No More Learning

" She looked at him meaningly as she
spoke. He was sitting down; but now he rose and came close to her and
put his hand on her head as he said solemnly:--

"My child, there is such an one if it were for your good. For myself
I could hold it in my account with God to find such an euthanasia for
you, even at this moment, if it were best. Nay, were it safe! But, my
child----" for a moment he seemed choked, and a great sob rose in his
throat; he gulped it down and went on:--

"There are here some who would stand between you and death. You must
not die. You must not die by any hand; but least of all by your own.
Until the other, who has fouled your sweet life, is true dead you must
not die; for if he is still with the quick Un-Dead, your death would
make you even as he is. No, you must live! You must struggle and strive
to live, though death would seem a boon unspeakable. You must fight
Death himself, though he come to you in pain or in joy; by the day,
or the night; in safety or in peril! On your living soul I charge you
that you do not die--nay, nor think of death--till this great evil be
past. " The poor dear grew white as death, and shook and shivered, as I
have seen a quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide. We
were all silent; we could do nothing. At length she grew more calm, and
turning to him said, sweetly, but oh! so sorrowfully, as she held out
her hand:--

"I promise you, my dear friend, that if God will let me live, I shall
strive to do so; till, if it may be in His good time, this horror
may have passed away from me. " She was so good and brave that we all
felt that our hearts were strengthened to work and endure for her,
and we began to discuss what we were to do. I told her that she was
to have all the papers in the safe, and all the papers or diaries and
phonographs we might hereafter use; and was to keep the record as she
had done before. She was pleased with the prospect of anything to
do--if "pleased" could be used in connection with so grim an interest.

As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was
prepared with an exact ordering of our work.

"It is perhaps well" he said, "that at our meeting after our visit
to Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth-boxes that
lay there. Had we done so, the Count must have guessed our purpose,
and would doubtless have taken measures in advance to frustrate such
an effort with regard to the others; but now he does not know our
intentions. Nay more, in all probability he does not know that such a
power exists to us as can sterilize his lairs, so that he cannot use
them as of old. We are now so much further advanced in our knowledge
as to their disposition, that, when we have examined the house in
Piccadilly, we may track the very last of them. To-day, then, is ours;
and in it rests our hope. The sun that rose on our sorrow this morning
guards us in its course. Until it sets to-night, that monster must
retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations
of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear
through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a door-way, he
must open the door like a mortal. And so we have this day to hunt out
all his lairs and sterilize them. So we shall, if we have not yet catch
him and destroy him, drive him to bay in some place where the catching
and the destroying shall be, in time, sure. " Here I started up for I
could not contain myself at the thought that the minutes and seconds so
preciously laden with Mina's life and happiness were flying from us,
since whilst we talked action was possible. But Van Helsing held up his
hand warningly. "Nay, friend Jonathan," he said, "in this, the quickest
way home is the longest way, so your proverb say. We shall all act, and
act with desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in all
probable the key of the situation is in that house in Piccadilly. The
Count may have many houses which he has bought. Of them he will have
deeds of purchase, keys and other things. He will have paper that he
write on; he will have his book of cheques. There are many belongings
that he must have somewhere; why not in this place so central, so quiet,
where he come and go by the front or the back at all hour, when in the
very vast of the traffic there is none to notice. We shall go there and
search that house; and when we learn what it holds, then we do what our
friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt, 'stop the earths' and so we
run down our old fox--so? is it not? "

"Then let us come at once," I cried, "we are wasting the precious,
precious time! " The Professor did not move, but simply said:--

"And how are we to get into that house in Piccadilly? "

"Any way! " I cried. "We shall break in if need be. "

"And your police; where will they be, and what will they say? "

I was staggered; but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a good
reason for it. So I said, as quietly as I could:--

"Don't wait more than need be; you know, I am sure, what torture I am
in. "

"Ah, my child, that I do; and indeed there is no wish of me to add to
your anguish. But just think, what can we do, until all the world be at
movement? Then will come our time. I have thought and thought, and it
seems to me that the simplest way is the best of all. Now we wish to get
into the house, but we have no key; is it not so? " I nodded.

"Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house, and
could not still get it; and think there was to you no conscience of the
housebreaker, what would you do? "

"I should get a respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the
lock for me. "

"And your police, they would interfere, would they not? "

"Oh, no! not if they knew the man was properly employed. "

"Then," he looked at me keenly as he spoke, "all that is in doubt is
the conscience of the employer, and the belief of your policemen as
to whether or no that employer has a good conscience or a bad one.
Your police must indeed be zealous men and clever--oh, so clever! --in
reading the heart, that they trouble themselves in such matter. No, no,
my friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a hundred empty houses
in this your London, or of any city in the world; and if you do it as
such things are rightly done, and at the time such things are rightly
done, no one will interfere. I have read of a gentleman who owned a so
fine house in your London, and when he went for months of summer to
Zwitzerland and lock up his house, some burglar came and broke window at
back and got in. Then he went and made open the shutters in front and
walk out and in through the door, before the very eyes of the police.
Then he have an auction in that house, and advertise it, and put up big
notice; and when the day come he sell off by a great auctioneer all the
goods of that other man who own them. Then he go to a builder, and he
sell him that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take
all away within a certain time. And your police and other authority help
him all they can. And when that owner come back from his holiday in
Zwitzerland he find only an empty hole where his house had been. This
was all done _en regle_; and in our work we shall be _en regle_ too. We
shall not go so early that the policeman who have then little to think
of, shall deem it strange; but we shall go after ten o'clock when there
are many about, and when such things would be done were we indeed owners
of the house. "

I could not but see how right he was, and the terrible despair of Mina's
face became relaxed a thought; there was hope in such good counsel. Van
Helsing went on:--

"When once within that house we may find more clues; at any rate some of
us can remain there whilst the rest find the other places where there be
more earth-boxes--at Bermondsey and Mile End. "

Lord Godalming stood up. "I can be of some use here," he said. "I shall
wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will be most
convenient. "

"Look here, old fellow," said Morris, "it is a capital idea to have all
ready in case we want to go horsebacking; but don't you think that one
of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a byeway at
Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purposes?
It seems to me that we ought to take cabs when we go south or east; and
even leave them somewhere near the neighbourhood we are going to. "

"Friend Quincey is right! " said the Professor. "His head is what you
call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we go to
do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may. "

Mina took a growing interest in everything, and I was rejoiced to see
that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a time the
terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale--almost
ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in
somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last, lest it should give
her needless pain; but it made my blood run cold in my veins to think of
what had occurred with poor Lucy when the Count had sucked her blood. As
yet there was no sign of the teeth growing sharper; but the time as yet
was short, and there was time for fear.

When we came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts and of
the disposition of our forces, there were new sources of doubt. It was
finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we should destroy the
Count's lair close at hand. In case he should find it out too soon, we
should thus be still ahead of him in our work of destruction; and his
presence in his purely material shape, and at his weakest, might give us
some new clue.

As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor that,
after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the house in Piccadilly;
that the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst Lord Godalming
and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End and destroyed
them. It was possible, if not likely, the Professor urged, that the
Count might appear in Piccadilly during the day, and that if so we
might be able to cope with him then and there. At any rate we might be
able to follow him in force. To this plan I strenuously objected, in
so far as my going was concerned, for I said that I intended to stay
and protect Mina. I thought that my mind was made up on the subject;
but Mina would not listen to my objection. She said that there might be
some law matter in which I could be useful; that amongst the Count's
papers might be some clue which I could understand out of my experience
in Transylvania; and that, as it was, all the strength we could muster
was required to cope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to
give in, for Mina's resolution was fixed; she said that it was the last
hope for _her_ that we should all work together. "As for me," she said,
"I have no fear. Things have been as bad as they can be; and whatever
may happen must have in it some element of hope or comfort. Go, my
husband! God can, if He wishes it, guard me as well alone as with any
one present. " So I started up crying out: "Then in God's name let us
come at once, for we are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly
earlier than we think. "

"Not so! " said Van Helsing, holding up his hand.

"But why? " I asked.

"Do you forget," he said, with actually a smile, "that last night he
banqueted heavily, and will sleep late? "

Did I forget! shall I ever--can I ever! Can any of us ever forget that
terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance; but
the pain overmastered her and she put her hands before her face, and
shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had not intended to recall
her frightful experience. He had simply lost sight of her and her part
in the affair in his intellectual effort. When it struck him what he
had said, he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort
her. "Oh Madam Mina," he said, "dear, dear Madam Mina, alas! that I,
of all who so reverence you, should have said anything so forgetful.
These stupid old lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve
so; but you will forget it, will you not? " He bent low beside her as he
spoke; she took his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said
hoarsely:--

"No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember; and with it
I have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all
together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is ready, and we
must all eat that we may be strong. "

Breakfast was a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful and
encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of
us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said:--

"Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise. Are we
all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's
lair; armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack? " We all assured
him. "Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case _quite_ safe
here until the sunset; and before then we shall return--if--we shall
return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attack. I
have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing
of the things of which we know, so that He may not enter. Now let me
guard yourself. On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in
the name of the Father, the Son, and----"

There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hear. As he
placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it--had burned into
the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal. My poor
darling's brain told her the significance of the fact as quickly as her
nerves received the pain of it; and the two so overwhelmed her that her
overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream. But the words
to her thought came quickly; the echo of the scream had not ceased to
ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her knees
on the floor in an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair over
her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out:--

"Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must
bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgment Day. " They
all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless
grief, and putting my arms around held her tight. For a few minutes our
sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away
their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van Helsing turned and said
gravely; so gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some
way inspired and was stating things outside himself:--

"It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God Himself see fit,
as He most surely shall, on the Judgment Day to redress all wrongs of
the earth and of His children that He has placed thereon. And oh, Madam
Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that
red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away
and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know. For so surely as
we live, that scar shall pass away when God see right to lift the burden
that is hard upon us. Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in
obedience to His will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of His
good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through
stripes and shame; through tears and blood; through doubts and fears,
and all that makes the difference between God and man. "

There was hope in his words, and comfort; and they made for resignation.
Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old
man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then without a word we all
knelt down together, and, all holding hands, swore to be true to each
other. We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the
head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved; and we prayed for help
and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us.

It was then time to start. So I said farewell to Mina, a parting which
neither of us shall forget to our dying day; and we set out.

To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be
a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and
terrible land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire
meant many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred
earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly
ranks.

We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on
the first occasion. It was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic
surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such
fear as we already knew. Had not our minds been made up, and had there
not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded
with our task. We found no papers, nor any sign of use in the house; and
in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen them last.
Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before them:--

"And now, my friends, we have a duty here to do. We must sterilise
this earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far
distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it has
been holy. Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more
holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to
God. " As he spoke he took from his bag a screw-driver and a wrench, and
very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open. The earth smelled
musty and close; but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention
was concentrated on the Professor. Taking from his box a piece of the
Sacred Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then shutting down
the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked.

One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and left
them as we had found them to all appearance; but in each was a portion
of the Host.

When we closed the door behind us, the Professor said solemnly:--

"So much is already done. If it may be that with all the others we can
be so successful, then the sunset of this evening may shine on Madam
Mina's forehead all white as ivory and with no stain! "

As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our
train we could see the front of the asylum. I looked eagerly, and in the
window of my room saw Mina. I waved my hand to her, and nodded to tell
that our work there was successfully accomplished. She nodded in reply
to show that she understood. The last I saw, she was waving her hand in
farewell. It was with a heavy heart that we sought the station and just
caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the platform.

I have written this in the train.

_Piccadilly, 12. 30 o'clock. _--Just before we reached Fenchurch Street
Lord Godalming said to me:

"Quincey and I will find a locksmith. You had better not come with us
in case there should be any difficulty; for under the circumstances it
wouldn't seem so bad for us to break into an empty house. But you are
a solicitor, and the Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you
should have known better. " I demurred as to my not sharing any danger
even of odium, but he went on: "Besides, it will attract less attention
if there are not too many of us. My title will make it all right with
the locksmith, and with any policeman that may come along. You had
better go with Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park,
somewhere in sight of the house; and when you see the door open and the
smith has gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the look out
for you, and will let you in. "

"The advice is good! " said Van Helsing, so we said no more. Godalming
and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another. At the corner
of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strolled into the Green
Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was
centred, looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst
its more lively and spruce-looking neighbours. We sat down on a bench
within good view, and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little
attention as possible. The minutes seemed to pass with leaden feet as we
waited for the coming of the others.

At length we saw a four-wheeler drive up. Out of it, in leisurely
fashion, got Lord Godalming and Morris; and down from the box descended
a thick-set working man with his rush-woven basket of tools. Morris
paid the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away. Together the two
ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out what he wanted done.
The workman took off his coat leisurely and hung it on one of the spikes
of the rail, saying something to a policeman who just then sauntered
along. The policeman nodded acquiescence, and the man kneeling down
placed his bag beside him. After searching through it, he took out a
selection of tools which he proceeded to lay beside him in orderly
fashion. Then he stood up, looked into the keyhole, blew into it, and
turning to his employers, made some remark. Lord Godalming smiled, and
the man lifted a good-sized bunch of keys; selecting one of them, he
began to probe the lock, as if feeling his way with it. After fumbling
about for a bit he tried a second, and then a third. All at once the
door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two others
entered the hall. We sat still; my own cigar burnt furiously, but Van
Helsing's went cold altogether. We waited patiently as we saw the
workman come out and take in his bag. Then he held the door partly open,
steading it with his knees, whilst he fitted a key to the lock. This he
finally handed to Lord Godalming, who took out his purse and gave him
something. The man touched his hat, took his bag, put on his coat and
departed; not a soul took the slightest notice of the whole transaction.

When the man had fairly gone, we three crossed the street and knocked at
the door. It was immediately opened by Quincey Morris, beside whom stood
Lord Godalming lighting a cigar.

"The place smells so vilely," said the latter as we came in. It did
indeed smell vilely--like the old chapel at Carfax--and with our
previous experience it was plain to us that the Count had been using
the place pretty freely. We moved to explore the house, all keeping
together in case of attack; for we knew we had a strong and wily enemy
to deal with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not be
in the house. In the dining-room, which lay at the back of the hall,
we found eight boxes of earth. Eight boxes only out of the nine which
we sought! Our work was not over, and would never be until we should
have found the missing box. First we opened the shutters of the window
which looked out across a narrow stone-flagged yard at the blank face
of a stable, pointed to look like the front of a miniature house. There
were no windows in it, so we were not afraid of being overlooked. We did
not lose any time in examining the chests. With the tools which we had
brought with us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as we had
treated those others in the chapel. It was evident to us that the Count
was not at present in the house, and we proceeded to search for any of
his effects.

After a cursory glance at the rest of the rooms from basement to attic,
we came to the conclusion that the dining-room contained any effects
which might belong to the Count; and so we proceeded to minutely examine
them. They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on the great dining-room
table. There were title-deeds of the Piccadilly house in a great
bundle; deeds of the purchase of the houses at Mile End and Bermondsey;
notepaper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were covered up in thin
wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There were also a clothes
brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin--the latter containing
dirty water which was reddened as if with blood. Last of all was a
little heap of keys of all sorts and sizes, probably those belonging to
the other houses. When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming
and Quincey Morris, taking accurate notes of the various addresses of
the houses in the East and the South, took with them the keys in a great
bunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places. The rest of us
are, with what patience we can, awaiting their return--or the coming of
the Count.




CHAPTER XXIII.

/Dr. Seward's Diary. /


_3 October. _--The time seemed terribly long whilst we were waiting for
the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep
our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent
purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker.
The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see.
Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong youthful face,
full of energy, and with dark brown hair. To-day he is a drawn, haggard
old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning eyes and
grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact; in fact he
is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for, if all go
well, it will tide him over the despairing period; he will then, in a
kind of way, wake again to the realities of life. Poor fellow, I thought
my own trouble was bad enough, but his----! The Professor knows this
well enough, and is doing his best to keep his mind active. What he has
been saying was, under the circumstances, of absorbing interest. As well
as I can remember, here it is:--

"I have studied, over and over again since they came into my hands,
all the papers relating to this monster; and the more I have studied,
the greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out. All through
there are signs of his advance; not only of his power, but of his
knowledge of it. As I learned from the researches of my friend Arminius
of Buda-Pesth, he was in life a most wonderful man. Soldier, statesman,
and alchemist--which latter was the highest development of the
science-knowledge of his time. He had a mighty brain, a learning beyond
compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorse. He dared even
to attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his
time that he did not essay. Well, in him the brain powers survived the
physical death; though it would seem that memory was not all complete.
In some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child; but he is
growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of
man's stature. He is experimenting, and doing it well; and if it had not
been that we have crossed his path he would be yet--he may be yet if we
fail--the father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must
lead through Death, not Life. "

Harker groaned and said: "And this is all arrayed against my darling!
But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to defeat him! "

"He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but
surely; that big child-brain of his is working. Well for us, it is, as
yet, a child-brain; for had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain
things he would long ago have been beyond our power. However, he means
to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait
and to go slow. _Festina lente_ may well be his motto. "

"I fail to understand," said Harker wearily. "Oh, do be more plain to
me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain. " The Professor laid
his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke:--

"Ah, my child, I will be plain. Do you not see how, of late, this
monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentally? How he has been
making use of the zoophagous patient to effect his entry into friend
John's home; for your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when
and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked thereto
by an inmate. But these are not his most important experiments. Do we
not see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by others?
He knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great
child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he
might not himself move the box. So he begin to help; and then, when he
found that this be all right, he try to move them all alone. And so he
progress, and he scatter these graves of him; and none but he know where
they are hidden. He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground.
So that he only use them in the night, or at such time as he can change
his form, they do him equal well; and none may know these are his hiding
place! But, my child, do not despair; this knowledge come to him just
too late! Already all of his lairs but one be sterilize as for him;
and before the sunset this shall be so. Then he have no place where he
can move and hide. I delayed this morning that so we might be sure. Is
there not more at stake for us than for him? Then why we not be even
more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour, and already, if all
be well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us. To-day is our
day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chance. See! there are
five of us when those absent ones return. "

Whilst he was speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door,
the double postman's knock of the telegraph boy. We all moved out to
the hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us
to keep silence, stepped to the door and opened it. The boy handed in a
despatch. The Professor closed the door again and, after looking at the
direction, opened it and read it aloud:--

"Look out for D. He has just now, 12. 45, come from Carfax hurriedly and
hastened towards the south. He seems to be going the round and may want
to see you: Mina. "

There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice:--

"Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet! " Van Helsing turned to him
quickly and said:--

"God will act in His own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice
as yet; for what we wish for at the moment may be our undoings. "

"I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this
brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it! "

"Oh, hush, hush, my child! " said Van Helsing, "God does not purchase
souls in this wise; and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not
keep faith. But God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and your
devotion to that dear Madam Mina. Think you, how her pain would be
doubled, did she but hear your wild words. Do not fear any of us; we
are all devoted to this cause, and to-day shall see the end. The time
is coming for action; to-day this Vampire is limit to the powers of
man, and till sunset he may not change. It will take him time to arrive
here--see, it is twenty minutes past one--and there are yet some times
before he can hither come, be he never so quick. What we must hope for
is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first. "

About half an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker's telegram, there
came a quiet resolute knock at the hall door. It was just an ordinary
knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made
the Professor's heart and mine beat loudly. We looked at each other, and
together moved out into the hall; we each held ready to use our various
armaments--the spiritual in the left hand, the moral in the right. Van
Helsing pulled back the latch, and, holding the door half open, stood
back, having both hands ready for action. The gladness of our hearts
must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we
saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed
the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the hall:--

"It is all right. We found both places; six boxes in each, and we
destroyed them all! "

"Destroyed? " asked the Professor.

"For him! " We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said:--

"There's nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn't turn up
by five o'clock, we must start off; for it won't do to leave Mrs. Harker
alone after sunset. "

"He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been
consulting his pocket-book. "_Nota bene_, in Madam's telegram he went
south from Carfax, that means he went to cross the river, and he could
only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one
o'clock. That he went south has a meaning for us. He is as yet only
suspicious; and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would
suspect interference least. You must have been at Bermondsey only a
short time before him. That he is not here already shows that he went
to Mile End next. This took him some time; for he would then have to be
carried over the river in some way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not
have long to wait now. We should have ready some plan of attack, so that
we may throw away no chance. Hush, there is no time now. Have all your
arms! Be ready! " He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could
hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall-door.

I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a
dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and
adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always
been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been
accustomed to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit seemed to be
renewed instinctively. With a swift glance round the room, he at once
laid out our plan of attack, and, without speaking a word, with a
gesture, placed us each in position. Van Helsing, Harker, and I were
just behind the door so that when it was opened the Professor could
guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the door.
Godalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready
to move in front of the window. We waited in a suspence that made the
seconds pass with nightmare slowness. The slow, careful steps came along
the hall; the Count was evidently prepared for some surprise--at least
he feared it.

Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the room, winning a way
past us before any of us could raise a hand to stay him. There was
something so panther-like in the movement--something so unhuman, that it
seemed to sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act
was Harker, who, with a quick movement, threw himself before the door
leading into the room in the front of the house. As the Count saw us,
a horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eye-teeth
long and pointed; but the evil smile as quickly passed into a cold stare
of lion-like disdain. His expression again changed, as, with a single
impulse, we all advanced upon him. It was a pity that we had not some
better organised plan of attack, for even at the moment I wondered what
we were to do. I did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would
avail us anything. Harker evidently meant to try the matter, for he
had ready his great Kukri knife, and made a fierce and sudden cut at
him. The blow was a powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the
Count's leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had
shorn through his heart. As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his
coat, making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank-notes and a stream of
gold fell out. The expression of the Count's face was so hellish, that
for a moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible
knife aloft again for another stroke. Instinctively I moved forward with
a protective impulse, holding the crucifix and wafer in my left hand. I
felt a mighty power fly along my arm; and it was without surprise that I
saw the monster cower back before a similar movement made spontaneously
by each one of us. It would be impossible to describe the expression of
hate and baffled malignity--of anger and hellish rage--which came over
the Count's face. His waxen hue became greenish-yellow by the contrast
of his burning eyes, and the red scar on the forehead showed on the
pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next instant, with a sinuous
dive he swept under Harker's arm ere his blow could fall, and, grasping
a handful of the money from the floor, dashed across the room, and
threw himself at the window. Amid the crash and glitter of the falling
glass, he tumbled into the flagged area below. Through the sound of the
shivering glass I could hear the "ting" of the gold, as some of the
sovereigns fell on the flagging.

We ran over and saw him spring unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up
the steps, crossed the flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door.
There he turned and spoke to us:--

"You think to baffle me, you----with your pale faces all in a row,
like sheep in a butcher's. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You
think you have left me without a place to rest; but I have more. My
revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries, and time is on my
side. Your girls that you all love are mine already; and through them
you and others shall yet be mine--my creatures, to do my bidding and to
be my jackals when I want to feed. Bah! " With a contemptuous sneer, he
passed quickly through the door, and we heard the rusty bolt creak as he
fastened it behind him. A door beyond opened and shut. The first of us
to speak was the Professor, as, realising the difficulty of following
him through the stable, we moved towards the hall.

"We have learnt something--much! Notwithstanding his brave words, he
fears us; he fear time, he fear want! For if not, why he hurry so? His
very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. Why take that money? You
follow quick. You are hunters of wild beast, and understand it so. For
me, I make sure that nothing here may be of use to him, if so that he
return. " As he spoke he put the money remaining into his pocket; took
the title-deeds in the bundle as Harker had left them, and swept the
remaining things into the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with
a match.

Godalming and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker had
lowered himself from the window to follow the Count. He had, however,
bolted the stable door; and by the time they had forced it open there
was no sign of him. Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the back
of the house; but the mews was deserted and no one had seen him depart.

It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off. We had to
recognise that our game was up; with heavy hearts we agreed with the
Professor when he said:--

"Let us go back to Madam Mina--poor, poor, dear Madam Mina. All we can
do just now is done; and we can there, at least, protect her. But we
need not despair. There is but one more earth-box, and we must try to
find it; when that is done all may yet be well. " I could see that he
spoke as bravely as he could to comfort Harker. The poor fellow was
quite broken down; now and again he gave a low groan which he could not
suppress--he was thinking of his wife.

With sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker
awaiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour to her
bravery and unselfishness. When she saw our faces, her own became as
pale as death; for a second or two her eyes were closed as if she were
in secret prayer; and then she said cheerfully:--

"I can never thank you all enough. Oh, my poor darling! " as she spoke
she took her husband's grey head in her hands and kissed it--"Lay your
poor head here and rest it. All will yet be well, dear! God will protect
us if He so will it in His good intent. " The poor fellow only groaned.