{"id":46,"date":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/dracula-22\/"},"modified":"2019-02-26T01:31:22","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T01:31:22","slug":"22","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/22\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 22 - Jonathan Harker's Journal","rendered":"Chapter 22 – Jonathan Harker’s Journal"},"content":{"raw":"\r\n
\r\n\r\n3 October.\u2014As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary.\r\nIt is now six o'clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an\r\nhour and take something to eat, for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward\r\nare agreed that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best\r\nwill be, God knows, required today. I must keep writing at every\r\nchance, for I dare not stop to think. All, big and little, must go\r\ndown. Perhaps at the end the little things may teach us most. The\r\nteaching, big or little, could not have landed Mina or me anywhere\r\nworse than we are today. However, we must trust and hope. Poor Mina\r\ntold me just now, with the tears running down her dear cheeks, that\r\nit is in trouble and trial that our faith is tested. That we must\r\nkeep on trusting, and that God will aid us up to the end. The end!\r\nOh my God! What end?\u00a0\u2026 To work! To work!\r\n\r\nWhen Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing\r\npoor Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr.\r\nSeward told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to\r\nthe room below they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a\r\nheap. His face was all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the\r\nneck were broken.\r\n\r\nDr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if\r\nhe had heard anything. He said that he had been sitting down, he\r\nconfessed to half dozing, when he heard loud voices in the room,\r\nand then Renfield had called out loudly several times, \"God! God!\r\nGod!\" After that there was a sound of falling, and when he entered\r\nthe room he found him lying on the floor, face down, just as the\r\ndoctors had seen him. Van Helsing asked if he had heard \"voices\" or\r\n\"a voice,\" and he said he could not say. That at first it had\r\nseemed to him as if there were two, but as there was no one in the\r\nroom it could have been only one. He could swear to it, if\r\nrequired, that the word \"God\" was spoken by the patient.\r\n\r\nDr. Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish\r\nto go into the matter. The question of an inquest had to be\r\nconsidered, and it would never do to put forward the truth, as no\r\none would believe it. As it was, he thought that on the attendant's\r\nevidence he could give a certificate of death by misadventure in\r\nfalling from bed. In case the coroner should demand it, there would\r\nbe a formal inquest, necessarily to the same result.\r\n\r\nWhen the question began to be discussed as to what should be our\r\nnext step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be\r\nin full confidence. That nothing of any sort, no matter how\r\npainful, should be kept from her. She herself agreed as to its\r\nwisdom, and it was pitiful to see her so brave and yet so\r\nsorrowful, and in such a depth of despair.\r\n\r\n\"There must be no concealment,\" she said. \"Alas! We have had too\r\nmuch already. And besides there is nothing in all the world that\r\ncan give me more pain than I have already endured, than I suffer\r\nnow! Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage\r\nto me!\"\r\n\r\nVan Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said,\r\nsuddenly but quietly, \"But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid. Not\r\nfor yourself, but for others from yourself, after what has\r\nhappened?\"\r\n\r\nHer face grew set in its lines, but her eyes shone with the\r\ndevotion of a martyr as she answered, \"Ah no! For my mind is made\r\nup!\"\r\n\r\n\"To what?\" he asked gently, whilst we were all very still, for\r\neach in our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she\r\nmeant.\r\n\r\nHer answer came with direct simplicity, as though she was simply\r\nstating a fact, \"Because if I find in myself, and I shall watch\r\nkeenly for it, a sign of harm to any that I love, I shall die!\"\r\n\r\n\"You would not kill yourself?\" he asked, hoarsely.\r\n\r\n\"I would. If there were no friend who loved me, who would save\r\nme such a pain, and so desperate an effort!\" She looked at him\r\nmeaningly as she spoke.\r\n\r\nHe was sitting down, but now he rose and came close to her and\r\nput his hand on her head as he said solemnly. \"My child, there is\r\nsuch an one if it were for your good. For myself I could hold it in\r\nmy account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, even at\r\nthis moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But my child\u00a0\u2026\r\n\"\r\n\r\nFor a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his\r\nthroat. He gulped it down and went on, \"There are here some who\r\nwould stand between you and death. You must not die. You must not\r\ndie by any hand, but least of all your own. Until the other, who\r\nhas fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not die. For if\r\nhe is still with the quick Undead, your death would make you even\r\nas he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to live,\r\nthough death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death\r\nhimself, though he come to you in pain or in joy. By the day, or\r\nthe night, in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you\r\nthat you do not die. Nay, nor think of death, till this great evil\r\nbe past.\"\r\n\r\nThe poor dear grew white as death, and shook and shivered, as I\r\nhave seen a quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide.\r\nWe were all silent. We could do nothing. At length she grew more\r\ncalm and turning to him said sweetly, but oh so sorrowfully, as she\r\nheld out her hand, \"I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will\r\nlet me live, I shall strive to do so. Till, if it may be in His\r\ngood time, this horror may have passed away from me.\"\r\n\r\nShe was so good and brave that we all felt that our hearts were\r\nstrengthened to work and endure for her, and we began to discuss\r\nwhat we were to do. I told her that she was to have all the papers\r\nin the safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we might\r\nhereafter use, and was to keep the record as she had done before.\r\nShe was pleased with the prospect of anything to do, if \"pleased\"\r\ncould be used in connection with so grim an interest.\r\n\r\nAs usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was\r\nprepared with an exact ordering of our work.\r\n\r\n\"It is perhaps well,\" he said, \"that at our meeting after our\r\nvisit to Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth boxes\r\nthat lay there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our\r\npurpose, and would doubtless have taken measures in advance to\r\nfrustrate such an effort with regard to the others. But now he does\r\nnot know our intentions. Nay, more, in all probability, he does not\r\nknow that such a power exists to us as can sterilize his lairs, so\r\nthat he cannot use them as of old.\r\n\r\n\"We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as to\r\ntheir disposition that, when we have examined the house in\r\nPiccadilly, we may track the very last of them. Today then, is\r\nours, and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow\r\nthis morning guards us in its course. Until it sets tonight, that\r\nmonster must retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within\r\nthe limitations of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin\r\nair nor disappear through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go\r\nthrough a doorway, he must open the door like a mortal. And so we\r\nhave this day to hunt out all his lairs and sterilize them. So we\r\nshall, if we have not yet catch him and destroy him, drive him to\r\nbay in some place where the catching and the destroying shall be,\r\nin time, sure.\"\r\n\r\nHere I started up for I could not contain myself at the thought\r\nthat the minutes and seconds so preciously laden with Mina's life\r\nand happiness were flying from us, since whilst we talked action\r\nwas impossible. But Van Helsing held up his hand warningly.\r\n\r\n\"Nay, friend Jonathan,\" he said, \"in this, the quickest way home\r\nis the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all act and act\r\nwith desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in all\r\nprobable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly.\r\nThe Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will\r\nhave deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper\r\nthat he write on. He will have his book of cheques. There are many\r\nbelongings that he must have somewhere. Why not in this place so\r\ncentral, so quiet, where he come and go by the front or the back at\r\nall hours, when in the very vast of the traffic there is none to\r\nnotice. We shall go there and search that house. And when we learn\r\nwhat it holds, then we do what our friend Arthur call, in his\r\nphrases of hunt `stop the earths' and so we run down our old fox,\r\nso? Is it not?\"\r\n\r\n\"Then let us come at once,\" I cried, \"we are wasting the\r\nprecious, precious time!\"\r\n\r\nThe Professor did not move, but simply said, \"And how are we to\r\nget into that house in Piccadilly?\"\r\n\r\n\"Any way!\" I cried. \"We shall break in if need be.\"\r\n\r\n\"And your police? Where will they be, and what will they\r\nsay?\"\r\n\r\nI was staggered, but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a\r\ngood reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could, \"Don't wait\r\nmore than need be. You know, I am sure, what torture I am in.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah, my child, that I do. And indeed there is no wish of me to\r\nadd to your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the\r\nworld be at movement. Then will come our time. I have thought and\r\nthought, and it seems to me that the simplest way is the best of\r\nall. Now we wish to get into the house, but we have no key. Is it\r\nnot so?\"I nodded.\r\n\r\n\"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house,\r\nand could not still get in. And think there was to you no\r\nconscience of the housebreaker, what would you do?\"\r\n\r\n\"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to\r\npick the lock for me.\"\r\n\r\n\"And your police, they would interfere, would they not?\"\r\n\r\n\"Oh no! Not if they knew the man was properly employed.\"\r\n\r\n\"Then,\" he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, \"all that is in\r\ndoubt is the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your\r\npolicemen as to whether or not that employer has a good conscience\r\nor a bad one. Your police must indeed be zealous men and clever, oh\r\nso clever, in reading the heart, that they trouble themselves in\r\nsuch matter. No, no, my friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a\r\nhundred empty houses in this your London, or of any city in the\r\nworld, and if you do it as such things are rightly done, and at the\r\ntime such things are rightly done, no one will interfere. I have\r\nread of a gentleman who owned a so fine house in London, and when\r\nhe went for months of summer to Switzerland and lock up his house,\r\nsome burglar come and broke window at back and got in. Then he went\r\nand made open the shutters in front and walk out and in through the\r\ndoor, before the very eyes of the police. Then he have an auction\r\nin that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice. And when\r\nthe day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of\r\nthat other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he sell\r\nhim that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take\r\nall away within a certain time. And your police and other authority\r\nhelp him all they can. And when that owner come back from his\r\nholiday in Switzerland he find only an empty hole where his house\r\nhad been. This was all done en regle, and in our work we shall be\r\nen regle too. We shall not go so early that the policemen who have\r\nthen little to think of, shall deem it strange. But we shall go\r\nafter ten o'clock, when there are many about, and such things would\r\nbe done were we indeed owners of the house.\"\r\n\r\nI could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of\r\nMina's face became relaxed in thought. There was hope in such good\r\ncounsel.\r\n\r\nVan Helsing went on, \"When once within that house we may find\r\nmore clues. At any rate some of us can remain there whilst the rest\r\nfind the other places where there be more earth boxes, at\r\nBermondsey and Mile End.\"\r\n\r\nLord Godalming stood up. \"I can be of some use here,\" he said.\r\n\"I shall wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they\r\nwill be most convenient.\"\r\n\r\n\"Look here, old fellow,\" said Morris, \"it is a capital idea to\r\nhave all ready in case we want to go horse backing, but don't you\r\nthink that one of your snappy carriages with its heraldic\r\nadornments in a byway of Walworth or Mile End would attract too\r\nmuch attention for our purpose? It seems to me that we ought to\r\ntake cabs when we go south or east. And even leave them somewhere\r\nnear the neighborhood we are going to.\"\r\n\r\n\"Friend Quincey is right!\" said the Professor. \"His head is what\r\nyou call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we\r\ngo to do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it\r\nmay.\"\r\n\r\nMina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to\r\nsee that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a\r\ntime the terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale,\r\nalmost ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing\r\nher teeth in somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last,\r\nlest it should give her needless pain, but it made my blood run\r\ncold in my veins to think of what had occurred with poor Lucy when\r\nthe Count had sucked her blood. As yet there was no sign of the\r\nteeth growing sharper, but the time as yet was short, and there was\r\ntime for fear.\r\n\r\nWhen we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts\r\nand of the disposition of our forces, there were new sources of\r\ndoubt. It was finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we\r\nshould destroy the Count's lair close at hand. In case he should\r\nfind it out too soon, we should thus be still ahead of him in our\r\nwork of destruction. And his presence in his purely material shape,\r\nand at his weakest, might give us some new clue.\r\n\r\nAs to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor\r\nthat, after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in\r\nPiccadilly. That the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst\r\nLord Godalming and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End\r\nand destroyed them. It was possible, if not likely, the Professor\r\nurged, that the Count might appear in Piccadilly during the day,\r\nand that if so we might be able to cope with him then and there. At\r\nany rate, we might be able to follow him in force. To this plan I\r\nstrenuously objected, and so far as my going was concerned, for I\r\nsaid that I intended to stay and protect Mina. I thought that my\r\nmind was made up on the subject, but Mina would not listen to my\r\nobjection. She said that there might be some law matter in which I\r\ncould be useful. That amongst the Count's papers might be some clue\r\nwhich I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania. And\r\nthat, as it was, all the strength we could muster was required to\r\ncope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to give in, for\r\nMina's resolution was fixed. She said that it was the last hope for\r\nher that we should all work together.\r\n\r\n\"As for me,\" she said, \"I have no fear. Things have been as bad\r\nas they can be. And whatever may happen must have in it some\r\nelement of hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if He wishes\r\nit, guard me as well alone as with any one present.\"\r\n\r\nSo I started up crying out, \"Then in God's name let us come at\r\nonce, for we are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly\r\nearlier than we think.\"\r\n\r\n\"Not so!\" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand.\r\n\r\n\"But why?\" I asked.\r\n\r\n\"Do you forget,\" he said, with actually a smile, \"that last\r\nnight he banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?\"\r\n\r\nDid I forget! Shall I ever\u00a0\u2026 can I ever! Can any of us ever\r\nforget that terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave\r\ncountenance, but the pain overmastered her and she put her hands\r\nbefore her face, and shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had\r\nnot intended to recall her frightful experience. He had simply lost\r\nsight of her and her part in the affair in his intellectual\r\neffort.\r\n\r\nWhen it struck him what he said, he was horrified at his\r\nthoughtlessness and tried to comfort her.\r\n\r\n\"Oh, Madam Mina,\" he said,\"dear, dear, Madam Mina, alas! That I\r\nof all who so reverence you should have said anything so forgetful.\r\nThese stupid old lips of mine and this stupid old head do not\r\ndeserve so, but you will forget it, will you not?\" He bent low\r\nbeside her as he spoke.\r\n\r\nShe took his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said\r\nhoarsely, \"No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember.\r\nAnd with it I have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I\r\ntake it all together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is\r\nready, and we must all eat that we may be strong.\"\r\n\r\nBreakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful\r\nand encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most\r\ncheerful of us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said,\r\n\"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are\r\nwe all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our\r\nenemy's lair. Armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?\"\r\n\r\nWe all assured him.\r\n\r\n\"Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case quite\r\nsafe here until the sunset. And before then we shall return\u00a0\u2026\r\nif\u00a0\u2026 We shall return! But before we go let me see you armed\r\nagainst personal attack. I have myself, since you came down,\r\nprepared your chamber by the placing of things of which we know, so\r\nthat He may not enter. Now let me guard yourself. On your forehead\r\nI touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the name of the Father, the\r\nSon, and\u00a0\u2026\r\n\r\nThere was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to\r\nhear. As he had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared\r\nit\u00a0\u2026 had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece\r\nof whitehot metal. My poor darling's brain had told her the\r\nsignificance of the fact as quickly as her nerves received the pain\r\nof it, and the two so overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature\r\nhad its voice in that dreadful scream.\r\n\r\nBut the words to her thought came quickly. The echo of the\r\nscream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came the\r\nreaction, and she sank on her knees on the floor in an agony of\r\nabasement. Pulling her beautiful hair over her face, as the leper\r\nof old his mantle, she wailed out.\r\n\r\n\"Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I\r\nmust bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgement\r\nDay.\"\r\n\r\nThey all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of\r\nhelpless grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a\r\nfew minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends\r\naround us turned away their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van\r\nHelsing turned and said gravely. So gravely that I could not help\r\nfeeling that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things\r\noutside himself.\r\n\r\n\"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself\r\nsee fit, as He most surely shall, on the Judgement Day, to redress\r\nall wrongs of the earth and of His children that He has placed\r\nthereon. And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you\r\nbe there to see, when that red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of\r\nwhat has been, shall pass away, and leave your forehead as pure as\r\nthe heart we know. For so surely as we live, that scar shall pass\r\naway when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon us.\r\nTill then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His\r\nWill. It may be that we are chosen instruments of His good\r\npleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through\r\nstripes and shame. Through tears and blood. Through doubts and\r\nfear, and all that makes the difference between God and man.\"\r\n\r\nThere was hope in his words, and comfort. And they made for\r\nresignation. Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each\r\ntook one of the old man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then\r\nwithout a word we all knelt down together, and all holding hands,\r\nswore to be true to each other. We men pledged ourselves to raise\r\nthe veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way,\r\nwe loved. And we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task\r\nwhich lay before us. It was then time to start. So I said farewell\r\nto Mina, a parting which neither of us shall forget to our dying\r\nday, and we set out.\r\n\r\nTo one thing I have made up my mind. If we find out that Mina\r\nmust be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that\r\nunknown and terrible land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old\r\ntimes one vampire meant many. Just as their hideous bodies could\r\nonly rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting\r\nsergeant for their ghastly ranks.\r\n\r\nWe entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same\r\nas on the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so\r\nprosaic surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any\r\nground for such fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been\r\nmade up, and had there not been terrible memories to spur us on, we\r\ncould hardly have proceeded with our task. We found no papers, or\r\nany sign of use in the house. And in the old chapel the great boxes\r\nlooked just as we had seen them last.\r\n\r\nDr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before him, \"And\r\nnow, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilize this\r\nearth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far\r\ndistant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it\r\nhas been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make\r\nit more holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we\r\nsanctify it to God.\"\r\n\r\nAs he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and\r\nvery soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth\r\nsmelled musty and close, but we did not somehow seem to mind, for\r\nour attention was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his\r\nbox a piece of the Scared Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth,\r\nand then shutting down the lid began to screw it home, we aiding\r\nhim as he worked.\r\n\r\nOne by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes,\r\nand left them as we had found them to all appearance. But in each\r\nwas a portion of the Host. When we closed the door behind us, the\r\nProfessor said solemnly, \"So much is already done. It may be that\r\nwith all the others we can be so successful, then the sunset of\r\nthis evening may shine of Madam Mina's forehead all white as ivory\r\nand with no stain!\"\r\n\r\nAs we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch\r\nour train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly,\r\nand in the window of my own room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her,\r\nand nodded to tell that our work there was successfully\r\naccomplished. She nodded in reply to show that she understood. The\r\nlast I saw, she was waving her hand in farewell. It was with a\r\nheavy heart that we sought the station and just caught the train,\r\nwhich was steaming in as we reached the platform. I have written\r\nthis in the train.\r\n\r\nPiccadilly, 12:30 o'clock.\u2014Just before we reached Fenchurch\r\nStreet Lord Godalming said to me, \"Quincey and I will find a\r\nlocksmith. You had better not come with us in case there should be\r\nany difficulty. For under the circumstances it wouldn't seem so bad\r\nfor us to break into an empty house. But you are a solicitor and\r\nthe Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you should have\r\nknown better.\"\r\n\r\nI demurred as to my not sharing any danger even of odium, but he\r\nwent on, \"Besides, it will attract less attention if there are not\r\ntoo many of us. My title will make it all right with the locksmith,\r\nand with any policeman that may come along. You had better go with\r\nJack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park. Somewhere in\r\nsight of the house, and when you see the door opened and the smith\r\nhas gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the lookout\r\nfor you, and shall let you in.\"\r\n\r\n\"The advice is good!\" said Van Helsing, so we said no more.\r\nGodalming and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another.\r\nAt the corner of Arlington Street our contingent got out and\r\nstrolled into the Green Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on\r\nwhich so much of our hope was centered, looming up grim and silent\r\nin its deserted condition amongst its more lively and\r\nspruce-looking neighbors. We sat down on a bench within good view ,\r\nand began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little attention as\r\npossible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we waited\r\nfor the coming of the others.\r\n\r\nAt length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in\r\nleisurely fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris. And down from the\r\nbox descended a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of\r\ntools. Morris paid the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away.\r\nTogether the two ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out\r\nwhat he wanted done. The workman took off his coat leisurely and\r\nhung it on one of the spikes of the rail, saying something to a\r\npoliceman who just then sauntered along. The policeman nodded\r\nacquiescence, and the man kneeling down placed his bag beside him.\r\nAfter searching through it, he took out a selection of tools which\r\nhe proceeded to lay beside him in orderly fashion. Then he stood\r\nup, looked in the keyhole, blew into it, and turning to his\r\nemployers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and the man\r\nlifted a good sized bunch of keys. Selecting one of them, he began\r\nto probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling\r\nabout for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once\r\nthe door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two\r\nothers entered the hall. We sat still. My own cigar burnt\r\nfuriously, but Van Helsing's went cold altogether. We waited\r\npatiently as we saw the workman come out and bring his bag. Then he\r\nheld the door partly open, steadying it with his knees, whilst he\r\nfitted a key to the lock. This he finally handed to Lord Godalming,\r\nwho took out his purse and gave him something. The man touched his\r\nhat, took his bag, put on his coat and departed. Not a soul took\r\nthe slightest notice of the whole transaction.\r\n\r\nWhen the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and\r\nknocked at the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris,\r\nbeside whom stood Lord Godalming lighting a cigar.\r\n\r\n\"The place smells so vilely,\" said the latter as we came in. It\r\ndid indeed smell vilely. Like the old chapel at Carfax. And with\r\nour previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been\r\nusing the place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all\r\nkeeping together in case of attack, for we knew we had a strong and\r\nwily enemy to deal with, and as yet we did not know whether the\r\nCount might not be in the house.\r\n\r\nIn the dining room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found\r\neight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine which we\r\nsought! Our work was not over, and would never be until we should\r\nhave found the missing box.\r\n\r\nFirst we opened the shutters of the window which looked out\r\nacross a narrow stone flagged yard at the blank face of a stable,\r\npointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There were no\r\nwindows in it, so we were not afraid of being overlooked. We did\r\nnot lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we\r\nhad brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as\r\nwe had treated those others in the old chapel. It was evident to us\r\nthat the Count was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to\r\nsearch for any of his effects.\r\n\r\nAfter a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement\r\nto attic, we came to the conclusion that the dining room contained\r\nany effects which might belong to the Count. And so we proceeded to\r\nminutely examine them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on\r\nthe great dining room table.\r\n\r\nThere were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great\r\nbundle, deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and\r\nBermondsey, notepaper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were\r\ncovered up in thin wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There\r\nwere also a clothes brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin.\r\nThe latter containing dirty water which was reddened as if with\r\nblood. Last of all was a little heap of keys of all sorts and\r\nsizes, probably those belonging to the other houses.\r\n\r\nWhen we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming and Quincey\r\nMorris taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the houses\r\nin the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great\r\nbunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest\r\nof us are, with what patience we can, waiting their return, or the\r\ncoming of the Count.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n","rendered":"
\n

3 October.\u2014As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary.
\nIt is now six o’clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an
\nhour and take something to eat, for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward
\nare agreed that if we do not eat we cannot work our best. Our best
\nwill be, God knows, required today. I must keep writing at every
\nchance, for I dare not stop to think. All, big and little, must go
\ndown. Perhaps at the end the little things may teach us most. The
\nteaching, big or little, could not have landed Mina or me anywhere
\nworse than we are today. However, we must trust and hope. Poor Mina
\ntold me just now, with the tears running down her dear cheeks, that
\nit is in trouble and trial that our faith is tested. That we must
\nkeep on trusting, and that God will aid us up to the end. The end!
\nOh my God! What end?\u00a0\u2026 To work! To work!<\/p>\n

When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing
\npoor Renfield, we went gravely into what was to be done. First, Dr.
\nSeward told us that when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to
\nthe room below they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all in a
\nheap. His face was all bruised and crushed in, and the bones of the
\nneck were broken.<\/p>\n

Dr. Seward asked the attendant who was on duty in the passage if
\nhe had heard anything. He said that he had been sitting down, he
\nconfessed to half dozing, when he heard loud voices in the room,
\nand then Renfield had called out loudly several times, “God! God!
\nGod!” After that there was a sound of falling, and when he entered
\nthe room he found him lying on the floor, face down, just as the
\ndoctors had seen him. Van Helsing asked if he had heard “voices” or
\n“a voice,” and he said he could not say. That at first it had
\nseemed to him as if there were two, but as there was no one in the
\nroom it could have been only one. He could swear to it, if
\nrequired, that the word “God” was spoken by the patient.<\/p>\n

Dr. Seward said to us, when we were alone, that he did not wish
\nto go into the matter. The question of an inquest had to be
\nconsidered, and it would never do to put forward the truth, as no
\none would believe it. As it was, he thought that on the attendant’s
\nevidence he could give a certificate of death by misadventure in
\nfalling from bed. In case the coroner should demand it, there would
\nbe a formal inquest, necessarily to the same result.<\/p>\n

When the question began to be discussed as to what should be our
\nnext step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be
\nin full confidence. That nothing of any sort, no matter how
\npainful, should be kept from her. She herself agreed as to its
\nwisdom, and it was pitiful to see her so brave and yet so
\nsorrowful, and in such a depth of despair.<\/p>\n

“There must be no concealment,” she said. “Alas! We have had too
\nmuch already. And besides there is nothing in all the world that
\ncan give me more pain than I have already endured, than I suffer
\nnow! Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage
\nto me!”<\/p>\n

Van Helsing was looking at her fixedly as she spoke, and said,
\nsuddenly but quietly, “But dear Madam Mina, are you not afraid. Not
\nfor yourself, but for others from yourself, after what has
\nhappened?”<\/p>\n

Her face grew set in its lines, but her eyes shone with the
\ndevotion of a martyr as she answered, “Ah no! For my mind is made
\nup!”<\/p>\n

“To what?” he asked gently, whilst we were all very still, for
\neach in our own way we had a sort of vague idea of what she
\nmeant.<\/p>\n

Her answer came with direct simplicity, as though she was simply
\nstating a fact, “Because if I find in myself, and I shall watch
\nkeenly for it, a sign of harm to any that I love, I shall die!”<\/p>\n

“You would not kill yourself?” he asked, hoarsely.<\/p>\n

“I would. If there were no friend who loved me, who would save
\nme such a pain, and so desperate an effort!” She looked at him
\nmeaningly as she spoke.<\/p>\n

He was sitting down, but now he rose and came close to her and
\nput his hand on her head as he said solemnly. “My child, there is
\nsuch an one if it were for your good. For myself I could hold it in
\nmy account with God to find such an euthanasia for you, even at
\nthis moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But my child\u00a0\u2026
\n”<\/p>\n

For a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his
\nthroat. He gulped it down and went on, “There are here some who
\nwould stand between you and death. You must not die. You must not
\ndie by any hand, but least of all your own. Until the other, who
\nhas fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must not die. For if
\nhe is still with the quick Undead, your death would make you even
\nas he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive to live,
\nthough death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight Death
\nhimself, though he come to you in pain or in joy. By the day, or
\nthe night, in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you
\nthat you do not die. Nay, nor think of death, till this great evil
\nbe past.”<\/p>\n

The poor dear grew white as death, and shook and shivered, as I
\nhave seen a quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide.
\nWe were all silent. We could do nothing. At length she grew more
\ncalm and turning to him said sweetly, but oh so sorrowfully, as she
\nheld out her hand, “I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will
\nlet me live, I shall strive to do so. Till, if it may be in His
\ngood time, this horror may have passed away from me.”<\/p>\n

She was so good and brave that we all felt that our hearts were
\nstrengthened to work and endure for her, and we began to discuss
\nwhat we were to do. I told her that she was to have all the papers
\nin the safe, and all the papers or diaries and phonographs we might
\nhereafter use, and was to keep the record as she had done before.
\nShe was pleased with the prospect of anything to do, if “pleased”
\ncould be used in connection with so grim an interest.<\/p>\n

As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was
\nprepared with an exact ordering of our work.<\/p>\n

“It is perhaps well,” he said, “that at our meeting after our
\nvisit to Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth boxes
\nthat lay there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our
\npurpose, and would doubtless have taken measures in advance to
\nfrustrate such an effort with regard to the others. But now he does
\nnot know our intentions. Nay, more, in all probability, he does not
\nknow that such a power exists to us as can sterilize his lairs, so
\nthat he cannot use them as of old.<\/p>\n

“We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge as to
\ntheir disposition that, when we have examined the house in
\nPiccadilly, we may track the very last of them. Today then, is
\nours, and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow
\nthis morning guards us in its course. Until it sets tonight, that
\nmonster must retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within
\nthe limitations of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin
\nair nor disappear through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go
\nthrough a doorway, he must open the door like a mortal. And so we
\nhave this day to hunt out all his lairs and sterilize them. So we
\nshall, if we have not yet catch him and destroy him, drive him to
\nbay in some place where the catching and the destroying shall be,
\nin time, sure.”<\/p>\n

Here I started up for I could not contain myself at the thought
\nthat the minutes and seconds so preciously laden with Mina’s life
\nand happiness were flying from us, since whilst we talked action
\nwas impossible. But Van Helsing held up his hand warningly.<\/p>\n

“Nay, friend Jonathan,” he said, “in this, the quickest way home
\nis the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all act and act
\nwith desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in all
\nprobable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly.
\nThe Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will
\nhave deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper
\nthat he write on. He will have his book of cheques. There are many
\nbelongings that he must have somewhere. Why not in this place so
\ncentral, so quiet, where he come and go by the front or the back at
\nall hours, when in the very vast of the traffic there is none to
\nnotice. We shall go there and search that house. And when we learn
\nwhat it holds, then we do what our friend Arthur call, in his
\nphrases of hunt `stop the earths’ and so we run down our old fox,
\nso? Is it not?”<\/p>\n

“Then let us come at once,” I cried, “we are wasting the
\nprecious, precious time!”<\/p>\n

The Professor did not move, but simply said, “And how are we to
\nget into that house in Piccadilly?”<\/p>\n

“Any way!” I cried. “We shall break in if need be.”<\/p>\n

“And your police? Where will they be, and what will they
\nsay?”<\/p>\n

I was staggered, but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a
\ngood reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could, “Don’t wait
\nmore than need be. You know, I am sure, what torture I am in.”<\/p>\n

“Ah, my child, that I do. And indeed there is no wish of me to
\nadd to your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the
\nworld be at movement. Then will come our time. I have thought and
\nthought, and it seems to me that the simplest way is the best of
\nall. Now we wish to get into the house, but we have no key. Is it
\nnot so?”I nodded.<\/p>\n

“Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house,
\nand could not still get in. And think there was to you no
\nconscience of the housebreaker, what would you do?”<\/p>\n

“I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to
\npick the lock for me.”<\/p>\n

“And your police, they would interfere, would they not?”<\/p>\n

“Oh no! Not if they knew the man was properly employed.”<\/p>\n

“Then,” he looked at me as keenly as he spoke, “all that is in
\ndoubt is the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your
\npolicemen as to whether or not that employer has a good conscience
\nor a bad one. Your police must indeed be zealous men and clever, oh
\nso clever, in reading the heart, that they trouble themselves in
\nsuch matter. No, no, my friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a
\nhundred empty houses in this your London, or of any city in the
\nworld, and if you do it as such things are rightly done, and at the
\ntime such things are rightly done, no one will interfere. I have
\nread of a gentleman who owned a so fine house in London, and when
\nhe went for months of summer to Switzerland and lock up his house,
\nsome burglar come and broke window at back and got in. Then he went
\nand made open the shutters in front and walk out and in through the
\ndoor, before the very eyes of the police. Then he have an auction
\nin that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice. And when
\nthe day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the goods of
\nthat other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he sell
\nhim that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take
\nall away within a certain time. And your police and other authority
\nhelp him all they can. And when that owner come back from his
\nholiday in Switzerland he find only an empty hole where his house
\nhad been. This was all done en regle, and in our work we shall be
\nen regle too. We shall not go so early that the policemen who have
\nthen little to think of, shall deem it strange. But we shall go
\nafter ten o’clock, when there are many about, and such things would
\nbe done were we indeed owners of the house.”<\/p>\n

I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of
\nMina’s face became relaxed in thought. There was hope in such good
\ncounsel.<\/p>\n

Van Helsing went on, “When once within that house we may find
\nmore clues. At any rate some of us can remain there whilst the rest
\nfind the other places where there be more earth boxes, at
\nBermondsey and Mile End.”<\/p>\n

Lord Godalming stood up. “I can be of some use here,” he said.
\n“I shall wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they
\nwill be most convenient.”<\/p>\n

“Look here, old fellow,” said Morris, “it is a capital idea to
\nhave all ready in case we want to go horse backing, but don’t you
\nthink that one of your snappy carriages with its heraldic
\nadornments in a byway of Walworth or Mile End would attract too
\nmuch attention for our purpose? It seems to me that we ought to
\ntake cabs when we go south or east. And even leave them somewhere
\nnear the neighborhood we are going to.”<\/p>\n

“Friend Quincey is right!” said the Professor. “His head is what
\nyou call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we
\ngo to do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it
\nmay.”<\/p>\n

Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to
\nsee that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a
\ntime the terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale,
\nalmost ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing
\nher teeth in somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last,
\nlest it should give her needless pain, but it made my blood run
\ncold in my veins to think of what had occurred with poor Lucy when
\nthe Count had sucked her blood. As yet there was no sign of the
\nteeth growing sharper, but the time as yet was short, and there was
\ntime for fear.<\/p>\n

When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts
\nand of the disposition of our forces, there were new sources of
\ndoubt. It was finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we
\nshould destroy the Count’s lair close at hand. In case he should
\nfind it out too soon, we should thus be still ahead of him in our
\nwork of destruction. And his presence in his purely material shape,
\nand at his weakest, might give us some new clue.<\/p>\n

As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor
\nthat, after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in
\nPiccadilly. That the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst
\nLord Godalming and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End
\nand destroyed them. It was possible, if not likely, the Professor
\nurged, that the Count might appear in Piccadilly during the day,
\nand that if so we might be able to cope with him then and there. At
\nany rate, we might be able to follow him in force. To this plan I
\nstrenuously objected, and so far as my going was concerned, for I
\nsaid that I intended to stay and protect Mina. I thought that my
\nmind was made up on the subject, but Mina would not listen to my
\nobjection. She said that there might be some law matter in which I
\ncould be useful. That amongst the Count’s papers might be some clue
\nwhich I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania. And
\nthat, as it was, all the strength we could muster was required to
\ncope with the Count’s extraordinary power. I had to give in, for
\nMina’s resolution was fixed. She said that it was the last hope for
\nher that we should all work together.<\/p>\n

“As for me,” she said, “I have no fear. Things have been as bad
\nas they can be. And whatever may happen must have in it some
\nelement of hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if He wishes
\nit, guard me as well alone as with any one present.”<\/p>\n

So I started up crying out, “Then in God’s name let us come at
\nonce, for we are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly
\nearlier than we think.”<\/p>\n

“Not so!” said Van Helsing, holding up his hand.<\/p>\n

“But why?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“Do you forget,” he said, with actually a smile, “that last
\nnight he banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?”<\/p>\n

Did I forget! Shall I ever\u00a0\u2026 can I ever! Can any of us ever
\nforget that terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave
\ncountenance, but the pain overmastered her and she put her hands
\nbefore her face, and shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had
\nnot intended to recall her frightful experience. He had simply lost
\nsight of her and her part in the affair in his intellectual
\neffort.<\/p>\n

When it struck him what he said, he was horrified at his
\nthoughtlessness and tried to comfort her.<\/p>\n

“Oh, Madam Mina,” he said,”dear, dear, Madam Mina, alas! That I
\nof all who so reverence you should have said anything so forgetful.
\nThese stupid old lips of mine and this stupid old head do not
\ndeserve so, but you will forget it, will you not?” He bent low
\nbeside her as he spoke.<\/p>\n

She took his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said
\nhoarsely, “No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember.
\nAnd with it I have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I
\ntake it all together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is
\nready, and we must all eat that we may be strong.”<\/p>\n

Breakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful
\nand encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most
\ncheerful of us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said,
\n“Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are
\nwe all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our
\nenemy’s lair. Armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?”<\/p>\n

We all assured him.<\/p>\n

“Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case quite
\nsafe here until the sunset. And before then we shall return\u00a0\u2026
\nif\u00a0\u2026 We shall return! But before we go let me see you armed
\nagainst personal attack. I have myself, since you came down,
\nprepared your chamber by the placing of things of which we know, so
\nthat He may not enter. Now let me guard yourself. On your forehead
\nI touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the name of the Father, the
\nSon, and\u00a0\u2026<\/p>\n

There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to
\nhear. As he had placed the Wafer on Mina’s forehead, it had seared
\nit\u00a0\u2026 had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece
\nof whitehot metal. My poor darling’s brain had told her the
\nsignificance of the fact as quickly as her nerves received the pain
\nof it, and the two so overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature
\nhad its voice in that dreadful scream.<\/p>\n

But the words to her thought came quickly. The echo of the
\nscream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came the
\nreaction, and she sank on her knees on the floor in an agony of
\nabasement. Pulling her beautiful hair over her face, as the leper
\nof old his mantle, she wailed out.<\/p>\n

“Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I
\nmust bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgement
\nDay.”<\/p>\n

They all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of
\nhelpless grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a
\nfew minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends
\naround us turned away their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van
\nHelsing turned and said gravely. So gravely that I could not help
\nfeeling that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things
\noutside himself.<\/p>\n

“It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself
\nsee fit, as He most surely shall, on the Judgement Day, to redress
\nall wrongs of the earth and of His children that He has placed
\nthereon. And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you
\nbe there to see, when that red scar, the sign of God’s knowledge of
\nwhat has been, shall pass away, and leave your forehead as pure as
\nthe heart we know. For so surely as we live, that scar shall pass
\naway when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon us.
\nTill then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His
\nWill. It may be that we are chosen instruments of His good
\npleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through
\nstripes and shame. Through tears and blood. Through doubts and
\nfear, and all that makes the difference between God and man.”<\/p>\n

There was hope in his words, and comfort. And they made for
\nresignation. Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each
\ntook one of the old man’s hands and bent over and kissed it. Then
\nwithout a word we all knelt down together, and all holding hands,
\nswore to be true to each other. We men pledged ourselves to raise
\nthe veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way,
\nwe loved. And we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task
\nwhich lay before us. It was then time to start. So I said farewell
\nto Mina, a parting which neither of us shall forget to our dying
\nday, and we set out.<\/p>\n

To one thing I have made up my mind. If we find out that Mina
\nmust be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that
\nunknown and terrible land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old
\ntimes one vampire meant many. Just as their hideous bodies could
\nonly rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting
\nsergeant for their ghastly ranks.<\/p>\n

We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same
\nas on the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so
\nprosaic surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any
\nground for such fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been
\nmade up, and had there not been terrible memories to spur us on, we
\ncould hardly have proceeded with our task. We found no papers, or
\nany sign of use in the house. And in the old chapel the great boxes
\nlooked just as we had seen them last.<\/p>\n

Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before him, “And
\nnow, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilize this
\nearth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far
\ndistant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it
\nhas been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make
\nit more holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we
\nsanctify it to God.”<\/p>\n

As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and
\nvery soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth
\nsmelled musty and close, but we did not somehow seem to mind, for
\nour attention was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his
\nbox a piece of the Scared Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth,
\nand then shutting down the lid began to screw it home, we aiding
\nhim as he worked.<\/p>\n

One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes,
\nand left them as we had found them to all appearance. But in each
\nwas a portion of the Host. When we closed the door behind us, the
\nProfessor said solemnly, “So much is already done. It may be that
\nwith all the others we can be so successful, then the sunset of
\nthis evening may shine of Madam Mina’s forehead all white as ivory
\nand with no stain!”<\/p>\n

As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch
\nour train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly,
\nand in the window of my own room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her,
\nand nodded to tell that our work there was successfully
\naccomplished. She nodded in reply to show that she understood. The
\nlast I saw, she was waving her hand in farewell. It was with a
\nheavy heart that we sought the station and just caught the train,
\nwhich was steaming in as we reached the platform. I have written
\nthis in the train.<\/p>\n

Piccadilly, 12:30 o’clock.\u2014Just before we reached Fenchurch
\nStreet Lord Godalming said to me, “Quincey and I will find a
\nlocksmith. You had better not come with us in case there should be
\nany difficulty. For under the circumstances it wouldn’t seem so bad
\nfor us to break into an empty house. But you are a solicitor and
\nthe Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you should have
\nknown better.”<\/p>\n

I demurred as to my not sharing any danger even of odium, but he
\nwent on, “Besides, it will attract less attention if there are not
\ntoo many of us. My title will make it all right with the locksmith,
\nand with any policeman that may come along. You had better go with
\nJack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park. Somewhere in
\nsight of the house, and when you see the door opened and the smith
\nhas gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the lookout
\nfor you, and shall let you in.”<\/p>\n

“The advice is good!” said Van Helsing, so we said no more.
\nGodalming and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another.
\nAt the corner of Arlington Street our contingent got out and
\nstrolled into the Green Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on
\nwhich so much of our hope was centered, looming up grim and silent
\nin its deserted condition amongst its more lively and
\nspruce-looking neighbors. We sat down on a bench within good view ,
\nand began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little attention as
\npossible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we waited
\nfor the coming of the others.<\/p>\n

At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in
\nleisurely fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris. And down from the
\nbox descended a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of
\ntools. Morris paid the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away.
\nTogether the two ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out
\nwhat he wanted done. The workman took off his coat leisurely and
\nhung it on one of the spikes of the rail, saying something to a
\npoliceman who just then sauntered along. The policeman nodded
\nacquiescence, and the man kneeling down placed his bag beside him.
\nAfter searching through it, he took out a selection of tools which
\nhe proceeded to lay beside him in orderly fashion. Then he stood
\nup, looked in the keyhole, blew into it, and turning to his
\nemployers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and the man
\nlifted a good sized bunch of keys. Selecting one of them, he began
\nto probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling
\nabout for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once
\nthe door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two
\nothers entered the hall. We sat still. My own cigar burnt
\nfuriously, but Van Helsing’s went cold altogether. We waited
\npatiently as we saw the workman come out and bring his bag. Then he
\nheld the door partly open, steadying it with his knees, whilst he
\nfitted a key to the lock. This he finally handed to Lord Godalming,
\nwho took out his purse and gave him something. The man touched his
\nhat, took his bag, put on his coat and departed. Not a soul took
\nthe slightest notice of the whole transaction.<\/p>\n

When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and
\nknocked at the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris,
\nbeside whom stood Lord Godalming lighting a cigar.<\/p>\n

“The place smells so vilely,” said the latter as we came in. It
\ndid indeed smell vilely. Like the old chapel at Carfax. And with
\nour previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been
\nusing the place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all
\nkeeping together in case of attack, for we knew we had a strong and
\nwily enemy to deal with, and as yet we did not know whether the
\nCount might not be in the house.<\/p>\n

In the dining room, which lay at the back of the hall, we found
\neight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine which we
\nsought! Our work was not over, and would never be until we should
\nhave found the missing box.<\/p>\n

First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out
\nacross a narrow stone flagged yard at the blank face of a stable,
\npointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There were no
\nwindows in it, so we were not afraid of being overlooked. We did
\nnot lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we
\nhad brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as
\nwe had treated those others in the old chapel. It was evident to us
\nthat the Count was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to
\nsearch for any of his effects.<\/p>\n

After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms, from basement
\nto attic, we came to the conclusion that the dining room contained
\nany effects which might belong to the Count. And so we proceeded to
\nminutely examine them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on
\nthe great dining room table.<\/p>\n

There were title deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great
\nbundle, deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and
\nBermondsey, notepaper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were
\ncovered up in thin wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There
\nwere also a clothes brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin.
\nThe latter containing dirty water which was reddened as if with
\nblood. Last of all was a little heap of keys of all sorts and
\nsizes, probably those belonging to the other houses.<\/p>\n

When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming and Quincey
\nMorris taking accurate notes of the various addresses of the houses
\nin the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great
\nbunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest
\nof us are, with what patience we can, waiting their return, or the
\ncoming of the Count.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":22,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-46","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/46","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\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/46\/revisions\/84"}],"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\/46\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}