{"id":1233,"date":"2007-02-11T01:30:16","date_gmt":"2007-02-11T07:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conradaskland.com\/blog\/2007\/02\/dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-two\/"},"modified":"2007-02-11T01:30:16","modified_gmt":"2007-02-11T07:30:16","slug":"dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Dracula by Bram Stoker &#8211; Chapter Two"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  Jonathan Harker&#8217;s Journal Continued<\/p>\n<p>5 May.&#8211;I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully awake  I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place.  In the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size,  and as  several dark ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps  seemed bigger than it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight.<\/p>\n<p>When the caleche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took my traps, and placed them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of massive stone. I could see even in th e dim light that the stone was massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the reins. The horses started forward, and trap and all disappeared down one of the dark openings.<\/p>\n<p>I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do.  Of bell or  knocker there was no sign. Through these frowning walls and dark  window  openings  it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. The time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts  and  fears crowding  upon me.  What sort of place had I come to,  and among what kind of people? What sort of grim adventure was it on  which I had embarked? Was this a customary  incident  in the life of a solicitor&#8217;s clerk sent out to explain the purchase  of  a  London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor&#8217;s clerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor, for just before leaving London I got word that my examination was successful, and I am now a full-blown solicitor! I began to rub my eyes and  pinch  myself  to see if I were awake. It all  seemed  like a horrible nightmare to me, and I expected that I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home, with the dawn struggling in through the windows, as I had now and again felt in the morning after a day of overwork.  But my flesh answered the pinching test,  and my eyes were not to be deceived.  I was indeed awake  and among  the Carpathians.  All  I  could do now was to be patient, and to wait the coming of morning.<\/p>\n<p>Just as I had come  to  this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching behind the great door,  and saw through the chinks the  gleam  of  a  coming  light.  Then there was the sound of rattling chains and  the clanking  of massive bolts drawn back.  A key was turned with the loud grating noise of long disuse, and the great door swung back.<\/p>\n<p>Within,  stood a  tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and  clad in  black from head to foot, without  a  single  speck of  colour  about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver lamp,  in which the flame burned without a chimney or globe of any kind, throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the open door. The old man motioned me in with his  right hand with a courtly gesture,  saying in excellent  English,  but  with a strange intonation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own free will!&#8221;   He made no motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone.  The instant, however, that I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and holding out his hand grasped  mine  with  a strength which made me wince, an effect  which  was not lessened  by  the fact that it seemed cold as ice, more like the hand of a dead than a living man. Again he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Welcome to my house! Enter freely.  Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring!&#8221;   The strength of the handshake was so much  akin  to  that which I had noticed in the driver,  whose  face I had not seen, that for a moment I doubted  if it were not the same person to whom I was speaking.  So to make sure, I said interrogatively,  &#8220;Count Dracula?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He bowed in a courtly was as he replied, &#8220;I am Dracula, and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house. Come in, the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest.&#8221;As he was speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall,  and stepping out, took my luggage. He had carried it in before I could forestall him. I protested, but he insisted.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late,  and my people are not available. Let me see to your comfort myself.&#8221;He insisted on carrying my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair,  and along another  great  passage,  on whose stone floor our steps rang heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door,  and I  rejoiced to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper, and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly replenished, flamed and flared.<\/p>\n<p>The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossing the room, opened another door, which led into a small  octagonal  room lit  by a single  lamp, and seemingly without a window of any sort. Passing through this, he opened another door, and motioned me to enter.  It was a welcome sight.  For here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with another log fire, also added to but lately, for the top logs were fresh,  which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney.  The Count himself left my luggage inside and withdrew, saying, before he closed the door.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The light  and warmth and the Count&#8217;s courteous welcome seemed to have dissipated  all my  doubts and fears.  Having then reached my normal state, I discovered that I  was  half famished with hunger. So making a hasty toilet,  I went into the other room.<\/p>\n<p>I found supper already laid out.  My host, who stood on one side of the great fireplace,  leaning against the stonework,  made a graceful  wave of his  hand to the table,  and said,<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will I trust,  excuse me that I do not join you, but I have dined already, and I do not sup.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted  to me.  He  opened  it and read it gravely. Then, with a charming smile, he handed it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrill of pleasure.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to come. But I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in whom I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall be ready to attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take your instructions in all matters.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The  count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish,  and I  fell to  at  once on  an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheese and a salad and a bottle of old tokay, of which I had two glasses, was my supper.  During the time  I  was eating it the Count asked me many question as  to  my  journey, and  I  told  him by degrees all I had experienced.<\/p>\n<p>By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host&#8217;s desire had drawn up a chair by the fire and  begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me, at the same time excusing himself that he  did  not  smoke.  I had now an opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked physiognomy.<\/p>\n<p>His face  was a strong,  a very strong, aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead,  and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over  the nose, and with bushy hair that  seemed  to  curl  in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache,  was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth. These protruded over the lips, whose  remarkable  ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years.  For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops  extremely pointed.  The  chin was broad and strong,  and  the cheeks  firm though  thin.  The general  effect was one of extraordinary pallor.<\/p>\n<p>Hitherto  I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on  his  knees  in  the firelight, and  they had seemed rather white and fine. But seeing them now close to  me,  I could not but notice that they were rather  coarse,  broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in the centre of the palm.  The  nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank,  but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal.<\/p>\n<p>The Count,  evidently noticing it, drew back. And with a grim sort  of smile,  which  showed  more than he had yet done his protruberant teeth,  sat himself down again on his own side of the fireplace. We were both silent for a while, and as  I  looked  towards the  window  I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemed a strange stillness over everything. But as I listened, I heard as if from down below in the valley the howling of many wolves. The Count&#8217;s eyes gleamed, and he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!&#8221;  Seeing, I  suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he added,&#8221;Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the hunter.&#8221; Then he rose and said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and tomorrow you shall sleep as late as you will.  I have to be away till the afternoon,  so sleep well  and  dream  well!&#8221; With a courteous bow, he opened for me himself  the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom.<\/p>\n<p>I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt. I fear. I think strange  things,  which  I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me!<\/p>\n<p>7 May.&#8211;It  is again  early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the last  twenty-four hours.  I slept till late in the day, and awoke of my own accord.  When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had supped,  and found a cold breakfast laid out,  with coffee kept hot by the pot being placed on the hearth.  There was a card on the table, on which was written&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me. D.&#8221; I set to and enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell, so that I might let the servants know I had finished, but I could not find one. There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house, considering the extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round me. The table service is of gold, and so beautifully wrought that it must be of immense value. The curtains and upholstery of the chairs and sofas and the hangings of my bed are of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must have been of fabulous value when they were made, for they are centuries old, though in excellent order. I saw something like them in Hampton Court, but they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten. But still in none of the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my table, and I had to get the little shaving glass from my bag before I could either shave or brush my hair. I have not yet seen a servant anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle except the howling of wolves. Some time after I had finished my meal, I do not know whether to call it breakfast of dinner, for it was between five and six o&#8217;clock when I had it, I looked about for something to read, for I did not like to go about the castle until I had asked the Count&#8217;s permission. There was absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper, or even writing materials, so I opened another door in the room and found a sort of library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found locked.<\/p>\n<p>In the  library  I  found,  to my great delight, a vast number of  English books,  whole  shelves  full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and  newspapers.  A  table in the center was littered with  English magazines and  newspapers, though none of them were of  very  recent  date.  The  books were of the most varied kind, history, geography,  politics, political economy, botany,  geology,  law,  all  relating to England and  English  life  and  customs and manners.  There were even  such  books of reference as the London Directory, the &#8220;Red&#8221;  and  &#8220;Blue&#8221;  books,  Whitaker&#8217;s Almanac, the Army and Navy Lists, and  it  somehow  gladdened  my heart to see it, the Law List.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst I  was  looking  at  the books, the door opened, and the Count entered.  He saluted me  in  a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a good night&#8217;s rest. Then he went on.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am glad you  found your way in  here,  for I am sure there is much  that will  interest you.  These  companions,&#8221; and he laid his hand on some of the  books,  &#8220;have been good friends to me, and  for  some  years past,  ever since I had the idea of going to London, have given me many,  many hours of pleasure.  Through  them I  have  come to know your great England,  and to  know her  is  to love  her.  I  long to go through the crowded  streets of your  mighty London,  to  be in the midst of the  whirl  and rush of  humanity,  to share its life, its change, its  death, and all that makes it what it is.  But  alas!   As  yet I only know your tongue through books. To you, my friend, I look that I know it to speak.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But,  Count,&#8221;  I  said,  &#8220;You  know  and speak English thoroughly!&#8221;  He bowed gravely.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Indeed,&#8221; I said, &#8220;You speak excellently.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not so,&#8221; he answered. &#8220;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 a 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 pauses in his speaking if he  hears  my  words,  `Ha, ha! A  stranger!&#8217;  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 today, but you will,  I  know forgive one who has so many important affairs in hand.&#8221;     Of  course I said all I could  about  being willing, and asked if I might come into that room when I  chose.  He answered, &#8220;Yes, certainly,&#8221; and added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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.&#8221;   I said I was sure of this, and then he went on.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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 there may be.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This led to  much  conversation,  and as it was evident that he wanted to talk,  if  only for talking&#8217;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  he  had  seen  the  blue flames.  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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That treasure has been hidden,&#8221;  he  went  on, &#8220;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  the 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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But how,&#8221;  said I, &#8220;can it  have  remained so long undiscovered, when there is a  sure  index  to  it if men will but take the trouble to look?  &#8220;The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums,  the  long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely. He answered.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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.   Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to find these places again?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There you are right,&#8221; I said. &#8220;I know no more than the dead where  even  to look for them.&#8221;   Then we drifted  into other matters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Come,&#8221;  he said at last, &#8220;tell me of London and of the house which you have procured for me.&#8221;   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, and English Bradshaw&#8217;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 neighborhood,  for  he  evidently  at the end knew  very much more than I did. When I remarked this, he answered.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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&#8217;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!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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 was 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 are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with rust.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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 had 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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When I had finished, he said, &#8220;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 also that there is a chapel of old times.  We  Transylvanian  nobles love not to think that our  bones may  lie 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  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.&#8221;  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.<\/p>\n<p>Presently,  with  an excuse,  he left me,  asking me to pull 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 to 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.<\/p>\n<p>It was the better  part of an  hour when  the Count returned.  &#8220;Aha!&#8221;  he said.  &#8220;Still at your books?  Good!  But you must not  work  always.  Come!  I am  informed that your supper is ready.&#8221;  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&#8217;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 the 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 dawn or at the turn of the tide.  Anyone 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 the  cock  coming  up with preternatural  shrillness through the clear morning air.<\/p>\n<p>Count  Dracula,  jumping to his feet, said,  &#8220;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,&#8221;   and with a courtly bow, he quickly left me.<\/p>\n<p>I went into  my  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  of quickening sky.  So I pulled the curtains again, and have written of this day.<\/p>\n<p>8 May.&#8211;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&#8211;  I  fear  I am myself the only living soul within the place.   Let me be prosaiac 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.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;s voice saying to me, &#8220;Good morning.&#8221; 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&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>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 the instant I saw the 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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Take care,&#8221; he said,  &#8220;take care how you cut yourself. It is more dangerous that you think in this  country.&#8221;  Then seizing the  shaving glass,  he  went  on,  &#8220;And this is the wretched thing  that  has  done  the mischief.  It is a foul bauble  of  man&#8217;s  vanity.  Away with it!&#8221;  And opening  the 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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 terrific 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.<\/p>\n<p>But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I explored further. Doors, doors, doors everywere, 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!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jonathan Harker&#8217;s Journal Continued 5 May.&#8211;I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed bigger than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3C0LX-jT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}