No More Learning

We had a sort of perfunctory supper together, and I think it cheered
us all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere animal heat of food to
hungry people--for none of us had eaten anything since breakfast--or
the sense of companionship may have helped us; but anyhow we were all
less miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope.
True to our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed;
and although she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to
threaten her husband, and red at others when his devotion to her was
manifested, she listened bravely and with calmness. When we came to
the part where Harker had rushed at the Count so recklessly, she clung
to her husband's arm, and held it tight as though her clinging could
protect him from any harm that might come. She said nothing, however,
till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought right
up to the present time. Then without letting go her husband's hand
she stood up amongst us and spoke. Oh that I could give any idea of
the scene; of that sweet, sweet, good, good woman in all the radiant
beauty of her youth and animation, with the red scar on her forehead
of which she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding of our
teeth--remembering whence and how it came; her loving kindness against
our grim hate; her tender faith against all our fears and doubting; and
we, knowing that, so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and
purity and faith, was outcast from God.

"Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like music on her lips, it
was so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear, and you all, my
true, true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through all
this dreadful time. I know that you must fight--that you must destroy
even as you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live
hereafter; but it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought
all this misery is the saddest case of all. Just think what will be his
joy when he too is destroyed in his worser part that his better part may
have spiritual immortality. You must be pitiful to him too, though it
may not hold your hands from his destruction. "

As she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together,
as though the passion in him were shrivelling his being to its core.
Instinctively the clasp on his wife's hand grew closer, till his
knuckles looked white. She did not flinch from the pain which I knew she
must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes that were more appealing
than ever. As she stopped speaking he leaped to his feet, almost
tearing his hand from hers as he spoke:--

"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that
earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send
his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it! "

"Oh, hush! oh, hush! in the name of the good God. Don't say such things,
Jonathan, my husband; or you will crush me with fear and horror. Just
think, my dear--I have been thinking all this long, long day of it--that
. . . perhaps . . . some day . . . I too may need such pity; and that some
other like you--and with equal cause for anger--may deny it to me! Oh,
my husband! my husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought
had there been another way; but I pray that God may not have treasured
your wild words, except as the heartbroken wail of a very loving and
sorely stricken man. Oh God, let these poor white hairs go in evidence
of what he has suffered, who all his life has done no wrong, and on whom
so many sorrows have come. "

We men were all in tears now. There was no resisting them, and we wept
openly. She wept too, to see that her sweeter counsels had prevailed.
Her husband flung himself on his knees beside her, and putting his arms
round her, hid his face in the folds of her dress. Van Helsing beckoned
to us and we stole out of the room, leaving the two loving hearts alone
with God.

Before they retired the Professor fixed up the room against any coming
of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that she might rest in peace.
She tried to school herself to the belief, and, manifestly for her
husband's sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave struggle; and was,
I think and believe, not without its reward. Van Helsing had placed at
hand a bell which either of them was to sound in case of any emergency.
When they had retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should
sit up, dividing the night between us, and watch over the safety of the
poor stricken lady. The first watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us
will be off to bed as soon as we can. Godalming has already turned in,
for his is the second watch. Now that my work is done, I, too, shall go
to bed.


_Jonathan Harker's Journal. _

_3-4 October close to midnight. _--I thought yesterday would never end.
There was over me a yearning for sleep in some sort of blind belief
that to wake would be to find things changed, and that any change
must now be for the better. Before we parted, we discussed what our
next step was to be, but we could arrive at no result. All we knew
was that one earth-box remained, and that the Count alone knew where
it was. If he chooses to lie hidden, he may baffle us for years; and
in the meantime! --the thought is too horrible, I dare not think of
it even now. This I know: that if ever there was a woman who was all
perfection, that one is my poor wronged darling. I love her a thousand
times more for her sweet pity of last night, a pity that made my own
hate of the monster seem despicable. Surely God will not permit the
world to be the poorer by the loss of such a creature. This is hope to
me. We are all drifting reefwards now, and faith is our only anchor.
Thank God! Mina is sleeping, and sleeping without dreams. I fear what
her dreams might be like, with such terrible memories to ground them
in. She has not been so calm, within my seeing, since the sunset.
Then, for a while, there came over her face a repose which was like
spring after the blasts of March. I thought at the time that it was the
softness of the red sunset on her face, but somehow now I think it had
a deeper meaning. I am not sleepy myself, though I am weary--weary to
death. However, I must try to sleep; for there is to-morrow to think
of, and there is no rest for me until. . . .

_Later. _--I must have fallen asleep, for I was awakened by Mina, who was
sitting up in bed, with a startled look on her face. I could see easily,
for we did not leave the room in darkness; she had placed a warning hand
over my mouth, and now she whispered in my ear:--

"Hush! there is someone in the corridor! " I got up softly, and crossing
the room, gently opened the door.

Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake. He
raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me:--

"Hush! go back to bed; it is all right. One of us will be here all
night. We don't mean to take any chances! "

His look and gesture forbade discussion, so I came back and told Mina.
She sighed, and positively a shadow of a smile stole over her poor, pale
face as she put her arms round me and said softly:--

"Oh, thank God for good brave men! " With a sigh she sank back again to
sleep. I write this as I am not sleepy, though I must try again.

_4 October, morning. _--Once again during the night I was wakened by
Mina. This time we had all had a good sleep, for the grey of the coming
dawn was making the windows into sharp oblongs, and the gas flame was
like a speck rather than a disc of light. She said to me hurriedly:--

"Go call the Professor. I want to see him at once. "

"Why? " I asked.

"I have an idea. I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured
without my knowing it. He must hypnotise me before the dawn, and then I
shall be able to speak. Go quick, dearest; the time is getting close. "
I went to the door. Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and, seeing
me, he sprang to his feet.

"Is anything wrong? " he asked, in alarm.

"No," I replied; "but Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once. "

"I will go," he said, and hurried into the Professor's room.

Two or three minutes later Van Helsing was in the room in his
dressing-gown, and Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming were with Dr. Seward
at the door asking questions. When the Professor saw Mina a smile--a
positive smile--ousted the anxiety of his face; he rubbed his hands as
he said:--

"Oh, my dear Madam Mina, this is indeed a change. See! friend Jonathan,
we have got our dear Madam Mina, as of old, back to us to-day! " Then
turning to her, he said cheerfully: "And what am I do for you? For at
this hour you do not want me for nothings. "

"I want you to hypnotise me! " she said. "Do it before the dawn, for I
feel that then I can speak, and speak freely. Be quick, for the time is
short! " Without a word he motioned her to sit up in bed.

Looking fixedly at her, he commenced to make passes in front of her,
from over the top of her head downward, with each hand in turn. Mina
gazed at him fixedly for a few minutes, during which my own heart beat
like a trip hammer, for I felt that some crisis was at hand. Gradually
her eyes closed, and she sat, stock still; only by the gentle heaving
of her bosom could one know that she was alive. The Professor made a
few more passes and then stopped, and I could see that his forehead was
covered with great beads of perspiration. Mina opened her eyes; but she
did not seem the same woman. There was a faraway look in her eyes, and
her voice had a sad dreaminess which was new to me. Raising his hand to
impose silence, the Professor motioned me to bring the others in. They
came on tip-toe, closing the door behind them, and stood at the foot of
the bed, looking on. Mina appeared not to see them. The stillness was
broken by Van Helsing's voice speaking in a low level tone which would
not break the current of her thoughts:--

"Where are you! " The answer came in a neutral way:--

"I do not know. Sleep has no place it can call its own. "

For several minutes there was silence. Mina sat rigid, and the Professor
stood staring at her fixedly; the rest of us hardly dared to breathe.
The room was growing lighter; without taking his eyes from Mina's face,
Dr. Van Helsing motioned me to pull up the blind. I did so, and the
day seemed just upon us. A red streak shot up, and a rosy light seemed
to diffuse itself through the room. On the instant the Professor spoke
again:--

"Where are you now? " The answer came dreamily, but with intention; it
was as though she were interpreting something. I have heard her use the
same tone when reading her shorthand notes.

"I do not know. It is all strange to me! "

"What do you see? "

"I can see nothing; it is all dark. "

"What do you hear? " I could detect the strain in the Professor's patient
voice.

"The lapping of water. It is gurgling by, and little waves leap. I can
hear them on the outside. "

"Then you are on a ship? " We all looked at each other, trying to glean
something each from the other. We were afraid to think. The answer came
quick:--

"Oh, yes! "

"What else do you hear? "

"The sound of men stamping overhead as they run about. There is the
creaking of a chain, and the loud tinkle as the check of the capstan
falls into the ratchet. "

"What are you doing? "

"I am still--oh, so still. It is like death! " The voice faded away into
a deep breath as of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again.

By this time the sun had risen, and we were all in the full light of
day. Dr. Van Helsing placed his hands on Mina's shoulders, and laid her
head down softly on her pillow. She lay like a sleeping child for a
few moments, and then, with a long sigh, awoke and stared in wonder to
see us all around her. "Have I been talking in my sleep? " was all she
said. She seemed, however, to know the situation without telling; though
she was eager to know what she had told. The Professor repeated the
conversation, and she said:--

"Then there is not a moment to lose: it may not be yet too late! " Mr.
Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door, but the Professor's calm
voice called them back:

"Stay, my friends. That ship, wherever it was, was weighing anchor
whilst she spoke. There are many ships weighing anchor at the moment in
your so great Port of London. Which of them is it that you seek? God
be thanked that we have once again a clue, though whither it may lead
us we know not. We have been blind somewhat; blind after the manner of
men, since when we can look back we see what we might have seen looking
forward if we had been able to see what we might have seen! Alas! but
that sentence is a puddle; is it not? We can know now what was in the
Count's mind when he seize that money, though Jonathan's so fierce
knife put him in the danger that even he dread. He meant escape. Hear
me, ESCAPE! He saw that with but one earth-box left, and a pack of men
following like dogs after a fox, this London was no place for him. He
have take his last earth-box on board a ship, and he leave the land. He
think to escape, but no! we follow him. Tally Ho! as friend Arthur would
say when he put on his red frock! Our old fox is wily; oh! so wily,
and we must follow with wile. I too am wily and I think his mind in a
little while. In meantime we may rest and in peace, for there are waters
between us which he do not want to pass, and which he could not if he
would--unless the ship were to touch the land, and then only at full or
slack tide. See, and the sun is just rose, and all day to sunset is to
us. Let us take bath, and dress, and have breakfast which we all need,
and which we can eat comfortable since he be not in the same land with
us. " Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked:--

"But why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us? " He
took her hand and patted it as he replied:--

"Ask me nothing as yet. When we have breakfast, then I answer all
questions. " He would say no more, and we separated to dress.

After breakfast Mina repeated her question. He looked at her gravely for
a minute and then said sorrowfully:--

"Because, my dear, dear Madam Mina, now more than ever must we find him
even if we have to follow him to the jaws of Hell? " She grew paler as
she asked faintly:--

"Why?
"

"Because," he answered solemnly, "he can live for centuries, and you are
but mortal woman. Time is now to be dreaded--since once he put that mark
upon your throat. "

I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint.




CHAPTER XXIV.

/Dr. Seward's Phonograph Diary, Spoken by Van Helsing. /


This to Jonathan Harker.

You are to stay with your dear Madam Mina. We shall go to make our
search--if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we
seek confirmation only. But do you stay and take care of her to-day.
This is your best and most holiest office. This day nothing can find him
here. Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already,
for I have tell them. He, our enemy, have gone away; he have gone back
to his Castle in Transylvania. I know it so well, as if a great hand of
fire wrote it on the wall. He have prepare for this in some way, and
that last earth-box was ready to ship somewheres. For this he took the
money; for this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun
go down. It was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that
he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to him.
But there was not of time. When that fail he make straight for his last
resource--his last earthwork I might say did I wish _double entente_. He
is clever, oh, so clever! he know that his game here was finish; and so
he decide he go back home. He find ship going by the route he came, and
he go in it. We go off now to find what ship, and whither bound; when we
have discover that, we come back and tell you all. Then we will comfort
you and poor dear Madam Mina with new hope. For it will be hope when you
think it over: that all is not lost. This very creature that we pursue,
he take hundreds of years to get so far as London; and yet in one day,
when we know of the disposal of him we drive him out. He is finite,
though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. But we
are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong together.
Take heart afresh dear husband of Madam Mina. This battle is but begun,
and in the end we shall win--so sure as that God sits on high to watch
over His children. Therefore be of much comfort till we return.

/Van Helsing. /


_Jonathan Harker's Journal. _

_4 October. _--When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the
phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerably. Already the
certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfort;
and comfort is strength to her. For my own part, now that this horrible
danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost impossible to
believe in it. Even my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem
like a long-forgotten dream. Here in the crisp autumn air, in the bright
sunlight--

Alas! how can I disbelieve! In the midst of my thought my eye fell on
the red scar on my poor darling's white forehead. Whilst that lasts,
there can be no disbelief. And afterwards the very memory of it will
keep faith crystal clear. Mina and I fear to be idle, so we have been
over all the diaries again and again. Somehow, although the reality
seems greater each time, the pain and the fear seem less. There is
something of a guiding purpose manifest throughout, which is comforting.
Mina says that perhaps we are the instruments of ultimate good. It may
be! I shall try to think as she does. We have never spoken to each other
yet of the future. It is better to wait till we see the Professor and
the others after their investigations.

The day is running by more quickly than I ever thought a day could run
for me again. It is now three o'clock.


_Mina Harker's Journal_

_5 October, 5 p. m. _--Our meeting for report. Present: Professor Van
Helsing, Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Mr. Quincey Morris, Jonathan
Harker, Mina Harker.

Dr. Van Helsing described what steps were taken during the day to
discover on what boat and whither bound Count Dracula made his escape:--

"As I knew that he wanted to get back to Transylvania, I felt sure that
he must go by the Danube mouth; or by somewhere in the Black Sea, since
by that way he come. It was a dreary blank that was before us. _Omne
ignotum pro magnifico_; and so with heavy hearts we start to find what
ships leave for the Black Sea last night. He was in sailing ship, since
Madam Mina tell of sails being set. These not so important as to go in
your list of the shipping in the _Times_, and so we go, by suggestion
of my Lord Godalming, to your Lloyd's, where are note of all ships that
sail, however so small. There we find that only one Black-Sea-bound
ship go out with the tide. She is the _Czarina Catherine_, and she sail
from Doolittle's Wharf for Varna, and thence on to other parts and up
the Danube. 'Soh! ' said I, 'this is the ship whereon is the Count. ' So
off we go to Doolittle's Wharf, and there we find a man in an office
of wood so small that the man look bigger than the office. From him we
inquire of the goings of the _Czarina Catherine_. He swear much, and he
red face and loud of voice, but he good fellow all the same; and when
Quincey give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it
up, and put it in a so small bag which he have hid deep in his clothing,
he still better fellow and humble servant to us. He come with us, and
ask many men who are rough and hot; these be better fellows too when
they have been no more thirsty. They say much of blood and bloom and
of others which I comprehend not, though I guess what they mean; but
nevertheless they tell us all things which we want to know.

"They make known to us among them, how last afternoon at about five
o'clock comes a man so hurry. A tall man, thin and pale, with high
nose and teeth so white, and eyes that seem to be burning. That he be
all in black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or
the time. That he scatter his money in making quick inquiry as to what
ship sails for the Black Sea and for where. Some took him to the office
and then to the ship, where he will not go aboard but halt at shore
end of gang-plank, and ask that the captain come to him. The captain
come, when told that he will be pay well; and though he swear much at
the first he agree to term. Then the thin man go and some one tell him
where horse and cart can be hired. He go there, and soon he come again,
himself driving cart on which is a great box; this he himself lift
down, though it take several to put it on truck for the ship. He give
much talk to captain as to how and where his box is to be place; but
the captain like it not and swear at him in many tongues, and tell him
that if he like he can come and see where it shall be. But he say 'no;'
that he come not yet, for that he have much to do. Whereupon the captain
tell him that he had better be quick--with blood--for that his ship will
leave the place--of blood--before the turn of the tide--with blood. Then
the thin man smile, and say that of course he must go when he think
fit; but he will be surprise if he go quite so soon. The captain swear
again, polyglot, and the thin man make him bow, and thank him, and say
that he will so far intrude on his kindness as to come aboard before the
sailing. Final the captain, more red than ever, and in more tongues,
tell him that he doesn't want no Frenchmen--with bloom upon them and
also with blood--in his ship--with blood on her also. And so, after
asking where there might be close at hand a ship where he might purchase
ships forms, he departed.

"No one knew where he went 'or bloomin' well cared,' as they said, for
they had something else to think of--well with blood again; for it soon
became apparent to all that the _Czarina Catherine_ would not sail as
was expected. A thin mist began to creep up from the river, and it
grew, and grew; till soon a dense fog enveloped the ship and all around
her. The captain swore polyglot--very polyglot--polyglot with bloom and
blood; but he could do nothing. The water rose and rose; and he began
to fear that he would lose the tide altogether. He was in no friendly
mood, when just at full tide, the thin man came up the gang-plank
again and asked to see where his box had been stowed. Then the captain
replied that he wished that he and his box--old and with much bloom and
blood--were in hell. But the thin man did not be offend, and went down
with the mate and saw where it was place, and came up and stood awhile
on deck in fog. He must have come off by himself, for none notice him.
Indeed they thought not of him; for soon the fog begin to melt away,
and all was clear again. My friends of the thirst and the language
that was of bloom and blood laughed, as they told how the captain's
swears exceeded even his usual polyglot, and was more than ever full of
picturesque, when on questioning other mariners who were in movement up
and down the river that hour, he found that few of them had seen any of
fog at all, except where it lay round the wharf. However the ship went
out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the river
mouth. She was by then, when they told us, well out to sea.

"And so, my dear Madam Mina, it is that we have to rest for a time, for
our enemy is on the sea, with the fog at his command, on his way to the
Danube mouth. To sail a ship takes time, go she never so quick; and when
we start we go on land more quick, and we meet him there. Our best hope
is to come on him when in the box between sunrise and sunset; for then
he can make no struggle, and we may deal with him as we should. There
are days for us in which we can make ready our plan. We know all about
where he go; for we have seen the owner of the ship, who have shown us
invoices and all papers that can be. The box we seek is to be landed in
Varna, and to be given to an agent, one Ristics who will there present
his credentials; and so our merchant friend will have done his part.
When he ask if there be any wrong, for that so, he can telegraph and
have inquiry made at Varna, we say 'no;' for what is to be done is not
for police or of the customs. It must be done by us alone and in our own
way. "

When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if it were certain
that the Count had remained on board the ship. He replied: "We have
the best proof of that: your own evidence, when in the hypnotic trance
this morning. " I asked him again if it were really necessary that they
should pursue the Count, for oh! I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I
know that he would surely go if the others went. He answered in growing
passion, at first quietly. As he went on, however, he grew more angry
and more forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at
least some of that personal dominance which made him so long a master
amongst men:--

"Yes, it is necessary--necessary--necessary! For your sake in the first,
and then for the sake of humanity. This monster has done much harm
already, in the narrow scope where he find himself, and in the short
time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in
darkness and not knowing. All this have I told these others; you, my
dear Madam Mina, will learn it in the phonograph of my friend John, or
in that of your husband. I have told them how the measure of leaving his
own barren land--barren of peoples--and coming to a new land where life
of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the
work of centuries. Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do
what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have
been, or that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of
nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked together in
some wondrous way. The very place where he have been alive, Un-Dead for
all these centuries, is full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical
world. There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither.
There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters
of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless,
there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations
of occult forces which work for physical life in strange way; and in
himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and warlike
time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more subtle brain,
more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital principle have in
strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and
thrive, so his brain grow too. All this without that diabolic aid which
is surely to him; for it have to yield to the powers that come from, and
are, symbolic of good. And now this is what he is to us. He have infect
you--oh, forgive me, my dear, that I must say such; but it is for good
of you that I speak. He infect you in such wise, that even if he do no
more, you have only to live--to live in your own old, sweet way; and so
in time, death, which is of man's common lot and with God's sanction,
shall make you like to him. This must not be! We have sworn together
that it must not. Thus are we ministers of God's own wish: that the
world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters,
whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one
soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem
more. Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if
we fall, we fall in good cause. " He paused and I said:--

"But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely? Since he has been driven
from England, will he not avoid it, as a tiger does the village from
which he has been hunted? "

"Aha! " he said, "your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall
adopt him. Your man-eater, as they of India call the tiger who has
once taste blood of the human, care no more for other prey, but prowl
unceasing till he get him. This that we hunt from our village is a
tiger, too, a man-eater, and he never cease to prowl. Nay, in himself he
is not one to retire and stay afar. In his life, his living life, he go
over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on his own ground; he be
beaten back, but did he stay? No! He come again, and again, and again.
Look at his persistence and endurance. With the child-brain that was
to him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city.
What does he do? He find out the place of all the world most of promise
for him. Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task.
He find in patience just how is his strength, and what are his powers.
He study new tongues. He learn new social life; new environment of old
ways, the politic, the law, the finance, the science, the habit of a
new land and a new people who have come to be since he was. His glimpse
that he have had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire. Nay, it
help him to grow as to his brain; for it all prove to him how right he
was at the first in his surmises. He have done this alone; all alone!
from a ruin tomb in a forgotten land. What more may he not do when the
greater world of thought is open to him? He that can smile at death, as
we know him; who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off
whole peoples. Oh! if such an one was to come from God, and not the
Devil, what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours.
But we are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in silence,
and our efforts all in secret; for this enlightened age, when men
believe not even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his
greatest strength. It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and
his weapons to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing to peril even
our own souls for the safety of one we love--for the good of mankind,
and for the honour and glory of God. "

After a general discussion it was determined that for to-night nothing
be definitely settled; that we should all sleep on the facts, and try to
think out the proper conclusions. To-morrow at breakfast we are to meet
again, and, after making our conclusions known to one another, we shall
decide on some definite course of action.

* * * * *

I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting
presence were removed from me. Perhaps. . . .

My surmise was not finished, could not be; for I caught sight in the
mirror of the red mark upon my forehead; and I knew that I was still
unclean.


_Dr. Seward's Diary. _

_5 October. _--We all rose early, and I think that sleep did much for
each and all of us. When we met at early breakfast there was more
general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience
again.

It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature.
Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way--even
by death--and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment.
More than once as we sat around the table, my eyes opened in wonder
whether the whole of the past days had not been a dream. It was only
when I caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs. Harker's forehead that
I was brought back to reality. Even now, when I am gravely resolving
the matter, it is almost impossible to realise that the cause of all
our trouble is still existent. Even Mrs. Harker seems to lose sight of
her trouble for whole spells; it is only now and again, when something
recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible scar. We are
to meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on our course of
action. I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct
rather than reason: we shall all have to speak frankly; and yet I fear
that in some mysterious way poor Mrs. Harker's tongue is tied. I _know_
that she forms conclusions of her own, and from all that has been I can
guess how brilliant and how true they must be; but she will not, or
cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing, and
he and I are to talk it over when we are alone. I suppose it is some of
that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning to work. The
Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van Helsing called "the
Vampire's baptism of blood. " Well, there may be a poison that distils
itself out of good things; in an age when the existence of ptomaines is
a mystery we should not wonder at anything! One thing I know: that if my
instinct be true regarding poor Mrs. Harker's silences, then there is a
terrible difficulty--an unknown danger--in the work before us. The same
power that compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think
further; for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman!