Oh that we had known it before!\" he said, \"for then we might\r\nhave reached him in time to save poor Lucy. However, `the milk that\r\nis spilt cries not out afterwards,'as you say. We shall not think\r\nof that, but go on our way to the end.\" Then he fell into a silence\r\nthat lasted till we entered my own gateway. Before we went to\r\nprepare for dinner he said to Mrs. Harker, \"I am told, Madam Mina,\r\nby my friend John that you and your husband have put up in exact\r\norder all things that have been, up to this moment.\"\r\n\r\n\"Not up to this moment, Professor,\"she said impulsively, \"but up\r\nto this morning.\"\r\n\r\n\"But why not up to now? We have seen hitherto how good light all\r\nthe little things have made. We have told our secrets, and yet no\r\none who has told is the worse for it.\"\r\n\r\nMrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets,\r\nshe said, \"Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it\r\nmust go in. It is my record of today. I too have seen the need of\r\nputting down at present everything, however trivial, but there is\r\nlittle in this except what is personal. Must it go in?\"\r\n\r\nThe Professor read it over gravely, and handed it back, saying,\r\n\"It need not go in if you do not wish it, but I pray that it may.\r\nIt can but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your\r\nfriends, more honor you, as well as more esteem and love.\" She took\r\nit back with another blush and a bright smile.\r\n\r\nAnd so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are\r\ncomplete and in order. The Professor took away one copy to study\r\nafter dinner, and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine\r\no'clock. The rest of us have already read everything, so when we\r\nmeet in the study we shall all be informed as to facts, and can\r\narrange our plan of battle with this terrible and mysterious\r\nenemy.\r\n\r\nMINA HARKER'S JOURNAL\r\n\r\n30 September.\u2014When we met in Dr. Seward's study two hours after\r\ndinner, which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a\r\nsort of board or committee. Professor Van Helsing took the head of\r\nthe table, to which Dr. Seward motioned him as he came into the\r\nroom. He made me sit next to him on his right, and asked me to act\r\nas secretary. Jonathan sat next to me. Opposite us were Lord\r\nGodalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris, Lord Godalming being next\r\nthe Professor, and Dr. Seward in the center.\r\n\r\nThe Professor said, \"I may, I suppose, take it that we are all\r\nacquainted with the facts that are in these papers.\" We all\r\nexpressed assent, and he went on, \"Then it were, I think, good that\r\nI tell you something of the kind of enemy with which we have to\r\ndeal. I shall then make known to you something of the history of\r\nthis man, which has been ascertained for me. So we then can discuss\r\nhow we shall act, and can take our measure according.\r\n\r\n\"There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence\r\nthat they exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy\r\nexperience, the teachings and the records of the past give proof\r\nenough for sane peoples. I admit that at the first I was sceptic.\r\nWere it not that through long years I have trained myself to keep\r\nan open mind, I could not have believed until such time as that\r\nfact thunder on my ear.`See! See! I prove, I prove.' Alas! Had I\r\nknown at first what now I know, nay, had I even guess at him, one\r\nso precious life had been spared to many of us who did love her.\r\nBut that is gone, and we must so work, that other poor souls perish\r\nnot, whilst we can save. The nosferatu do not die like the bee when\r\nhe sting once. He is only stronger, and being stronger, have yet\r\nmore power to work evil. This vampire which is amongst us is of\r\nhimself so strong in person as twenty men, he is of cunning more\r\nthan mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages, he have still\r\nthe aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the\r\ndivination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to\r\nare for him at command, he is brute, and more than brute, he is\r\ndevil in callous, and the heart of him is not, he can, within his\r\nrange, direct the elements, the storm, the fog, the thunder, he can\r\ncommand all the meaner things, the rat, and the owl, and the bat,\r\nthe moth, and the fox, and the wolf, he can grow and become small,\r\nand he can at times vanish and come unknown. How then are we to\r\nbegin our strike to destroy him? How shall we find his where, and\r\nhaving found it, how can we destroy? My friends, this is much, it\r\nis a terrible task that we undertake, and there may be consequence\r\nto make the brave shudder. For if we fail in this our fight he must\r\nsurely win, and then where end we? Life is nothings, I heed him\r\nnot. But to fail here, is not mere life or death. It is that we\r\nbecome as him, that we henceforward become foul things of the night\r\nlike him, without heart or conscience, preying on the bodies and\r\nthe souls of those we love best. To us forever are the gates of\r\nheaven shut, for who shall open them to us again? We go on for all\r\ntime abhorred by all, a blot on the face of God's sunshine, an\r\narrow in the side of Him who died for man. But we are face to face\r\nwith duty, and in such case must we shrink? For me, I say no, but\r\nthen I am old, and life, with his sunshine, his fair places, his\r\nsong of birds, his music and his love, lie far behind. You others\r\nare young. Some have seen sorrow, but there are fair days yet in\r\nstore. What say you?\"\r\n\r\nWhilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken my hand. I feared, oh\r\nso much, that the appalling nature of our danger was overcoming him\r\nwhen I saw his hand stretch out, but it was life to me to feel its\r\ntouch, so strong, so self reliant, so resolute. A brave man's hand\r\ncan speak for itself, it does not even need a woman's love to hear\r\nits music.\r\n\r\nWhen the Professor had done speaking my husband looked in my\r\neyes, and I in his, there was no need for speaking between us.\r\n\r\n\"I answer for Mina and myself,\" he said.\r\n\r\n\"Count me in, Professor,\" said Mr. Quincey Morris, laconically\r\nas usual.\r\n\r\n\"I am with you,\" said Lord Godalming, \"for Lucy's sake, if for\r\nno other reason.\"\r\n\r\nDr. Seward simply nodded.\r\n\r\nThe Professor stood up and, after laying his golden crucifix on\r\nthe table, held out his hand on either side. I took his right hand,\r\nand Lord Godalming his left, Jonathan held my right with his left\r\nand stretched across to Mr. Morris. So as we all took hands our\r\nsolemn compact was made. I felt my heart icy cold, but it did not\r\neven occur to me to draw back. We resumed our places, and Dr. Van\r\nHelsing went on with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the\r\nserious work had begun. It was to be taken as gravely, and in as\r\nbusinesslike a way, as any other transaction of life.\r\n\r\n\"Well, you know what we have to contend against, but we too, are\r\nnot without strength. We have on our side power of combination, a\r\npower denied to the vampire kind, we have sources of science, we\r\nare free to act and think, and the hours of the day and the night\r\nare ours equally. In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are\r\nunfettered, and we are free to use them. We have self devotion in a\r\ncause and an end to achieve which is not a selfish one. These\r\nthings are much.\r\n\r\n\"Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us\r\nare restrict, and how the individual cannot. In fine, let us\r\nconsider the limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one\r\nin particular.\r\n\r\n\"All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions. These\r\ndo not at the first appear much, when the matter is one of life and\r\ndeath, nay of more than either life or death. Yet must we be\r\nsatisfied, in the first place because we have to be, no other means\r\nis at our control, and secondly, because, after all these things,\r\ntradition and superstition, are everything. Does not the belief in\r\nvampires rest for others, though not, alas! for us, on them! A year\r\nago which of us would have received such a possibility, in the\r\nmidst of our scientific, sceptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth\r\ncentury? We even scouted a belief that we saw justified under our\r\nvery eyes. Take it, then, that the vampire, and the belief in his\r\nlimitations and his cure, rest for the moment on the same base.\r\nFor, let me tell you, he is known everywhere that men have been. In\r\nold Greece, in old Rome, he flourish in Germany all over, in\r\nFrance, in India, even in the Chermosese, and in China, so far from\r\nus in all ways, there even is he, and the peoples for him at this\r\nday. He have follow the wake of the berserker Icelander, the\r\ndevil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon, the Magyar.\r\n\r\n\"So far, then, we have all we may act upon, and let me tell you\r\nthat very much of the beliefs are justified by what we have seen in\r\nour own so unhappy experience. The vampire live on, and cannot die\r\nby mere passing of the time, he can flourish when that he can\r\nfatten on the blood of the living. Even more, we have seen amongst\r\nus that he can even grow younger, that his vital faculties grow\r\nstrenuous, and seem as though they refresh themselves when his\r\nspecial pabulum is plenty.\r\n\r\n\"But he cannot flourish without this diet, he eat not as others.\r\nEven friend Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see\r\nhim eat, never! He throws no shadow, he make in the mirror no\r\nreflect, as again Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of\r\nhis hand, witness again Jonathan when he shut the door against the\r\nwolves, and when he help him from the diligence too. He can\r\ntransform himself to wolf, as we gather from the ship arrival in\r\nWhitby, when he tear open the dog, he can be as bat, as Madam Mina\r\nsaw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John saw him fly\r\nfrom this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at the\r\nwindow of Miss Lucy.\r\n\r\n\"He can come in mist which he create, that noble ship's captain\r\nproved him of this, but, from what we know, the distance he can\r\nmake this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself.\r\n\r\n\"He come on moonlight rays as elemental dust, as again Jonathan\r\nsaw those sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small, we\r\nourselves saw Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a\r\nhairbreadth space at the tomb door. He can, when once he find his\r\nway, come out from anything or into anything, no matter how close\r\nit be bound or even fused up with fire, solder you call it. He can\r\nsee in the dark, no small power this, in a world which is one half\r\nshut from the light. Ah, but hear me through.\r\n\r\n\"He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay, he is even\r\nmore prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his\r\ncell. He cannot go where he lists, he who is not of nature has yet\r\nto obey some of nature's laws, why we know not. He may not enter\r\nanywhere at the first, unless there be some one of the household\r\nwho bid him to come, though afterwards he can come as he please.\r\nHis power ceases, as does that of all evil things, at the coming of\r\nthe day.\r\n\r\n\"Only at certain times can he have limited freedom. If he be not\r\nat the place whither he is bound, he can only change himself at\r\nnoon or at exact sunrise or sunset. These things we are told, and\r\nin this record of ours we have proof by inference. Thus, whereas he\r\ncan do as he will within his limit, when he have his earth-home,his\r\ncoffin-home, his hellhome, the place unhallowed, as we saw when he\r\nwent to the grave of the suicide at Whitby, still at other time he\r\ncan only change when the time come. It is said, too, that he can\r\nonly pass running water at the slack or the flood of the tide. Then\r\nthere are things which so afflict him that he has no power, as the\r\ngarlic that we know of, and as for things sacred, as this symbol,\r\nmy crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to them\r\nhe is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and\r\nsilent with respect. There are others, too, which I shall tell you\r\nof, lest in our seeking we may need them.\r\n\r\n\"The branch of wild rose on his coffin keep him that he move not\r\nfrom it, a sacred bullet fired into the coffin kill him so that he\r\nbe true dead, and as for the stake through him, we know already of\r\nits peace, or the cut off head that giveth rest. We have seen it\r\nwith our eyes.\r\n\r\n\"Thus when we find the habitation of this man-that-was, we can\r\nconfine him to his coffin and destroy him, if we obey what we know.\r\nBut he is clever. I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth\r\nUniversity, to make his record, and from all the means that are, he\r\ntell me of what he has been. He must, indeed, have been that\r\nVoivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great\r\nriver on the very frontier of Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he\r\nno common man, for in that time, and for centuries after, he was\r\nspoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the\r\nbravest of the sons of the `land beyond the forest.' That mighty\r\nbrain and that iron resolution went with him to his grave, and are\r\neven now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says Arminius, a\r\ngreat and noble race, though now and again were scions who were\r\nheld by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They\r\nlearned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over\r\nLake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his\r\ndue. In the records are such words as `stregoica' witch, `ordog'\r\nand `pokol' Satan and hell, and in one manuscript this very Dracula\r\nis spoken of as `wampyr,'which we all understand too well. There\r\nhave been from the loins of this very one great men and good women,\r\nand their graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness\r\ncan dwell. For it is not the least of its terrors that this evil\r\nthing is rooted deep in all good, in soil barren of holy memories\r\nit cannot rest.\"\r\n\r\nWhilst they were talking Mr. Morris was looking steadily at the\r\nwindow, and he now got up quietly, and went out of the room. There\r\nwas a little pause, and then the Professor went on.\r\n\r\n\"And now we must settle what we do. We have here much data, and\r\nwe must proceed to lay out our campaign. We know from the inquiry\r\nof Jonathan that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of\r\nearth, all of which were delivered at Carfax, we also know that at\r\nleast some of these boxes have been removed. It seems to me, that\r\nour first step should be to ascertain whether all the rest remain\r\nin the house beyond that wall where we look today, or whether any\r\nmore have been removed. If the latter, we must trace\u00a0\u2026 \"\r\n\r\nHere we were interrupted in a very startling way. Outside the\r\nhouse came the sound of a pistol shot, the glass of the window was\r\nshattered with a bullet, which ricochetting from the top of the\r\nembrasure, struck the far wall of the room. I am afraid I am at\r\nheart a coward, for I shrieked out. The men all jumped to their\r\nfeet, Lord Godalming flew over to the window and threw up the sash.\r\nAs he did so we heard Mr. Morris' voice without, \"Sorry! I fear I\r\nhave alarmed you. I shall come in and tell you about it.\"\r\n\r\nA minute later he came in and said, \"It was an idiotic thing of\r\nme to do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. Harker, most sincerely, I\r\nfear I must have frightened you terribly. But the fact is that\r\nwhilst the Professor was talking there came a big bat and sat on\r\nthe window sill. I have got such a horror of the damned brutes from\r\nrecent events that I cannot stand them, and I went out to have a\r\nshot, as I have been doing of late of evenings, whenever I have\r\nseen one. You used to laugh at me for it then, Art.\"\r\n\r\n\"Did you hit it?\" asked Dr. Van Helsing.\r\n\r\n\"I don't know, I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood.\"\r\nWithout saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began\r\nto resume his statement.\r\n\r\n\"We must trace each of these boxes, and when we are ready, we\r\nmust either capture or kill this monster in his lair, or we must,\r\nso to speak, sterilize the earth, so that no more he can seek\r\nsafety in it. Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man\r\nbetween the hours of noon and sunset, and so engage with him when\r\nhe is at his most weak.\r\n\r\n\"And now for you, Madam Mina,this night is the end until all be\r\nwell. You are too precious to us to have such risk. When we part\r\ntonight, you no more must question. We shall tell you all in good\r\ntime. We are men and are able to bear, but you must be our star and\r\nour hope, and we shall act all the more free that you are not in\r\nthe danger, such as we are.\"\r\n\r\nAll the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved, but it did not seem\r\nto me good that they should brave danger and, perhaps lessen their\r\nsafety, strength being the best safety, through care of me, but\r\ntheir minds were made up, and though it was a bitter pill for me to\r\nswallow, I could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care\r\nof me.\r\n\r\nMr. Morris resumed the discussion, \"As there is no time to lose,\r\nI vote we have a look at his house right now. Time is everything\r\nwith him, and swift action on our part may save another\r\nvictim.\"\r\n\r\nI own that my heart began to fail me when the time for action\r\ncame so close, but I did not say anything, for I had a greater fear\r\nthat if I appeared as a drag or a hindrance to their work, they\r\nmight even leave me out of their counsels altogether. They have now\r\ngone off to Carfax, with means to get into the house.\r\n\r\nManlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep, as if a woman\r\ncan sleep when those she loves are in danger!I shall lie down, and\r\npretend to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he\r\nreturns.\r\n\r\nDR. SEWARD'S DIARY\r\n\r\n1 October, 4 a. m.\u2014Just as we were about to leave the house, an\r\nurgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would\r\nsee him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to\r\nsay to me. I told the messenger to say that I would attend to his\r\nwishes in the morning, I was busy just at the moment.\r\n\r\nThe attendant added, \"He seems very importunate, sir. I have\r\nnever seen him so eager. I don't know but what, if you don't see\r\nhim soon, he will have one of his violent fits.\" I knew the man\r\nwould not have said this without some cause, so I said, \"All right,\r\nI'll go now,\" and I asked the others to wait a few minutes for me,\r\nas I had to go and see my patient.\r\n\r\n\"Take me with you, friend John,\" said the Professor.\"His case in\r\nyour diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again\r\non our case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his\r\nmind is disturbed.\"\r\n\r\n\"May I come also?\" asked Lord Godalming.\r\n\r\n\"Me too?\" said Quincey Morris. \"May I come?\" said Harker. I\r\nnodded, and we all went down the passage together.\r\n\r\nWe found him in a state of considerable excitement, but far more\r\nrational in his speech and manner than I had ever seen him. There\r\nwas an unusual understanding of himself, which was unlike anything\r\nI had ever met with in a lunatic, and he took it for granted that\r\nhis reasons would prevail with others entirely sane. We all five\r\nwent into the room, but none of the others at first said anything.\r\nHis request was that I would at once release him from the asylum\r\nand send him home. This he backed up with arguments regarding his\r\ncomplete recovery, and adduced his own existing sanity.\r\n\r\n\"I appeal to your friends,\"he said,\"they will, perhaps, not mind\r\nsitting in judgement on my case. By the way, you have not\r\nintroduced me.\"\r\n\r\nI was so much astonished, that the oddness of introducing a\r\nmadman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment, and besides,\r\nthere was a certain dignity in the man's manner, so much of the\r\nhabit of equality, that I at once made the introduction, \"Lord\r\nGodalming, Professor Van Helsing, Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas, Mr.\r\nJonathan Harker, Mr. Renfield.\"\r\n\r\nHe shook hands with each of them, saying in turn, \"Lord\r\nGodalming, I had the honor of seconding your father at the Windham,\r\nI grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no more. He\r\nwas a man loved and honored by all who knew him, and in his youth\r\nwas, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much\r\npatronized on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your\r\ngreat state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may\r\nhave farreaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics\r\nmay hold alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may\r\nyet prove a vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine\r\ntakes its true place as a political fable. What shall any man say\r\nof his pleasure at meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for\r\ndropping all forms of conventional prefix. When an individual has\r\nrevolutionized therapeutics by his discovery of the continuous\r\nevolution of brain matter, conventional forms are unfitting, since\r\nthey would seem to limit him to one of a class. You, gentlemen, who\r\nby nationality, by heredity, or by the possession of natural gifts,\r\nare fitted to hold your respective places in the moving world, I\r\ntake to witness that I am as sane as at least the majority of men\r\nwho are in full possession of their liberties. And I am sure that\r\nyou, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as well as\r\nscientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to be\r\nconsidered as under exceptional circumstances.\"He made this last\r\nappeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its\r\nown charm.\r\n\r\nI think we were all staggered. For my own part, I was under the\r\nconviction, despite my knowledge of the man's character and\r\nhistory, that his reason had been restored, and I felt under a\r\nstrong impulse to tell him that I was satisfied as to his sanity,\r\nand would see about the necessary formalities for his release in\r\nthe morning. I thought it better to wait, however, before making so\r\ngrave a statement, for of old I knew the sudden changes to which\r\nthis particular patient was liable. So I contented myself with\r\nmaking a general statement that he appeared to be improving very\r\nrapidly, that I would have a longer chat with him in the morning,\r\nand would then see what I could do in the direction of meeting his\r\nwishes.\r\n\r\nThis did not at all satisfy him, for he said quickly, \"But I\r\nfear, Dr. Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish. I desire to go\r\nat once, here, now, this very hour, this very moment, if I may.\r\nTime presses, and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman\r\nit is of the essence of the contract. I am sure it is only\r\nnecessary to put before so admirable a practitioner as Dr. Seward\r\nso simple, yet so momentous a wish, to ensure its fulfilment.\"\r\n\r\nHe looked at me keenly, and seeing the negative in my face,\r\nturned to the others, and scrutinized them closely. Not meeting any\r\nsufficient response, he went on, \"Is it possible that I have erred\r\nin my supposition?\"\r\n\r\n\"You have,\" I said frankly, but at the same time, as I felt,\r\nbrutally.\r\n\r\nThere was a considerable pause, and then he said slowly, \"Then I\r\nsuppose I must only shift my ground of request. Let me ask for this\r\nconcession, boon, privilege, what you will. I am content to implore\r\nin such a case, not on personal grounds, but for the sake of\r\nothers. I am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons,\r\nbut you may, I assure you, take it from me that they are good ones,\r\nsound and unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty.\r\n\r\n\"Could you look, sir, into my heart, you would approve to the\r\nfull the sentiments which animate me. Nay, more, you would count me\r\namongst the best and truest of your friends.\"\r\n\r\nAgain he looked at us all keenly. I had a growing conviction\r\nthat this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was but\r\nyet another phase of his madness, and so determined to let him go\r\non a little longer, knowing from experience that he would, like all\r\nlunatics, give himself away in the end. Van Helsing was gazing at\r\nhim with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost\r\nmeeting with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to\r\nRenfield in a tone which did not surprise me at the time, but only\r\nwhen I thought of it afterwards, for it was as of one addressing an\r\nequal, \"Can you not tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be\r\nfree tonight? I will undertake that if you will satisfy even me, a\r\nstranger, without prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open\r\nmind, Dr. Seward will give you, at his own risk and on his own\r\nresponsibility, the privilege you seek.\"\r\n\r\nHe shook his head sadly, and with a look of poignant regret on\r\nhis face. The Professor went on, \"Come, sir, bethink yourself. You\r\nclaim the privilege of reason in the highest degree, since you seek\r\nto impress us with your complete reasonableness. You do this, whose\r\nsanity we have reason to doubt, since you are not yet released from\r\nmedical treatment for this very defect. If you will not help us in\r\nour effort to choose the wisest course, how can we perform the duty\r\nwhich you yourself put upon us? Be wise, and help us, and if we can\r\nwe shall aid you to achieve your wish.\"\r\n\r\nHe still shook his head as he said, \"Dr. Van Helsing, I have\r\nnothing to say. Your argument is complete, and if I were free to\r\nspeak I should not hesitate a moment, but I am not my own master in\r\nthe matter. I can only ask you to trust me. If I am refused, the\r\nresponsibility does not rest with me.\"\r\n\r\nI thought it was now time to end the scene, which was becoming\r\ntoo comically grave, so I went towards the door, simply saying,\r\n\"Come, my friends, we have work to do. Goodnight.\"\r\n\r\nAs, however, I got near the door, a new change came over the\r\npatient. He moved towards me so quickly that for the moment I\r\nfeared that he was about to make another homicidal attack. My\r\nfears, however, were groundless, for he held up his two hands\r\nimploringly, and made his petition in a moving manner. As he saw\r\nthat the very excess of his emotion was militating against him, by\r\nrestoring us more to our old relations, he became still more\r\ndemonstrative. I glanced at Van Helsing, and saw my conviction\r\nreflected in his eyes, so I became a little more fixed in my\r\nmanner, if not more stern, and motioned to him that his efforts\r\nwere unavailing. I had previously seen something of the same\r\nconstantly growing excitement in him when he had to make some\r\nrequest of which at the time he had thought much, such for\r\ninstance, as when he wanted a cat, and I was prepared to see the\r\ncollapse into the same sullen acquiescence on this occasion.\r\n\r\nMy expectation was not realized, for when he found that his\r\nappeal would not be successful, he got into quite a frantic\r\ncondition. He threw himself on his knees, and held up his hands,\r\nwringing them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a torrent\r\nof entreaty, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his whole\r\nface and form expressive of the deepest emotion.\r\n\r\n\"Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let\r\nme out of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where\r\nyou will, send keepers with me with whips and chains, let them take\r\nme in a strait waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to gaol,\r\nbut let me go out of this. You don't know what you do by keeping me\r\nhere. I am speaking from the depths of my heart, of my very soul.\r\nYou don't know whom you wrong, or how, and I may not tell. Woe is\r\nme! I may not tell. By all you hold sacred, by all you hold dear,\r\nby your love that is lost, by your hope that lives, for the sake of\r\nthe Almighty, take me out of this and save my soul from guilt!\r\nCan't you hear me, man? Can't you understand? Will you never learn?\r\nDon't you know that I am sane and earnest now, that I am no lunatic\r\nin a mad fit, but a sane man fighting for his soul? Oh, hear me!\r\nHear me! Let me go, let me go, let me go!\"\r\n\r\nI thought that the longer this went on the wilder he would get,\r\nand so would bring on a fit, so I took him by the hand and raised\r\nhim up.\r\n\r\n\"Come,\" I said sternly, \"no more of this, we have had quite\r\nenough already. Get to your bed and try to behave more\r\ndiscreetly.\"\r\n\r\nHe suddenly stopped and looked at me intently for several\r\nmoments. Then, without a word, he rose and moving over, sat down on\r\nthe side of the bed. The collapse had come, as on former occasions,\r\njust as I had expected.\r\n\r\nWhen I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in\r\na quiet, well-bred voice, \"You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the\r\njustice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to\r\nconvince you tonight.\"\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n","rendered":"
\n

30 September.\u2014I got home at five o’clock, and found that
\nGodalming and Morris had not only arrived, but had already studied
\nthe transcript of the various diaries and letters which Harker had
\nnot yet returned from his visit to the carriers’ men, of whom Dr.
\nHennessey had written to me. Mrs. Harker gave us a cup of tea, and
\nI can honestly say that, for the first time since I have lived in
\nit, this old house seemed like home. When we had finished, Mrs.
\nHarker said,<\/p>\n

“Dr. Seward, may I ask a favor? I want to see your patient, Mr.
\nRenfield. Do let me see him. What you have said of him in your
\ndiary interests me so much!”<\/p>\n

She looked so appealing and so pretty that I could not refuse
\nher, and there was no possible reason why I should, so I took her
\nwith me. When I went into the room, I told the man that a lady
\nwould like to see him, to which he simply answered, “Why?”<\/p>\n

“She is going through the house, and wants to see every one in
\nit,” I answered.<\/p>\n

“Oh, very well,” he said,”let her come in, by all means, but
\njust wait a minute till I tidy up the place.”<\/p>\n

His method of tidying was peculiar, he simply swallowed all the
\nflies and spiders in the boxes before I could stop him. It was
\nquite evident that he feared, or was jealous of, some interference.
\nWhen he had got through his disgusting task, he said cheerfully,
\n“Let the lady come in,” and sat down on the edge of his bed with
\nhis head down, but with his eyelids raised so that he could see her
\nas she entered. For a moment I thought that he might have some
\nhomicidal intent. I remembered how quiet he had been just before he
\nattacked me in my own study, and I took care to stand where I could
\nseize him at once if he attempted to make a spring at her.<\/p>\n

She came into the room with an easy gracefulness which would at
\nonce command the respect of any lunatic, for easiness is one of the
\nqualities mad people most respect. She walked over to him, smiling
\npleasantly, and held out her hand.<\/p>\n

“Good evening, Mr. Renfield,” said she. “You see, I know you,
\nfor Dr. Seward has told me of you.” He made no immediate reply, but
\neyed her all over intently with a set frown on his face. This look
\ngave way to one of wonder, which merged in doubt, then to my
\nintense astonishment he said, “You’re not the girl the doctor
\nwanted to marry, are you? You can’t be, you know, for she’s
\ndead.”<\/p>\n

Mrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied, “Oh no! I have a
\nhusband of my own, to whom I was married before I ever saw Dr.
\nSeward, or he me. I am Mrs. Harker.”<\/p>\n

“Then what are you doing here?”<\/p>\n

“My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward.”<\/p>\n

“Then don’t stay.”<\/p>\n

“But why not?”<\/p>\n

I thought that this style of conversation might not be pleasant
\nto Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in, “How
\ndid you know I wanted to marry anyone?”<\/p>\n

His reply was simply contemptuous, given in a pause in which he
\nturned his eyes from Mrs. Harker to me, instantly turning them back
\nagain, “What an asinine question!”<\/p>\n

“I don’t see that at all, Mr. Renfield,”said Mrs. Harker, at
\nonce championing me.<\/p>\n

He replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as he had
\nshown contempt to me, “You will, of course, understand, Mrs.
\nHarker, that when a man is so loved and honored as our host is,
\neverything regarding him is of interest in our little community.
\nDr. Seward is loved not only by his household and his friends, but
\neven by his patients, who, being some of them hardly in mental
\nequilibrium, are apt to distort causes and effects. Since I myself
\nhave been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I cannot but notice that
\nthe sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates lean towards the
\nerrors of non causa and ignoratio elenche.”<\/p>\n

I positively opened my eyes at this new development. Here was my
\nown pet lunatic, the most pronounced of his type that I had ever
\nmet with, talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a
\npolished gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker’s presence which
\nhad touched some chord in his memory. If this new phase was
\nspontaneous, or in any way due to her unconscious influence, she
\nmust have some rare gift or power.<\/p>\n

We continued to talk for some time, and seeing that he was
\nseemingly quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me
\nquestioningly as she began, to lead him to his favorite topic. I
\nwas again astonished, for he addressed himself to the question with
\nthe impartiality of the completest sanity. He even took himself as
\nan example when he mentioned certain things.<\/p>\n

“Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief.
\nIndeed, it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted
\non my being put under control. I used to fancy that life was a
\npositive and perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of
\nlive things, no matter how low in the scale of creation, one might
\nindefinitely prolong life. At times I held the belief so strongly
\nthat I actually tried to take human life. The doctor here will bear
\nme out that on one occasion I tried to kill him for the purpose of
\nstrengthening my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body
\nof his life through the medium of his blood, relying of course,
\nupon the Scriptural phrase, `For the blood is the life.’ Though,
\nindeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has vulgarized the truism
\nto the very point of contempt. Isn’t that true, doctor?”<\/p>\n

I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to
\neither think or say, it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat
\nup his spiders and flies not five minutes before. Looking at my
\nwatch, I saw that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing,
\nso I told Mrs. Harker that it was time to leave.<\/p>\n

She came at once, after saying pleasantly to Mr. Renfield,
\n“Goodbye, and I hope I may see you often, under auspices pleasanter
\nto yourself.”<\/p>\n

To which, to my astonishment, he replied, “Goodbye, my dear. I
\npray God I may never see your sweet face again. May He bless and
\nkeep you!”<\/p>\n

When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys
\nbehind me. Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since
\nLucy first took ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self
\nthan he has been for many a long day.<\/p>\n

Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness
\nof a boy. He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying, “Ah,
\nfriend John, how goes all? Well? So! I have been busy, for I come
\nhere to stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me, and I
\nhave much to tell. Madam Mina is with you? Yes. And her so fine
\nhusband? And Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too?
\nGood!”<\/p>\n

As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of
\nhow my own diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker’s
\nsuggestion, at which the Professor interrupted me.<\/p>\n

“Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man’s brain, a brain
\nthat a man should have were he much gifted, and a woman’s heart.
\nThe good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made
\nthat so good combination. Friend John, up to now fortune has made
\nthat woman of help to us, after tonight she must not have to do
\nwith this so terrible affair. It is not good that she run a risk so
\ngreat. We men are determined, nay, are we not pledged, to destroy
\nthis monster? But it is no part for a woman. Even if she be not
\nharmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors and
\nhereafter she may suffer, both in waking,from her nerves, and in
\nsleep,from her dreams. And, besides, she is young woman and not so
\nlong married, there may be other things to think of some time, if
\nnot now. You tell me she has wrote all, then she must consult with
\nus, but tomorrow she say goodbye to this work, and we go
\nalone.”<\/p>\n

I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we had
\nfound in his absence, that the house which Dracula had bought was
\nthe very next one to my own. He was amazed, and a great concern
\nseemed to come on him.<\/p>\n

“Oh that we had known it before!” he said, “for then we might
\nhave reached him in time to save poor Lucy. However, `the milk that
\nis spilt cries not out afterwards,’as you say. We shall not think
\nof that, but go on our way to the end.” Then he fell into a silence
\nthat lasted till we entered my own gateway. Before we went to
\nprepare for dinner he said to Mrs. Harker, “I am told, Madam Mina,
\nby my friend John that you and your husband have put up in exact
\norder all things that have been, up to this moment.”<\/p>\n

“Not up to this moment, Professor,”she said impulsively, “but up
\nto this morning.”<\/p>\n

“But why not up to now? We have seen hitherto how good light all
\nthe little things have made. We have told our secrets, and yet no
\none who has told is the worse for it.”<\/p>\n

Mrs. Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from her pockets,
\nshe said, “Dr. Van Helsing, will you read this, and tell me if it
\nmust go in. It is my record of today. I too have seen the need of
\nputting down at present everything, however trivial, but there is
\nlittle in this except what is personal. Must it go in?”<\/p>\n

The Professor read it over gravely, and handed it back, saying,
\n“It need not go in if you do not wish it, but I pray that it may.
\nIt can but make your husband love you the more, and all us, your
\nfriends, more honor you, as well as more esteem and love.” She took
\nit back with another blush and a bright smile.<\/p>\n

And so now, up to this very hour, all the records we have are
\ncomplete and in order. The Professor took away one copy to study
\nafter dinner, and before our meeting, which is fixed for nine
\no’clock. The rest of us have already read everything, so when we
\nmeet in the study we shall all be informed as to facts, and can
\narrange our plan of battle with this terrible and mysterious
\nenemy.<\/p>\n

MINA HARKER’S JOURNAL<\/p>\n

30 September.\u2014When we met in Dr. Seward’s study two hours after
\ndinner, which had been at six o’clock, we unconsciously formed a
\nsort of board or committee. Professor Van Helsing took the head of
\nthe table, to which Dr. Seward motioned him as he came into the
\nroom. He made me sit next to him on his right, and asked me to act
\nas secretary. Jonathan sat next to me. Opposite us were Lord
\nGodalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris, Lord Godalming being next
\nthe Professor, and Dr. Seward in the center.<\/p>\n

The Professor said, “I may, I suppose, take it that we are all
\nacquainted with the facts that are in these papers.” We all
\nexpressed assent, and he went on, “Then it were, I think, good that
\nI tell you something of the kind of enemy with which we have to
\ndeal. I shall then make known to you something of the history of
\nthis man, which has been ascertained for me. So we then can discuss
\nhow we shall act, and can take our measure according.<\/p>\n

“There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence
\nthat they exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy
\nexperience, the teachings and the records of the past give proof
\nenough for sane peoples. I admit that at the first I was sceptic.
\nWere it not that through long years I have trained myself to keep
\nan open mind, I could not have believed until such time as that
\nfact thunder on my ear.`See! See! I prove, I prove.’ Alas! Had I
\nknown at first what now I know, nay, had I even guess at him, one
\nso precious life had been spared to many of us who did love her.
\nBut that is gone, and we must so work, that other poor souls perish
\nnot, whilst we can save. The nosferatu do not die like the bee when
\nhe sting once. He is only stronger, and being stronger, have yet
\nmore power to work evil. This vampire which is amongst us is of
\nhimself so strong in person as twenty men, he is of cunning more
\nthan mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages, he have still
\nthe aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the
\ndivination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to
\nare for him at command, he is brute, and more than brute, he is
\ndevil in callous, and the heart of him is not, he can, within his
\nrange, direct the elements, the storm, the fog, the thunder, he can
\ncommand all the meaner things, the rat, and the owl, and the bat,
\nthe moth, and the fox, and the wolf, he can grow and become small,
\nand he can at times vanish and come unknown. How then are we to
\nbegin our strike to destroy him? How shall we find his where, and
\nhaving found it, how can we destroy? My friends, this is much, it
\nis a terrible task that we undertake, and there may be consequence
\nto make the brave shudder. For if we fail in this our fight he must
\nsurely win, and then where end we? Life is nothings, I heed him
\nnot. But to fail here, is not mere life or death. It is that we
\nbecome as him, that we henceforward become foul things of the night
\nlike him, without heart or conscience, preying on the bodies and
\nthe souls of those we love best. To us forever are the gates of
\nheaven shut, for who shall open them to us again? We go on for all
\ntime abhorred by all, a blot on the face of God’s sunshine, an
\narrow in the side of Him who died for man. But we are face to face
\nwith duty, and in such case must we shrink? For me, I say no, but
\nthen I am old, and life, with his sunshine, his fair places, his
\nsong of birds, his music and his love, lie far behind. You others
\nare young. Some have seen sorrow, but there are fair days yet in
\nstore. What say you?”<\/p>\n

Whilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken my hand. I feared, oh
\nso much, that the appalling nature of our danger was overcoming him
\nwhen I saw his hand stretch out, but it was life to me to feel its
\ntouch, so strong, so self reliant, so resolute. A brave man’s hand
\ncan speak for itself, it does not even need a woman’s love to hear
\nits music.<\/p>\n

When the Professor had done speaking my husband looked in my
\neyes, and I in his, there was no need for speaking between us.<\/p>\n

“I answer for Mina and myself,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Count me in, Professor,” said Mr. Quincey Morris, laconically
\nas usual.<\/p>\n

“I am with you,” said Lord Godalming, “for Lucy’s sake, if for
\nno other reason.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Seward simply nodded.<\/p>\n

The Professor stood up and, after laying his golden crucifix on
\nthe table, held out his hand on either side. I took his right hand,
\nand Lord Godalming his left, Jonathan held my right with his left
\nand stretched across to Mr. Morris. So as we all took hands our
\nsolemn compact was made. I felt my heart icy cold, but it did not
\neven occur to me to draw back. We resumed our places, and Dr. Van
\nHelsing went on with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the
\nserious work had begun. It was to be taken as gravely, and in as
\nbusinesslike a way, as any other transaction of life.<\/p>\n

“Well, you know what we have to contend against, but we too, are
\nnot without strength. We have on our side power of combination, a
\npower denied to the vampire kind, we have sources of science, we
\nare free to act and think, and the hours of the day and the night
\nare ours equally. In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are
\nunfettered, and we are free to use them. We have self devotion in a
\ncause and an end to achieve which is not a selfish one. These
\nthings are much.<\/p>\n

“Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us
\nare restrict, and how the individual cannot. In fine, let us
\nconsider the limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one
\nin particular.<\/p>\n

“All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions. These
\ndo not at the first appear much, when the matter is one of life and
\ndeath, nay of more than either life or death. Yet must we be
\nsatisfied, in the first place because we have to be, no other means
\nis at our control, and secondly, because, after all these things,
\ntradition and superstition, are everything. Does not the belief in
\nvampires rest for others, though not, alas! for us, on them! A year
\nago which of us would have received such a possibility, in the
\nmidst of our scientific, sceptical, matter-of-fact nineteenth
\ncentury? We even scouted a belief that we saw justified under our
\nvery eyes. Take it, then, that the vampire, and the belief in his
\nlimitations and his cure, rest for the moment on the same base.
\nFor, let me tell you, he is known everywhere that men have been. In
\nold Greece, in old Rome, he flourish in Germany all over, in
\nFrance, in India, even in the Chermosese, and in China, so far from
\nus in all ways, there even is he, and the peoples for him at this
\nday. He have follow the wake of the berserker Icelander, the
\ndevil-begotten Hun, the Slav, the Saxon, the Magyar.<\/p>\n

“So far, then, we have all we may act upon, and let me tell you
\nthat very much of the beliefs are justified by what we have seen in
\nour own so unhappy experience. The vampire live on, and cannot die
\nby mere passing of the time, he can flourish when that he can
\nfatten on the blood of the living. Even more, we have seen amongst
\nus that he can even grow younger, that his vital faculties grow
\nstrenuous, and seem as though they refresh themselves when his
\nspecial pabulum is plenty.<\/p>\n

“But he cannot flourish without this diet, he eat not as others.
\nEven friend Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see
\nhim eat, never! He throws no shadow, he make in the mirror no
\nreflect, as again Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of
\nhis hand, witness again Jonathan when he shut the door against the
\nwolves, and when he help him from the diligence too. He can
\ntransform himself to wolf, as we gather from the ship arrival in
\nWhitby, when he tear open the dog, he can be as bat, as Madam Mina
\nsaw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John saw him fly
\nfrom this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at the
\nwindow of Miss Lucy.<\/p>\n

“He can come in mist which he create, that noble ship’s captain
\nproved him of this, but, from what we know, the distance he can
\nmake this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself.<\/p>\n

“He come on moonlight rays as elemental dust, as again Jonathan
\nsaw those sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small, we
\nourselves saw Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a
\nhairbreadth space at the tomb door. He can, when once he find his
\nway, come out from anything or into anything, no matter how close
\nit be bound or even fused up with fire, solder you call it. He can
\nsee in the dark, no small power this, in a world which is one half
\nshut from the light. Ah, but hear me through.<\/p>\n

“He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay, he is even
\nmore prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his
\ncell. He cannot go where he lists, he who is not of nature has yet
\nto obey some of nature’s laws, why we know not. He may not enter
\nanywhere at the first, unless there be some one of the household
\nwho bid him to come, though afterwards he can come as he please.
\nHis power ceases, as does that of all evil things, at the coming of
\nthe day.<\/p>\n

“Only at certain times can he have limited freedom. If he be not
\nat the place whither he is bound, he can only change himself at
\nnoon or at exact sunrise or sunset. These things we are told, and
\nin this record of ours we have proof by inference. Thus, whereas he
\ncan do as he will within his limit, when he have his earth-home,his
\ncoffin-home, his hellhome, the place unhallowed, as we saw when he
\nwent to the grave of the suicide at Whitby, still at other time he
\ncan only change when the time come. It is said, too, that he can
\nonly pass running water at the slack or the flood of the tide. Then
\nthere are things which so afflict him that he has no power, as the
\ngarlic that we know of, and as for things sacred, as this symbol,
\nmy crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to them
\nhe is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and
\nsilent with respect. There are others, too, which I shall tell you
\nof, lest in our seeking we may need them.<\/p>\n

“The branch of wild rose on his coffin keep him that he move not
\nfrom it, a sacred bullet fired into the coffin kill him so that he
\nbe true dead, and as for the stake through him, we know already of
\nits peace, or the cut off head that giveth rest. We have seen it
\nwith our eyes.<\/p>\n

“Thus when we find the habitation of this man-that-was, we can
\nconfine him to his coffin and destroy him, if we obey what we know.
\nBut he is clever. I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth
\nUniversity, to make his record, and from all the means that are, he
\ntell me of what he has been. He must, indeed, have been that
\nVoivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great
\nriver on the very frontier of Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he
\nno common man, for in that time, and for centuries after, he was
\nspoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the
\nbravest of the sons of the `land beyond the forest.’ That mighty
\nbrain and that iron resolution went with him to his grave, and are
\neven now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says Arminius, a
\ngreat and noble race, though now and again were scions who were
\nheld by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They
\nlearned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over
\nLake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his
\ndue. In the records are such words as `stregoica’ witch, `ordog’
\nand `pokol’ Satan and hell, and in one manuscript this very Dracula
\nis spoken of as `wampyr,’which we all understand too well. There
\nhave been from the loins of this very one great men and good women,
\nand their graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness
\ncan dwell. For it is not the least of its terrors that this evil
\nthing is rooted deep in all good, in soil barren of holy memories
\nit cannot rest.”<\/p>\n

Whilst they were talking Mr. Morris was looking steadily at the
\nwindow, and he now got up quietly, and went out of the room. There
\nwas a little pause, and then the Professor went on.<\/p>\n

“And now we must settle what we do. We have here much data, and
\nwe must proceed to lay out our campaign. We know from the inquiry
\nof Jonathan that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of
\nearth, all of which were delivered at Carfax, we also know that at
\nleast some of these boxes have been removed. It seems to me, that
\nour first step should be to ascertain whether all the rest remain
\nin the house beyond that wall where we look today, or whether any
\nmore have been removed. If the latter, we must trace\u00a0\u2026 ”<\/p>\n

Here we were interrupted in a very startling way. Outside the
\nhouse came the sound of a pistol shot, the glass of the window was
\nshattered with a bullet, which ricochetting from the top of the
\nembrasure, struck the far wall of the room. I am afraid I am at
\nheart a coward, for I shrieked out. The men all jumped to their
\nfeet, Lord Godalming flew over to the window and threw up the sash.
\nAs he did so we heard Mr. Morris’ voice without, “Sorry! I fear I
\nhave alarmed you. I shall come in and tell you about it.”<\/p>\n

A minute later he came in and said, “It was an idiotic thing of
\nme to do, and I ask your pardon, Mrs. Harker, most sincerely, I
\nfear I must have frightened you terribly. But the fact is that
\nwhilst the Professor was talking there came a big bat and sat on
\nthe window sill. I have got such a horror of the damned brutes from
\nrecent events that I cannot stand them, and I went out to have a
\nshot, as I have been doing of late of evenings, whenever I have
\nseen one. You used to laugh at me for it then, Art.”<\/p>\n

“Did you hit it?” asked Dr. Van Helsing.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know, I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood.”
\nWithout saying any more he took his seat, and the Professor began
\nto resume his statement.<\/p>\n

“We must trace each of these boxes, and when we are ready, we
\nmust either capture or kill this monster in his lair, or we must,
\nso to speak, sterilize the earth, so that no more he can seek
\nsafety in it. Thus in the end we may find him in his form of man
\nbetween the hours of noon and sunset, and so engage with him when
\nhe is at his most weak.<\/p>\n

“And now for you, Madam Mina,this night is the end until all be
\nwell. You are too precious to us to have such risk. When we part
\ntonight, you no more must question. We shall tell you all in good
\ntime. We are men and are able to bear, but you must be our star and
\nour hope, and we shall act all the more free that you are not in
\nthe danger, such as we are.”<\/p>\n

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

Mr. Morris resumed the discussion, “As there is no time to lose,
\nI vote we have a look at his house right now. Time is everything
\nwith him, and swift action on our part may save another
\nvictim.”<\/p>\n

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

Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep, as if a woman
\ncan sleep when those she loves are in danger!I shall lie down, and
\npretend to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he
\nreturns.<\/p>\n

DR. SEWARD’S DIARY<\/p>\n

1 October, 4 a. m.\u2014Just as we were about to leave the house, an
\nurgent message was brought to me from Renfield to know if I would
\nsee him at once, as he had something of the utmost importance to
\nsay to me. I told the messenger to say that I would attend to his
\nwishes in the morning, I was busy just at the moment.<\/p>\n

The attendant added, “He seems very importunate, sir. I have
\nnever seen him so eager. I don’t know but what, if you don’t see
\nhim soon, he will have one of his violent fits.” I knew the man
\nwould not have said this without some cause, so I said, “All right,
\nI’ll go now,” and I asked the others to wait a few minutes for me,
\nas I had to go and see my patient.<\/p>\n

“Take me with you, friend John,” said the Professor.”His case in
\nyour diary interest me much, and it had bearing, too, now and again
\non our case. I should much like to see him, and especial when his
\nmind is disturbed.”<\/p>\n

“May I come also?” asked Lord Godalming.<\/p>\n

“Me too?” said Quincey Morris. “May I come?” said Harker. I
\nnodded, and we all went down the passage together.<\/p>\n

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

“I appeal to your friends,”he said,”they will, perhaps, not mind
\nsitting in judgement on my case. By the way, you have not
\nintroduced me.”<\/p>\n

I was so much astonished, that the oddness of introducing a
\nmadman in an asylum did not strike me at the moment, and besides,
\nthere was a certain dignity in the man’s manner, so much of the
\nhabit of equality, that I at once made the introduction, “Lord
\nGodalming, Professor Van Helsing, Mr. Quincey Morris, of Texas, Mr.
\nJonathan Harker, Mr. Renfield.”<\/p>\n

He shook hands with each of them, saying in turn, “Lord
\nGodalming, I had the honor of seconding your father at the Windham,
\nI grieve to know, by your holding the title, that he is no more. He
\nwas a man loved and honored by all who knew him, and in his youth
\nwas, I have heard, the inventor of a burnt rum punch, much
\npatronized on Derby night. Mr. Morris, you should be proud of your
\ngreat state. Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may
\nhave farreaching effects hereafter, when the Pole and the Tropics
\nmay hold alliance to the Stars and Stripes. The power of Treaty may
\nyet prove a vast engine of enlargement, when the Monroe doctrine
\ntakes its true place as a political fable. What shall any man say
\nof his pleasure at meeting Van Helsing? Sir, I make no apology for
\ndropping all forms of conventional prefix. When an individual has
\nrevolutionized therapeutics by his discovery of the continuous
\nevolution of brain matter, conventional forms are unfitting, since
\nthey would seem to limit him to one of a class. You, gentlemen, who
\nby nationality, by heredity, or by the possession of natural gifts,
\nare fitted to hold your respective places in the moving world, I
\ntake to witness that I am as sane as at least the majority of men
\nwho are in full possession of their liberties. And I am sure that
\nyou, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-jurist as well as
\nscientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to be
\nconsidered as under exceptional circumstances.”He made this last
\nappeal with a courtly air of conviction which was not without its
\nown charm.<\/p>\n

I think we were all staggered. For my own part, I was under the
\nconviction, despite my knowledge of the man’s character and
\nhistory, that his reason had been restored, and I felt under a
\nstrong impulse to tell him that I was satisfied as to his sanity,
\nand would see about the necessary formalities for his release in
\nthe morning. I thought it better to wait, however, before making so
\ngrave a statement, for of old I knew the sudden changes to which
\nthis particular patient was liable. So I contented myself with
\nmaking a general statement that he appeared to be improving very
\nrapidly, that I would have a longer chat with him in the morning,
\nand would then see what I could do in the direction of meeting his
\nwishes.<\/p>\n

This did not at all satisfy him, for he said quickly, “But I
\nfear, Dr. Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish. I desire to go
\nat once, here, now, this very hour, this very moment, if I may.
\nTime presses, and in our implied agreement with the old scytheman
\nit is of the essence of the contract. I am sure it is only
\nnecessary to put before so admirable a practitioner as Dr. Seward
\nso simple, yet so momentous a wish, to ensure its fulfilment.”<\/p>\n

He looked at me keenly, and seeing the negative in my face,
\nturned to the others, and scrutinized them closely. Not meeting any
\nsufficient response, he went on, “Is it possible that I have erred
\nin my supposition?”<\/p>\n

“You have,” I said frankly, but at the same time, as I felt,
\nbrutally.<\/p>\n

There was a considerable pause, and then he said slowly, “Then I
\nsuppose I must only shift my ground of request. Let me ask for this
\nconcession, boon, privilege, what you will. I am content to implore
\nin such a case, not on personal grounds, but for the sake of
\nothers. I am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons,
\nbut you may, I assure you, take it from me that they are good ones,
\nsound and unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty.<\/p>\n

“Could you look, sir, into my heart, you would approve to the
\nfull the sentiments which animate me. Nay, more, you would count me
\namongst the best and truest of your friends.”<\/p>\n

Again he looked at us all keenly. I had a growing conviction
\nthat this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was but
\nyet another phase of his madness, and so determined to let him go
\non a little longer, knowing from experience that he would, like all
\nlunatics, give himself away in the end. Van Helsing was gazing at
\nhim with a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost
\nmeeting with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to
\nRenfield in a tone which did not surprise me at the time, but only
\nwhen I thought of it afterwards, for it was as of one addressing an
\nequal, “Can you not tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be
\nfree tonight? I will undertake that if you will satisfy even me, a
\nstranger, without prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open
\nmind, Dr. Seward will give you, at his own risk and on his own
\nresponsibility, the privilege you seek.”<\/p>\n

He shook his head sadly, and with a look of poignant regret on
\nhis face. The Professor went on, “Come, sir, bethink yourself. You
\nclaim the privilege of reason in the highest degree, since you seek
\nto impress us with your complete reasonableness. You do this, whose
\nsanity we have reason to doubt, since you are not yet released from
\nmedical treatment for this very defect. If you will not help us in
\nour effort to choose the wisest course, how can we perform the duty
\nwhich you yourself put upon us? Be wise, and help us, and if we can
\nwe shall aid you to achieve your wish.”<\/p>\n

He still shook his head as he said, “Dr. Van Helsing, I have
\nnothing to say. Your argument is complete, and if I were free to
\nspeak I should not hesitate a moment, but I am not my own master in
\nthe matter. I can only ask you to trust me. If I am refused, the
\nresponsibility does not rest with me.”<\/p>\n

I thought it was now time to end the scene, which was becoming
\ntoo comically grave, so I went towards the door, simply saying,
\n“Come, my friends, we have work to do. Goodnight.”<\/p>\n

As, however, I got near the door, a new change came over the
\npatient. He moved towards me so quickly that for the moment I
\nfeared that he was about to make another homicidal attack. My
\nfears, however, were groundless, for he held up his two hands
\nimploringly, and made his petition in a moving manner. As he saw
\nthat the very excess of his emotion was militating against him, by
\nrestoring us more to our old relations, he became still more
\ndemonstrative. I glanced at Van Helsing, and saw my conviction
\nreflected in his eyes, so I became a little more fixed in my
\nmanner, if not more stern, and motioned to him that his efforts
\nwere unavailing. I had previously seen something of the same
\nconstantly growing excitement in him when he had to make some
\nrequest of which at the time he had thought much, such for
\ninstance, as when he wanted a cat, and I was prepared to see the
\ncollapse into the same sullen acquiescence on this occasion.<\/p>\n

My expectation was not realized, for when he found that his
\nappeal would not be successful, he got into quite a frantic
\ncondition. He threw himself on his knees, and held up his hands,
\nwringing them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a torrent
\nof entreaty, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, and his whole
\nface and form expressive of the deepest emotion.<\/p>\n

“Let me entreat you, Dr. Seward, oh, let me implore you, to let
\nme out of this house at once. Send me away how you will and where
\nyou will, send keepers with me with whips and chains, let them take
\nme in a strait waistcoat, manacled and leg-ironed, even to gaol,
\nbut let me go out of this. You don’t know what you do by keeping me
\nhere. I am speaking from the depths of my heart, of my very soul.
\nYou don’t know whom you wrong, or how, and I may not tell. Woe is
\nme! I may not tell. By all you hold sacred, by all you hold dear,
\nby your love that is lost, by your hope that lives, for the sake of
\nthe Almighty, take me out of this and save my soul from guilt!
\nCan’t you hear me, man? Can’t you understand? Will you never learn?
\nDon’t you know that I am sane and earnest now, that I am no lunatic
\nin a mad fit, but a sane man fighting for his soul? Oh, hear me!
\nHear me! Let me go, let me go, let me go!”<\/p>\n

I thought that the longer this went on the wilder he would get,
\nand so would bring on a fit, so I took him by the hand and raised
\nhim up.<\/p>\n

“Come,” I said sternly, “no more of this, we have had quite
\nenough already. Get to your bed and try to behave more
\ndiscreetly.”<\/p>\n

He suddenly stopped and looked at me intently for several
\nmoments. Then, without a word, he rose and moving over, sat down on
\nthe side of the bed. The collapse had come, as on former occasions,
\njust as I had expected.<\/p>\n

When I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in
\na quiet, well-bred voice, “You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the
\njustice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to
\nconvince you tonight.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":18,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-42","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/42\/revisions\/80"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/42\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}