Dracula
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CHAPTER XXI.
/Dr. Seward's Diary./
_3 October._--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as wellas I can remember it, since last I made an entry. Not a detail that Ican recall must be forgotten; in all calmness I must proceed.
When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on hisleft side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, itbecame at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries;there seemed none of that unity of purpose between the parts of thebody which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I couldsee that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten againstthe floor--indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of bloodoriginated. The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me aswe turned him over:--
"I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and legand the whole side of his face are paralysed." How such a thing couldhave happened puzzled the attendant beyond measure. He seemed quitebewildered, and his brows were gathered in as he said:--
"I can't understand the two things. He could mark his face like thatby beating his own head on the ground. I saw a young woman do it onceat the Eversfield Asylum before anyone could lay hands on her. And Isuppose he might have broke his back by falling out of bed, if he gotin an awkward kink. But for the life of me I can't imagine how the twothings occurred. If his back was broke, he couldn't beat his head; andif his face was like that before the fall out of bed, there would bemarks of it." I said to him:--
"Go to Dr. Van Helsing, and ask him to kindly come here at once. I wanthim without an instant's delay." The man ran off, and within a very fewminutes the Professor, in his dressing-gown and slippers appeared. Whenhe saw Renfield on the ground, he looked keenly at him a moment and thenturned to me. I think he recognized my thought in my eyes, for he saidvery quietly, manifestly for the ears of the attendant:--
"Ah, a sad accident! He will need very careful watching, and muchattention. I shall stay with you myself; but I shall first dress myself.If you will remain I shall in a few minutes join you."
The patient was now breathing stertorously, and it was easy to seethat he had suffered some terrible injury. Van Helsing returned withextraordinary celerity, bearing with him a surgical case. He hadevidently been thinking and had his mind made up; for, almost before helooked at the patient, he whispered to me:--
"Send the attendant away. We must be alone with him when he becomesconscious, after the operation." So I said:--
"I think that will do now, Simmons. We have done all that we can atpresent. You had better go your round, and Dr. Van Helsing will operate.Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual anywhere."
The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the patient.The wounds of the face were superficial; the real injury was a depressedfracture of the skull, extending right up through the motor area. TheProfessor thought a moment and said:--
"We must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions, as faras can be; the rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature ofhis injury. The whole motor area seems affected. The suffusion of thebrain will increase quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may betoo late." As he was speaking there was a soft tapping at the door. Iwent over and opened it and found in the corridor without, Arthur andQuincey in pyjamas and slippers: the former spoke:--
"I heard your man call up Dr. Van Helsing and tell him of an accident.So I woke Quincey, or rather called for him as he was not asleep. Thingsare moving too quickly and too strangely for sound sleep for any ofus these times. I've been thinking that to-morrow night will not seethings as they have been. We'll have to look back--and forward a littlemore than we have done. May we come in?" I nodded, and held the dooropen till they had entered; then I closed it again. When Quincey saw theattitude and state of the patient, and noted the horrible pool on thefloor, he said softly:--
"My God! what has happened to him? Poor, poor devil!" I told himbriefly, and added that we expected he would recover consciousness afterthe operation--for a short time at all events. He went at once and satdown on the edge of the bed, with Godalming beside him; we all watchedin patience.
"We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the bestspot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly removethe blood clot; for it is evident that the haemorrhage is increasing."
The minutes during which we waited passed with fearful slowness. I hada horrible sinking in my heart, and from Van Helsing's face I gatheredthat he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to come. Idreaded the words that Renfield might speak. I was positively afraid tothink; but the conviction of what was coming was on me, as I have readof men who have heard the death-watch. The poor man's breathing camein uncertain gasps. Each instant he seemed as though he would open hiseyes and speak; but then would follow a prolonged stertorous breath,and he would relapse into a more fixed insensibility. Inured as I wasto sick-beds and death, this suspense grew, and grew upon me. I couldalmost hear the beating of my own heart; and the blood surging throughmy temples sounded like blows from a hammer. The silence finally becameagonising. I looked at my companions, one after another, and saw fromtheir flushed faces and damp brows that they were enduring equaltorture. There was a nervous suspense over us all, as though overheadsome dread bell would peal out powerfully when we should least expectit.
At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient wassinking fast; he might die at any moment. I looked up at the Professorand caught his eyes fixed on mine. His face was sternly set as hespoke:--
"There is no time to lose. His words may be worth many lives; I havebeen thinking so, as I stood here. It may be there is a soul at stake!We shall operate just above the ear."
Without another word he made the operation. For a few moments thebreathing continued to be stertorous. Then there came a breath soprolonged that it seemed as though it would tear open his chest.Suddenly his eyes opened, and became fixed in a wild, helplessstare. This was continued for a few moments; then it softened intoa glad surprise, and from the lips came a sigh of relief. He movedconvulsively, and as he did so, said:--
"I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait-waistcoat. Ihave had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannotmove. What's wrong with my face? It feels all swollen, and it smartsdreadfully." He tried to turn his head; but even with the effort hiseyes seemed to grow glassy again, so I gently put it back. Then VanHelsing said in a quiet, grave tone:--
"Tell us your dream, Mr. Renfield." As he heard the voice his facebrightened through its mutilation, and he said:--
"That is Dr. Van Helsing. How good it is of you to be here. Give me somewater, my lips are dry; and I shall try to tell you. I dreamed"--hestopped and seemed fainting. I called quietly to Quincey--"Thebrandy--it is in my study--quick!" He flew and returned with a glass,the decanter of brandy and a carafe of water. We moistened the parchedlips, and the patient quickly revived. It seemed, however, that his poorinjured brain had been working in the interval, for, when he was quiteconscious, he looked at me piercingly with an agonised confusion which Ishall never forget, and said:--
"I must not deceive myself; it was no dream, but all a grim reality."Then his eyes roved round the room; as they caught sight of the twofigures sitting patiently on the edge of the bed he went on:--
"If I were not sure already, I should know from them." For an instanthis eyes closed--not with pain or sleep but voluntarily, as though hewere bringing all his faculties to bear; when he opened them he said,hurriedly, and with more energy than he had yet displayed:--
"Quick, Doctor, quick. I am dying! I feel that I have but a few minutes;and then I must go back to death--or worse! Wet my lips with brandyagain. I have something that I must say before I die; or before mypoor crushed brain dies anyhow. Thank you! It was that night after youleft me, when I implored you to let me go away. I couldn't speak then,for I felt my tongue was tied; but I was as sane then, except in thatway, as I a
m now. I was in an agony of despair for a long time afteryou left me; it seemed hours. Then there came a sudden peace to me. Mybrain seemed to become cool again, and I realized where I was. I heardthe dogs bark behind our house, but not where He was!" As he spokeVan Helsing's eyes never blinked, but his hand came out and met mineand gripped it hard. He did not, however, betray himself; he noddedslightly, and said: "Go on," in a low voice. Renfield proceeded:--
"He came up to the window in the mist, as I had seen him often before;but he was solid then--not a ghost, and his eyes were fierce like aman's when angry. He was laughing with his red mouth; the sharp whiteteeth glinted in the moonlight when He turned to look back over the beltof trees, to where the dogs were barking. I wouldn't ask him to come inat first, though I knew he wanted to--just as he had wanted all along.Then he began promising me things--not in words but by doing them." Hewas interrupted by a word from the Professor:--
"How?"
"By making them happen; just as he used to send in the flies when thesun was shining. Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on theirwings; and big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on theirbacks." Van Helsing nodded to him as he whispered to me unconsciously:--
"The _Acberontia atropos of the Sphinges_--what you call the'Death's-head moth!'" The patient went on without stopping.
"Then he began to whisper: 'Rats, rats, rats! Hundreds, thousands,millions of them, and every one a life; and dogs to eat them, and catstoo. All lives! all red blood, with years of life in it; and not merelybuzzing flies!' I laughed at him, for I wanted to see what he coulddo. Then the dogs howled, away beyond the dark trees in His house. Hebeckoned me to the window. I got up and looked out, and He raised hishands, and seemed to call out without using any words. A dark massspread over the grass, coming on like the shape of a flame of fire;and then He moved the mist to the right and left, and I could see thatthere were thousands of rats with their eyes blazing red--like His,only smaller. He held up his hand, and they all stopped; and I thoughtHe seemed to be saying: 'All these lives will I give you, ay, and manymore and greater, through countless ages, if you will fall down andworship me!' And then a red cloud, like the colour of blood, seemed toclose over my eyes; and before I knew what I was doing, I found myselfopening the sash and saying to Him: 'Come in, Lord and Master!' The ratswere all gone, but He slid into the room through the sash, though itwas only open an inch wide--just as the Moon herself has often come inthrough the tiniest crack, and has stood before me in all her size andsplendour."
His voice was weaker, so I moistened his lips with the brandy again, andhe continued; but it seemed as though his memory had gone on working inthe interval, for his story was further advanced. I was about to callhim back to the point, but Van Helsing whispered to me: "Let him go on.Do not interrupt him; he cannot go back, and maybe could not proceed atall if once he lost the thread of his thought." He proceeded:--
"All day I waited to hear from him, but he did not send me anything, noteven a blow-fly, and when the moon got up I was pretty angry with him.When he slid in through the window, though it was shut, and did not evenknock, I got mad with him. He sneered at me, and his white face lookedout of the mist with his red eyes gleaming, and he went on as though heowned the whole place, and I was no one. He didn't even smell the sameas he went by me. I couldn't hold him. I thought that, somehow, Mrs.Harker had come into the room."
The two men sitting on the bed stood up and came over, standing behindhim so that he could not see them, but where they could hear better.They were both silent, but the Professor started and quivered; hisface, however, grew grimmer and sterner still. Renfield went on withoutnoticing:--
"When Mrs. Harker came in to see me this afternoon she wasn't the same;it was like tea after the teapot had been watered." Here we all moved,but no one said a word; he went on:--
"I didn't know that she was here till she spoke; and she didn't look thesame. I don't care for the pale people; I like them with lots of bloodin them, and hers had all seemed to have run out. I didn't think of itat the time; but when she went away I began to think, and it made me madto know that He had been taking the life out of her." I could feel thatthe rest quivered, as I did; but we remained otherwise still. "So whenHe came to-night I was ready for Him. I saw the mist stealing in, and Igrabbed it tight. I had heard that madmen have unnatural strength; andas I knew I was a madman--at times anyhow--I resolved to use my power.Ay, and He felt it too, for He had to come out of the mist to strugglewith me. I held tight; and I thought I was going to win, for I didn'tmean Him to take any more of her life, till I saw His eyes. They burnedinto me, and my strength became like water. He slipped through it, andwhen I tried to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down. Therewas a red cloud before me, and a noise like thunder, and the mist seemedto steal away under the door." His voice was becoming fainter and hisbreath more stertorous. Van Helsing stood up instinctively.
"We know the worst now," he said. "He is here, and we know his purpose.It may not be too late. Let us be armed--the same as we were the othernight, but lose no time; there is not an instant to spare." There was noneed to put our fear, nay our conviction, into words--we shared them incommon. We all hurried and took from our rooms the same things that wehad when we entered the Count's house. The Professor had his ready andas we met in the corridor he pointed to them significantly as he said:--
"They never leave me; and they shall not till this unhappy business isover. Be wise also, my friends. It is no common enemy that we deal with.Alas! alas! that the dear Madam Mina should suffer." He stopped; hisvoice was breaking, and I do not know if rage or terror predominated inmy own heart.
Outside the Harkers' door we paused. Art and Quincey held back, and thelatter said:--
"Should we disturb her?"
"We must," said Van Helsing grimly. "If the door be locked, I shallbreak it in."
"May it not frighten her terribly? It is unusual to break into a lady'sroom!" Van Helsing said solemnly:--
"You are always right; but this is life and death. All chambers arealike to the doctor; and even were they not they are all as one to meto-night. Friend John, when I turn the handle, if the door does notopen, do you put your shoulder down and shove; and you too, my friends.Now!"
He turned the handle as he spoke, but the door did not yield. We threwourselves against it; with a crash it burst open, and we almost fellheadlong into the room. The Professor did actually fall, and I sawacross him as he gathered himself up from hands and knees. What I sawappalled me. I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of my neck,and my heart seemed to stand still.
The moonlight was so bright that through the thick yellow blind theroom was light enough to see. On the bed beside the window lay JonathanHarker, his face flushed, and breathing heavily as though in a stupor.Kneeling on the near edge of the bed facing outwards was the white-cladfigure of his wife. By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black.His face was turned from us, but the instant we saw it we all recognisedthe Count--in every way, even to the scar on his forehead. With his lefthand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her armsat full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck,forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smearedwith blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast whichwas shown by his torn-open dress. The attitude of the two had a terribleresemblance to a child forcing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milkto compel it to drink. As we burst into the room, the Count turned hisface, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leapinto it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrilsof the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and thewhite sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth,champed together like those of a wild beast. With a wrench, which threwhis victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turnedand sprang at us. But by this time the Professor had gained his feet,and was holding towards him the envelope which contained the SacredWafer. The Count suddenly s
topped, just as poor Lucy had done outsidethe tomb, and cowered back. Further and further back he cowered, as we,lifting our crucifixes, advanced. The moonlight suddenly failed, as agreat black cloud sailed across the sky; and when the gaslight sprang upunder Quincey's match, we saw nothing but a faint vapour. This, as welooked, trailed under the door, which with the recoil from its burstingopen had swung back to its old position. Van Helsing, Art and I movedforward to Mrs. Harker, who by this time had drawn her breath and withit had given a scream so wild, so ear-piercing, so despairing that itseems to me now that it will ring in my ears till my dying day. For afew seconds she lay in her helpless attitude and disarray. Her face wasghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated by the blood which smearedher lips and cheeks and chin; from her throat trickled a thin stream ofblood. Her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face herpoor crushed hands, which bore on their whiteness the red mark of theCount's terrible grip, and from behind them came a low desolate wailwhich made the terrible scream seem only the quick expression of anendless grief. Van Helsing stepped forward and drew the coverlet gentlyover her body, whilst Art, after looking at her face for an instantdespairingly, ran out of the room. Van Helsing whispered to me:--
"Jonathan is in a stupor such as we know the Vampire can produce.We can do nothing with poor Madam Mina for a few moments till sherecovers herself; I must wake him!" He dipped the end of a towel incold water and with it began to flick him on the face, his wife allthe while holding her face between her hands and sobbing in a way thatwas heart-breaking to hear. I raised the blind, and looked out of thewindow. There was much moonshine; and as I looked I could see QuinceyMorris run across the lawn and hide himself in the shadow of a great yewtree. It puzzled me to think why he was doing this; but at the instantI heard Harker's quick exclamation as he woke to partial consciousness,and turned to the bed. On his face, as there might well be, was a lookof wild amazement. He seemed dazed for a few seconds, and then fullconsciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he started up.His wife was aroused by the quick movement, and turned to him with herarms stretched out, as though to embrace him; instantly, however, shedrew them in again, and putting her elbows together, held her handsbefore her face, and shuddered till the bed beneath her shook.
"In God's name what does this mean?" Harker cried out. "Dr. Seward, Dr.Van Helsing, what is it? What has happened? What is wrong? Mina, dear,what is it? What does that blood mean? My God, my God! has it come tothis!" and, raising himself to his knees, he beat his hands wildlytogether. "Good God help us! help her! oh, help her!" With a quickmovement he jumped from the bed, and began to pull on his clothes--allthe man in him awake at the need for instant exertion. "What hashappened? Tell me all about it!" he cried without pausing. "Dr. VanHelsing, you love Mina, I know. Oh, do something to save her. It cannothave gone too far yet. Guard her while I look for _him_!" His wife,through her terror and horror and distress, saw some sure danger to him;instantly forgetting her own grief, she seized hold of him and criedout:--
"No! no! Jonathan, you must not leave me. I have suffered enoughto-night, God knows, without the dread of his harming you. You muststay with me. Stay with these friends who will watch over you!" Herexpression became frantic as she spoke; and, he yielding to her, shepulled him down sitting on the bedside, and clung to him fiercely.
Van Helsing and I tried to calm them both. The Professor held up hislittle golden crucifix, and said with wonderful calmness:--
"Do not fear, my dear. We are here; and whilst this is close to youno foul thing can approach. You are safe for to-night; and we must becalm and take counsel together." She shuddered and was silent, holdingdown her head on her husband's breast. When she raised it, his whitenight-robe was stained with blood where her lips had touched, and wherethe thin open wound in her neck had sent forth drops. The instant shesaw it she drew back, with a low wail, and whispered, amidst chokingsobs:--
"Unclean, unclean! I must touch him or kiss him no more. Oh, that itshould be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may havemost cause to fear." To this he spoke out resolutely:--
"Nonsense, Mina. It is a shame to me to hear such a word. I would nothear it of you; and I shall not hear it from you. May God judge me by mydeserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour,if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put outhis arms and folded her to his breast; and for a while she lay theresobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinkeddamply above his quivering nostrils; his mouth was set as steel. Aftera while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and then he saidto me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt tried his nervouspower to the utmost:--
"And now, Dr. Seward, tell me all about it. Too well I know the broadfact; tell me all that has been." I told him exactly what had happened,and he listened with seeming impassiveness; but his nostrils twitchedand his eyes blazed as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count hadheld his wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth tothe open wound in his breast. It interested me, even at that moment, tosee that whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively overthe bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffledhair. Just as I had finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked at thedoor. They entered in obedience to our summons. Van Helsing looked atme questioningly. I understood him to mean if we were to take advantageof their coming to divert if possible the thoughts of the unhappyhusband and wife from each other and from themselves; so on my noddingacquiescence to him he asked them what they had seen or done. To whichLord Godalming answered:--
"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our rooms. Ilooked in the study, but, though he had been there, he had gone. He had,however----" He stopped suddenly, looking at the poor drooping figure onthe bed. Van Helsing said gravely:--
"Go on friend Arthur. We want no more concealments. Our hope now is inknowing all. Tell freely!" So Art went on:--
"He had been there, and though it could only have been for a fewseconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the manuscript had beenburned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashes;the cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and thewax had helped the flames." Here I interrupted. "Thank God there is theother copy in the safe!" His face lit for a moment, but fell again as hewent on: "I ran downstairs then, but could see no sign of him. I lookedinto Renfield's room; but there was no trace there except----!" Againhe paused. "Go on," said Harker hoarsely; so he bowed his head, andmoistening his lips with his tongue, added: "except that the poor fellowis dead." Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other ofus as she said solemnly:--
"God's will be done!" I could not but feel that Art was keeping backsomething; but, as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing.Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked:--
"And you, friend Quincey, have you any to tell?"
"A little," he answered. "It may be much eventually, but at present Ican't say. I thought it well to know if possible where the Count wouldgo when he left the house. I did not see him; but I saw a bat rise fromRenfield's window, and flap westward. I expected to see him in someshape go back to Carfax; but he evidently sought some other lair. Hewill not be back to-night; for the sky is reddening in the east, and thedawn is close. We must work to-morrow!"
He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space of perhapsa couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy that I couldhear the sound of our hearts beating; then Van Helsing said, placing hishand very tenderly on Mrs. Harker's head:--
"And now, Madam Mina--poor, dear, dear Madam Mina--tell us exactly whathappened. God knows that I do not want that you be pained; but it isneed that we know all. For now more than ever has all work to be donequick and sharp, and in deadly earnest. The day is close to us that mustend all, if it may so be; and now is the chance that we may live andlearn."
The poor, dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nervesas she cl
asped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower andlower still on his breast. Then she raised her head proudly, and heldout one hand to Van Helsing, who took it in his, and, after stooping andkissing it reverently, held it fast. The other hand was locked in thatof her husband, who held his other arm thrown round her protectingly.After a pause in which she was evidently ordering her thoughts, shebegan:--
"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me, butfor a long time it did not act. I seemed to become more wakeful, andmyriads of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my mind--all of themconnected with death, and vampires; with blood, and pain, and trouble."Her husband involuntarily groaned as she turned to him and saidlovingly: "Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help methrough the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to meto tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much Ineed your help. Well, I saw I must try to help the medicine do its workwith my will, if it was to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself tosleep. Sure enough sleep must soon have come to me, for I remembered nomore. Jonathan coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side whennext I remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist thatI had before noticed. But I forget now if you know of this; you willfind it in my diary which I shall show you later. I felt the same vagueterror which had come to me before, and the same sense of some presence.I turned to wake Jonathan, but found that he slept so soundly that itseemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping draught and not I. Itried, but could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I lookedaround terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me: beside the bed,as if he had stepped out of the mist--or rather as if the mist hadturned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared--stood a tall,thin man, all in black. I knew him at once from the descriptions of theothers. The waxen face; the high aquiline nose, on which the light fellin a thin white line; the parted red lips, with the sharp white teethshowing between; and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the sunseton the windows of St. Mary's Church at Whitby. I knew, too, the red scaron his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant my heartstood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was paralysed.In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting whisper, pointing as hespoke to Jonathan:--
"'Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains outbefore your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too bewildered to do orsay anything. With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my shoulderand, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he didso: 'First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as wellbe quiet; it is not the first time, or the second, that your veins haveappeased my thirst!' I was bewildered, and, strangely enough, I did notwant to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse thatsuch is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pityme! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groanedagain. She clasped his hand harder, and looked at him pityingly, as ifhe were the injured one, and went on:--
"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon. How longthis horrible thing lasted I know not; but it seemed that a long timemust have passed before he took his foul, awful sneering mouth away. Isaw it drip with the fresh blood!" The remembrance seemed for a whileto overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for herhusband's sustaining arm. With a great effort she recovered herself andwent on:--
"Then he spoke to me mockingly: 'And so you, like the others, wouldplay your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt meand frustrate me in my designs! You know now, and they know in partalready, and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path.They should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilstthey played wits against me--against me who commanded nations, andintrigued for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before theywere born--I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one,are now to me flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin; mybountiful wine-press for a while; and shall be later on my companion andmy helper. You shall be avenged in turn; for not one of them but shallminister to your needs. But as yet you are to be punished for what youhave done. You have aided in thwarting me; now you shall come to mycall. When my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall cross land or seato do my bidding; and to that end this!' With that he pulled open hisshirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. Whenthe blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holdingthem tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth tothe wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the--Oh,my God! my God! what have I done? What have I done to deserve such afate, I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all mydays? God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril;and in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub herlips as though to cleanse them from pollution.
As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to quicken,and everything became more and more clear. Harker was still and quiet;but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey lookwhich deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the firstred streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly outagainst the whitening hair.
We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the unhappypair till we can meet together and arrange about taking action.
Of this I am sure: the sun rises to-day on no more miserable house inall the great round of its daily course.