No More Learning

"

"But, Count," I said, "you know and speak English thoroughly! " He bowed
gravely.

"I thank you, my friend, for your all too flattering estimate, but yet
I fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel. True, I
know the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them. "

"Indeed," I said, "you speak excellently. "

"Not so," he answered. "Well I know that, did I move and speak in your
London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger. That is
not enough for me. Here I am noble; I am _boyar_; the common people
know me, and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no
one; men know him not--and to know not is to care not for. I am content
if I am like the rest, so that no man stops if he sees me, or pause in
his speaking if he hear my words, to say, 'Ha, ha! a stranger! ' I have
been so long master that I would be master still--or at least that none
other should be master of me. You come to me not alone as agent of my
friend Peter Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new estate in
London. You shall, I trust, rest here with me a while, so that by our
talking I may learn the English intonation; and I would that you tell
me when I make error, even of the smallest, in my speaking. I am sorry
that I had to be away so long to-day; but you will, I know, forgive one
who has so many important affairs in hand. "

Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might
come into that room when I chose. He answered: "Yes, certainly," and
added:--

"You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are
locked, where of course you will not wish to go. There is reason that
all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes and know with
my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand. " I said I was sure
of this, and then he went on:--

"We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are
not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay, from
what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something
of what strange things here may be. "

This led to much conversation. And as it was evident that he wanted to
talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions regarding
things that had already happened to me or come within my notice.
Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by
pretending not to understand; but generally he answered all I asked
most frankly. Then as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I
asked him of some of the strange things of the preceding night, as, for
instance, why the coachman went to the places where we had seen the
blue flames. Was it indeed true that they showed where gold was hidden?
He then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a certain
night of the year--last night, in fact, when all evil spirits are
supposed to have unchecked sway--a blue flame is seen over any place
where treasure has been concealed. "That treasure has been hidden," he
went on, "in the region through which you came last night, there can be
but little doubt; for it was the ground fought over for centuries by
the Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk. Why, there is hardly a foot of
soil in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men,
patriots or invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when the
Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out
to meet them--men and women, the aged and the children too--and waited
their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep
destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader
was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been
sheltered in the friendly soil. "

"But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered, when
there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look? "
The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the long,
sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered:--

"Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames
only appear on one night. And on that night no man of this land will,
if he can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he
did he would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you tell
me of who marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in
daylight even for his own work. You would not, I dare be sworn, be able
to find these places again? "

"There you are right," I said. "I know no more than the dead where even
to look for them. " Then we drifted into other matters.

"Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which you
have procured for me. " With an apology for my remissness, I went into
my own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in
order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and as
I passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the lamp
lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also
lit in the study or library, and I found the Count lying on the sofa,
reading, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw's Guide. When
I came in he cleared the books and papers from the table; and with him
I went into plans and deeds and figures of all sorts. He was interested
in everything, and asked me a myriad questions about the place and its
surroundings. He clearly had studied beforehand all he could get on the
subject of the neighbourhood, for he evidently at the end knew very
much more than I did. When I remarked this, he answered:--

"Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there
I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan--nay, pardon me,
I fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first--my
friend Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid me. He
will be in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of the law
with my other friend, Peter Hawkins. So! "

We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at
Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the
necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post to
Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a
place. I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and which
I inscribe here:--

"At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as seemed
to be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that
the place was for sale. It is surrounded by a high wall, of ancient
structure, built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large
number of years. The closed gates were of heavy old oak and iron, all
eaten with rust.

"The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old _Quatre
Face_, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points
of the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite surrounded
by the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it,
which make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond
or small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is clear
and flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is very large and of
all periods back, I should say, to mediaeval times, for one part is of
stone immensely thick, with only a few windows high up and heavily
barred with iron. It looks like part of a keep, and is close to an old
chapel or church. I could not enter it, as I had not the key of the
door leading to it from the house, but I have taken with my Kodak views
of it from various points. The house has been added to, but in a very
straggling way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it covers,
which must be very great. There are but few houses close at hand, one
being a very large house only recently added to and formed into a
private lunatic asylum. It is not, however, visible from the grounds. "

When I had finished, he said:--

"I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and
to live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable
in a day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I
rejoice that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian nobles
love not to think that our bones may be amongst the common dead. I seek
not gaiety nor mirth, not the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine
and sparkling waters which please the young and gay. I am no longer
young; and my heart, through weary years of mourning over the dead,
is not attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle are broken;
the shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken
battlements and casements. I love the shade and the shadow, and would
be alone with my thoughts when I may. "

Somehow his words and his look did not seem to accord, or else it was
that his cast of face made his smile look malignant and saturnine.

Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to put all my papers
together. He was some little time away, and I began to look at some of
the books around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened naturally
at England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at it I
found in certain places little rings marked, and on examining these I
noticed that one was near London on the east side, manifestly where his
new estate was situated; the other two were Exeter, and Whitby on the
Yorkshire coast.

It was the better part of an hour when the Count returned. "Aha! "
he said; "still at your books? Good! But you must not work always.
Come; I am informed that your supper is ready. " He took my arm, and
we went into the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready
on the table. The Count again excused himself, as he had dined out on
his being away from home. But he sat as on the previous night, and
chatted whilst I ate. After supper I smoked, as on the last evening,
and the Count stayed with me, chatting and asking questions on every
conceivable subject, hour after hour. I felt that it was getting very
late indeed, but I did not say anything, for I felt under obligation to
meet my host's wishes in every way. I was not sleepy, as the long sleep
yesterday had fortified me; but I could not help experiencing that
chill which comes over one at the coming of dawn, which is like, in its
way, the turn of the tide. They say that people who are near death die
generally at the change to the dawn or at the turn of the tide; any
one who has, when tired, and tied as it were to his post, experienced
this change in the atmosphere can well believe it. All at once we heard
the crow of a cock coming up with preternatural shrillness through the
clear morning air; Count Dracula, jumping to his feet, said:--

"Why, there is the morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up so
long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country of
England less interesting, so that I may not forget how time flies by
us," and, with a courtly bow, he left me.

I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was little
to notice; my window opened into the courtyard; all I could see was
the warm grey quickening sky. So I pulled the curtains again, and have
written of this day.

_8 May. _--I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting
too diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first,
for there is something so strange about this place and all in it that
I cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I had
never come. It may be that this strange night-existence is telling on
me; but would that that were all! If there were any one to talk to I
could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to speak
with, and he! --I fear I am myself the only living soul within the
place. Let me be prosaic so far as facts can be; it will help me to
bear up, and imagination must not run riot with me. If it does I am
lost. Let me say at once how I stand--or seem to.

I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could
not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the window,
and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder,
and heard the Count's voice saying to me, "Good morning. " I started,
for it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the
glass covered the whole room behind me. In starting I had cut myself
slightly, but did not notice it at the moment. Having answered the
Count's salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been
mistaken. This time there could be no error, for the man was close to
me, and I could see him over my shoulder. But there was no reflection
of him in the mirror! The whole room behind me was displayed; but there
was no sign of a man in it, except myself. This was startling, and,
coming on the top of so many strange things, was beginning to increase
that vague feeling of uneasiness which I always have when the Count is
near; but at that instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the
blood was trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I
did so half round to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw
my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly
made a grab at my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string
of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him, for
the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever
there.

"Take care," he said, "take care how you cut yourself. It is more
dangerous than you think in this country. " Then seizing the shaving
glass, he went on: "And this is the wretched thing that has done the
mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity. Away with it! " and
opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung
out the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones
of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very
annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case
or the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal.

When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I could
not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone. It is strange
that as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be a very
peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little exploring in the castle.
I went out on the stairs and found a room looking towards the south.
The view was magnificent, and from where I stood there was every
opportunity of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge of a terrible
precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall a thousand feet
without touching anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of
green tree-tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm.
Here and there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges
through the forests.

But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view
I explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and
bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there
an available exit.

The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!




CHAPTER III.

/Jonathan Harker's Journal/ (_continued_).


When I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came over
me. I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and peering out
of every window I could find; but after a little the conviction of my
helplessness overpowered all other things. When I look back after a
few hours I think I must have been mad for the time, for I behaved much
as a rat does in a trap. When, however, the conviction had come to me
that I was helpless I sat down quietly--as quietly as I have ever done
anything in my life--and began to think over what was best to be done.
I am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclusion. Of
one thing only am I certain: that it is no use making my ideas known
to the Count. He knows well that I am imprisoned; and as he has done
it himself, and has doubtless his own motives for it, he would only
deceive me if I trusted him fully with the facts. So far as I can see,
my only plan will be to keep my knowledge and my fears to myself, and
my eyes open. I am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my
own fears, or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so,
I need, and shall need, all my brains to get through. I had hardly come
to this conclusion when I heard the great door below shut, and knew
that the Count had returned. He did not come at once into the library,
so I went cautiously to my own room and found him making the bed.
This was odd, but only confirmed what I had all along thought--that
there were no servants in the house. When later I saw him through the
chink of the hinges of the door laying the table in the dining-room,
I was assured of it; for if he does himself all these menial offices,
surely it is proof that there is no one else to do them. This gave me
a fright, for if there is no one else in the castle, it must have been
the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that brought me here.
This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does it mean that he could
control the wolves, as he did, by only holding up his hand in silence.
How was it that all the people at Bistritz and on the coach had some
terrible fear for me? What meant the giving of the crucifix, of the
garlic, of the wild rose, of the mountain ash? Bless that good, good
woman who hung the crucifix round my neck! for it is a comfort and a
strength to me whenever I touch it. It is odd that a thing which I have
been taught to regard with disfavour and as idolatrous should in a time
of loneliness and trouble be of help. Is it that there is something in
the essence of the thing itself, or that it is a medium, a tangible
help, in conveying memories of sympathy and comfort? Some time, if it
may be, I must examine this matter and try to make up my mind about
it. In the meantime I must find out all I can about Count Dracula, as
it may help me to understand. To-night he may talk of himself, if I
turn the conversation that way. I must be very careful, however, not to
awake his suspicion.

_Midnight. _--I have had a long talk with the Count. I asked him a few
questions on Transylvanian history, and he warmed up to the subject
wonderfully. In his speaking of things and people, and especially
of battles, he spoke as if he had been present at them all. This he
afterwards explained by saying that to a _boyar_ the pride of his house
and name is his own pride, that their glory is his glory, that their
fate is his fate. Whenever he spoke of his house he always said "we,"
and spoke almost in the plural, like a king speaking. I wish I could
put down all he said exactly as he said it, for to me it was most
fascinating. It seemed to have in it a whole history of the country. He
grew excited as he spoke, and walked about the room pulling his great
white moustache and grasping anything on which he laid his hands as
though he would crush it by main strength. One thing he said which I
shall put down as nearly as I can; for it tells in its way the story of
his race:--

"We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood
of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here,
in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from
Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their
Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe,
ay, and of Asia and Africa, too, till the peoples thought that the
were-wolves themselves had come. Here, too, when they came, they found
the Huns, whose warlike fury had swept the earth like a living flame,
till the dying peoples held that in their veins ran the blood of those
old witches, who, expelled from Scythia, had mated with the devils in
the desert. Fools, fools! What devil or what witch was ever so great
as Attila, whose blood is in these veins? " He held up his arms. "Is
it a wonder that we were a conquering race; that we were proud; that
when the Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar, or the Turk poured
his thousands on our frontiers, we drove them back? Is it strange that
when Arpad and his legions swept through the Hungarian fatherland he
found us here when he reached the frontier; that the Honfoglalas was
completed there? And when the Hungarian flood swept eastward, the
Szekelys were claimed as kindred by the victorious Magyars, and to us
for centuries was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkey-land;
ay, and more than that, endless duty of the frontier guard, for, as
the Turks say, 'water sleeps, and enemy is sleepless. ' Who more gladly
than we throughout the Four Nations received the 'bloody sword,' or at
its warlike call flocked quicker to the standard of the King? When was
redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the
flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent;
who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube
and beat the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe
was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his
people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it
not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in
a later age again and again brought his forces over the great river
into Turkey-land; who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again,
and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where
his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could
ultimately triumph? They said that he thought only of himself. Bah!
what good are peasants without a leader? Where ends the war without
a brain and heart to conduct it?
Again, when, after the battle of
Mohacs, we threw off the Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were
amongst their leaders, for our spirit would not brook that we were not
free. Ah, young sir, the Szekelys--and the Dracula as their heart's
blood, their brains, and their swords--can boast a record that mushroom
growths like the Hapsburgs and the Romanoffs can never reach. The
warlike days are over. Blood is too precious a thing in these days of
dishonourable peace; and the glories of the great races are as a tale
that is told. "

It was by this time close on morning, and we went to bed. (_Mem. _ this
diary seems horribly like the beginning of the "Arabian Nights," for
everything has to break off at cock-crow--or like the ghost of Hamlet's
father. )

_12 May. _--Let me begin with facts--bare, meagre facts, verified
by books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must
not confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own
observation or my memory of them. Last evening when the Count came from
his room he began by asking me questions on legal matters and on the
doing of certain kinds of business. I had spent the day wearily over
books, and, simply to keep my mind occupied, went over some of the
matters I had been examined in at Lincoln's Inn. There was a certain
method in the Count's inquires, so I shall try to put them down in
sequence; the knowledge may somehow or some time be useful to me.

First, he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors, or more.
I told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that it would not
be wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in one transaction, as
only one could act at a time, and that to change would be certain to
militate against his interest. He seemed thoroughly to understand, and
went on to ask if there would be any practical difficulty in having one
man to attend, say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in
case local help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking
solicitor. I asked him to explain more fully, so that I might not by
any chance mislead him, so he said:--

"I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins, from
under the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter, which is far
from London, buys for me through your good self my place at London.
Good! Now here let me say frankly, lest you should think it strange
that I have sought the services of one so far off from London instead
of some one resident there, that my motive was that no local interest
might be served save my wish only; and as one of London resident might,
perhaps, have some purpose of himself or friend to serve I went thus
afield to seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my interest.
Now, suppose I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship goods, say, to
Newcastle, or Durham, or Harwich, or Dover, might it not be that it
could with more ease be done by consigning to one in these ports? " I
answered that certainly it would be most easy, but that we solicitors
had a system of agency one for the other, so that local work could be
done locally on instruction from any solicitor, so that the client,
simply placing himself in the hands of one man, could have his wishes
carried out by him without further trouble.

"But," said he, "I could be at liberty to direct myself. Is it not so? "

"Of course," I replied; "and such is often done by men of business, who
do not like the whole of their affairs to be known by any one person. "

"Good! " he said, and then went on to ask about the means of making
consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of all sorts of
difficulties which might arise, but by forethought could be guarded
against. I explained all these things to him to the best of my ability,
and he certainly left me under the impression that he would have made
a wonderful solicitor, for there was nothing that he did not think of
or foresee. For a man who was never in the country, and who did not
evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen
were wonderful. When he had satisfied himself on these points of which
he had spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by the books
available, he suddenly stood up and said:--

"Have you written since your first letter to our friend Mr. Peter
Hawkins, or to any other? " It was with some bitterness in my heart that
I answered that I had not, that as yet I had not seen any opportunity
of sending letters to anybody.

"Then write now, my young friend," he said, laying a heavy hand on my
shoulder; "write to our friend and to any other; and say, if it will
please you, that you shall stay with me until a month from now. "

"Do you wish me to stay so long? " I asked, for my heart grew cold at
the thought.

"I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master,
employer, what you will, engaged that some one should come on his
behalf, it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted. I
have not stinted. Is it not so? "

What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins's interest, not
mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and besides, while Count
Dracula was speaking, there was that in his eyes and in his bearing
which made me remember that I was a prisoner, and that if I wished it
I could have no choice. The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his
mastery in the trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them,
but in his own smooth, resistless way:--

"I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not discourse of
things other than business in your letters. It will doubtless please
your friends to know that you are well, and that you look forward to
getting home to them. Is it not so? " As he spoke he handed me three
sheets of notepaper and three envelopes. They were all of the thinnest
foreign post, and looking at them, then at him, and noticing his quiet
smile, with the sharp, canine teeth lying over the red under-lip, I
understood as well as if he had spoken that I should be careful what I
wrote, for he would be able to read it. So I determined to write only
formal notes now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also
to Mina, for to her I could write in shorthand, which would puzzle
the Count, if he did see it. When I had written my two letters I sat
quiet, reading a book whilst the Count wrote several notes, referring
as he wrote them to some books on his table. Then he took up my two
and placed them with his own, and put by his writing materials, after
which, the instant the door had closed behind him, I leaned over and
looked at the letters, which were face down on the table. I felt no
compunction in doing so, for under the circumstances I felt that I
should protect myself in every way I could.

One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billington, No. 7, The
Crescent, Whitby; another to Herr Leutner, Varna; the third was to
Coutts & Co. , London, and the fourth to Herren Klopstock & Billreuth,
bankers, Buda-Pesth. The second and fourth were unsealed. I was just
about to look at them when I saw the door-handle move. I sank back in
my seat, having just had time to replace the letters as they had been
and to resume my book before the Count, holding still another letter
in his hand, entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and
stamped them carefully, and then, turning to me, said:--

"I trust you will forgive me, but I have much work to do in private
this evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish. " At the
door he turned, and after a moment's pause said:--

"Let me advise you, my dear young friend--nay, let me warn you with
all seriousness, that should you leave these rooms you will not by any
chance go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has
many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely.
Be warned! Should sleep now or ever overcome you, or be like to do,
then haste to your own chamber or to these rooms, for your rest will
then be safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then"----He
finished his speech in a gruesome way, for he motioned with his hands
as if he were washing them. I quite understood; my only doubt was as to
whether any dream could be more terrible than the unnatural, horrible
net of gloom and mystery which seemed closing round me.

_Later. _--I endorse the last words written, but this time there is no
doubt in question. I shall not fear to sleep in any place where he is
not. I have placed the crucifix over the head of my bed--I imagine that
my rest is thus freer from dreams; and there it shall remain.

When he left me I went to my room. After a little while, not hearing
any sound, I came out and went up the stone stair to where I could look
out towards the south. There was some sense of freedom in the vast
expanse, inaccessible though it was to me, as compared with the narrow
darkness of the courtyard. Looking out on this, I felt that I was
indeed in prison, and I seemed to want a breath of fresh air, though
it were of the night. I am beginning to feel this nocturnal existence
tell on me. It is destroying my nerve. I start at my own shadow, and
am full of all sorts of horrible imaginings. God knows that there is
ground for any terrible fear in this accursed place! I looked out over
the beautiful expanse, bathed in soft yellow moonlight till it was
almost as light as day. In the soft light the distant hills became
melted, and the shadows in the valleys and gorges of velvety blackness.
The mere beauty seemed to cheer me; there was peace and comfort in
every breath I drew. As I leaned from the window my eye was caught by
something moving a storey below me, and somewhat to my left, where I
imagined, from the lie of the rooms, that the windows of the Count's
own room would look out. The window at which I stood was tall and deep,
stone-mullioned, and though weather-worn, was still complete; but it
was evidently many a day since the case had been there. I drew back
behind the stonework, and looked carefully out.

What I saw was the Count's head coming out from the window. I did not
see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his
back and arms. In any case, I could not mistake the hands which I had
had so many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and
somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest
and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed
to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from
the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful
abyss, _face down_, with his cloak spreading out around him like
great wings. At first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was
some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow; but I kept
looking, and it could be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp
the corners of the stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of
years, and by thus using every projection and inequality move downwards
with considerable speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall.

What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the
semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering
me; I am in fear--in awful fear--and there is no escape for me; I am
encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of. . . .

_15 May. _--Once more have I seen the Count go out in his lizard
fashion. He moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down,
and a good deal to the left. He vanished into some hole or window. When
his head had disappeared I leaned out to try and see more, but without
avail--the distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sight. I
knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity
to explore more than I had dared to do as yet. I went back to the
room, and taking a lamp, tried all the doors. They were all locked
as I had expected, and the locks were comparatively new; but I went
down the stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally. I
found I could pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great
chains; but the door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must
be in the Count's room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so
that I may get it and escape. I went on to make a thorough examination
of the various stairs and passages, and to try the doors that opened
from them. One or two small rooms near the hall were open, but there
was nothing to see in them except old furniture, dusty with age and
moth-eaten. At last, however, I found one door at the top of a stairway
which, though it seemed to be locked, gave a little under pressure.
I tried it harder, and found that it was not really locked, but that
the resistance came from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat,
and the heavy door rested on the floor. Here was an opportunity which
I might not have again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts
forced it back so that I could enter. I was now in a wing of the castle
further to the right than the rooms I knew and a story lower down. From
the windows I could see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south
of the castle, the windows of the end room looking out both west and
south. On the latter side, as well as to the former, there was a great
precipice. The castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so that
on three sides it was quite impregnable, and great windows were placed
here where sling, or bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently
light and comfort, impossible to a position which had to be guarded,
were secured. To the west was a great valley, and then, rising far
away, great jagged mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer
rock studded with mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks
and crevices and crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion
of the castle occupied in bygone days, for the furniture had more air
of comfort than any I had seen. The windows were curtainless, and the
yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to
see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over
all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and the moth. My
lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I
was glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the
place which chilled my heart and made my nerves tremble. Still, it was
better than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the
presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I
found a soft quietude come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak
table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much
thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my
diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It
is nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my
senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have powers of their own
which mere "modernity" cannot kill.

_Later: the Morning of 16 May. _--God preserve my sanity, for to this I
am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past.
Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for: that I may
not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely
it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this
hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone
I can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his
purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way
lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which
have puzzled me. Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant
when he made Hamlet say:--

"My tablets! quick, my tablets!
'Tis meet that I put it down," etc. ,

for now, feeling as though my own brain was unhinged or as if the shock
had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose.
The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me.

The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the time; it frightens
me more now when I think of it, for in future he has a fearful hold
upon me. I shall fear to doubt what he may say!

When I had written in my diary and had fortunately replaced the book
and pen in my pocket, I felt sleepy. The Count's warning came into my
mind, but I took a pleasure in disobeying it. The sense of sleep was
upon me, and with it the obstinacy which sleep brings as outrider. The
soft moonlight soothed, and the wide expanse without gave a sense of
freedom which refreshed me. I determined not to return to-night to the
gloom-haunted rooms, but to sleep here, where of old ladies had sat and
sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for
their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars. I drew a great
couch out of its place near the corner, so that, as I lay, I could look
at the lovely view to east and south, and unthinking of and uncaring
for the dust, composed myself for sleep.

I suppose I must have fallen asleep; I hope so, but I fear, for all
that followed was startlingly real--so real that now, sitting here in
the broad, full sunlight of the morning, I cannot in the least believe
that it was all sleep.

I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged in any way since I
came into it; I could see along the floor, in the brilliant moonlight,
my own footsteps marked where I had disturbed the long accumulation of
dust. In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by
their dress and manner. I thought at the time that I must be dreaming
when I saw them, for, though the moonlight was behind them, they threw
no shadow on the floor. They came close to me and looked at me for some
time and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline
noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes, that seemed to
be almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon. The other was
fair, as fair as can be, with great, wavy masses of golden hair and
eyes like pale sapphires. I seemed somehow to know her face, and to
know it in connection with some dreamy fear, but I could not recollect
at the moment how or where. All three had brilliant white teeth, that
shone like pearls against the ruby of their voluptuous lips. There was
something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same
time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that
they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not good to note this
down, lest some day it should meet Mina's eyes and cause her pain;
but it is the truth. They whispered together, and then they all three
laughed--such a silvery, musical laugh, but as hard as though the sound
never could have come through the softness of human lips. It was like
the intolerable, tingling sweetness of water-glasses when played on
by a cunning hand. The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the
other two urged her on. One said:--

"Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right to
begin. " The other added:--

"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all. " I lay quiet,
looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation.
The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement
of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent
the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter
underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood.

I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly
under the lashes. The fair girl went on her knees and bent over me,
fairly gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both
thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually
licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the
moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped
the white sharp teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went
below the range of my mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my
throat. Then she paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her
tongue as it licked her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot breath
on my neck. Then the skin of my throat began to tingle as one's flesh
does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches nearer--nearer. I
could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips on the supersensitive
skin of my throat, and the hard dents of two sharp teeth, just touching
and pausing there. I closed my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and
waited--waited with beating heart.

But at that instant another sensation swept through me as quick as
lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his
being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily
I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with
giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the
white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with
passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even
in the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red
light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind
them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like
drawn wires; the thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like
a heaving bar of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he
hurled the woman from him, and then motioned to the others, as though
he were beating them back; it was the same imperious gesture that I
had seen used to the wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost a
whisper, seemed to cut through the air and then ring round the room, as
he said:--

"How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast eyes on him
when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me!
Beware how you meddle with him, or you'll have to deal with me. " The
fair girl, with a laugh of ribald coquetry, turned to answer him:--

"You yourself never loved; you never love! " On this the other women
joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laughter rang through the
room that it almost made me faint to hear; it seemed like the pleasure
of fiends. Then the Count turned, after looking at my face attentively,
and said in a soft whisper:--

"Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it
not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done with him, you shall
kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must awaken him, for there is work
to be done. "

"Are we to have nothing to-night?