{"id":1253,"date":"2007-02-11T01:41:19","date_gmt":"2007-02-11T07:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conradaskland.com\/blog\/2007\/02\/dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-twenty-two\/"},"modified":"2007-02-11T01:41:19","modified_gmt":"2007-02-11T07:41:19","slug":"dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-twenty-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-twenty-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Dracula by Bram Stoker &#8211; Chapter Twenty Two"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  JONATHAN HARKER&#8217;S JOURNAL<\/p>\n<p>3 October.&#8211;As I must do something or go mad,  I  write this diary.  It is now six o&#8217;clock,  and  we are  to meet in the study in half an hour and take something to eat, for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are agreed that  if we do not eat we cannot work our best.  Our best will be, God knows, required today.  I must keep writing at every chance, for I dare  not stop to think.  All, big and little, must go down.  Perhaps at the end the little things may teach us most.  The teaching, big or little, could not have landed Mina or  me  anywhere worse than we are today.  However,  we must trust  and hope.  Poor Mina told me just now,  with the tears running down her dear cheeks, that it is in trouble and  trial  that our faith  is tested. That we must keep on trusting, and that God will aid us up to  the end.  The  end!  Oh  my  God!  What end? . . . To work!  To work!<\/p>\n<p>When Dr. Van  Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back from seeing  poor Renfield,  we went  gravely into what was to be done.  First,  Dr. Seward told us  that when he  and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to  the room below they had found Renfield  lying  on the  floor, all  in  a  heap.  His face was all bruised and crushed in, and the  bones  of the neck were broken.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Seward  asked  the attendant who was on duty in the passage if he had heard anything.  He said that  he had been sitting  down, he confessed  to  half dozing, when he  heard loud  voices  in  the room, and then Renfield had called out loudly several times,  &#8220;God!  God!  God!&#8221;  After that  there was  a sound  of falling, and when  he entered  the room  he found him lying on the floor, face down, just as the doctors had seen him.  Van Helsing asked if he had heard &#8220;voices&#8221; or &#8220;a voice,&#8221; and he said  he could not say.  That  at first it had seemed to him as if there were two, but as there  was no one in the room it could have been only one.  He could swear to it, if required, that the word  &#8220;God&#8221; was spoken  by  the patient.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Seward said to us, when we were  alone, that he did not wish to go into the matter.  The question  of an inquest had to be considered, and  it  would never do to put forward the truth, as no one would believe it. As it was, he thought that on the attendant&#8217;s evidence he could give a certificate of death by misadventure in falling from bed.  In  case  the coroner should demand it, there would  be a  formal inquest, necessarily to the same result.<\/p>\n<p>When  the  question  began  to  be discussed as to what should be our next step, the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full confidence.  That nothing of any sort, no matter how painful, should  be kept from  her.  She herself agreed as to its wisdom, and it was pitiful  to  see her so brave and yet so sorrowful, and in  such a  depth  of despair.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There  must be  no concealment,&#8221; she said.  &#8220;Alas!  We have had too much already.  And  besides there is nothing in all the world that can give me more pain than I have already endured, than I suffer now!  Whatever may happen, it must be of new hope or of new courage to me!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Van Helsing  was  looking at  her fixedly as she spoke, and said, suddenly but quietly,  &#8220;But dear  Madam Mina,  are you not afraid.  Not for yourself, but for others from yourself, after what has happened?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Her face grew set in its lines, but her eyes shone with the devotion of  a  martyr as she answered,  &#8220;Ah no!  For my mind is made up!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To  what?&#8221;  he  asked  gently, whilst we were all very still, for each in our own way  we  had a sort of vague idea of what she meant.<\/p>\n<p>Her answer  came  with direct simplicity, as though she was simply stating  a fact,  &#8220;Because  if  I find in myself, and I shall watch keenly  for it, a sign of harm to any that I love, I shall die!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You would not kill yourself?&#8221; he asked, hoarsely.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I  would.  If there  were  no friend who loved me, who would save me such a pain, and so  desperate an effort!&#8221; She looked at him meaningly as she spoke.<\/p>\n<p>He was sitting down, but now he  rose and came close to her and put his hand on her head as he  said  solemnly.  &#8220;My child, there is such an one if it were for  your  good.  For myself I could hold it in my account  with God  to find such an euthanasia for you, even at  this moment if it were best. Nay, were it safe!  But my child . . .&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For a moment he seemed  choked, and a great sob rose in his throat.  He gulped it down  and went on, &#8220;There are here some who would stand between you  and  death.  You  must not die.  You must not die  by  any hand, but  least of all your own.  Until the other, who has  fouled  your  sweet life, is true dead you must  not die.  For  if  he is still with  the quick Undead, your death would make you even as  he is.  No, you must live! You must struggle and strive  to live, though death would seem  a boon unspeakable.  You  must fight Death himself,  though he  come  to you in pain or in joy.  By the day,  or the  night, in safety  or in peril!  On your living soul I charge you that you  do not die.  Nay, nor  think  of death, till this great evil be past.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The poor  dear grew white as death, and shook and shivered,  as  I have  seen  a quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the  tide.  We  were  all  silent.  We  could do nothing.  At  length she  grew more  calm and turning to him said  sweetly, but  oh so  sorrowfully, as  she held out her hand,  &#8220;I promise you, my dear friend, that if  God will let me live, I shall strive to do so.  Till, if it may be in His good time, this horror may have passed away from me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She  was  so  good  and brave that we all felt that our hearts were strengthened to work and  endure for her, and we began to  discuss  what we  were to do.  I told her that she was to have all the papers in  the  safe, and all the papers or diaries  and phonographs  we might hereafter use, and was to keep the record as she had  done before.  She was pleased with the prospect of anything to  do,  if &#8220;pleased&#8221; could be used in connection with so grim an interest.<\/p>\n<p>As usual Van Helsing had thought ahead of everyone else, and was prepared with an exact ordering of our work.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It  is  perhaps  well,&#8221;  he said, &#8220;that at our meeting after our visit to Carfax we decided not to do anything with the earth boxes that lay there.  Had  we  done so, the Count must  have  guessed  our  purpose, and  would doubtless have taken measures  in  advance to frustrate such an effort with regard  to  the others.  But now he does not know our intentions.  Nay, more, in all probability, he does not know that such a power  exists  to  us  as can sterilize his lairs, so that he cannot use them as of old.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We  are  now so much further advanced in our knowledge as to their  disposition  that,  when  we  have examined the house in Piccadilly, we may track the very last of them.  Today then, is ours, and in it rests our hope.  The sun that  rose on our sorrow this morning guards us in its course. Until it sets tonight, that monster must retain whatever  form he now has.  He is confined within the limitations  of his  earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he must open the door like a mortal. And so we have this day to hunt out all his lairs and  sterilize them.  So we shall, if we have not yet catch him and  destroy him, drive him to bay in some place where the catching and the destroying shall be, in time, sure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Here I started up for I could not contain myself at the thought  that  the  minutes  and seconds so preciously laden with  Mina&#8217;s life and happiness  were  flying from us, since whilst we talked action was impossible. But Van Helsing held up his hand warningly.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nay, friend Jonathan,&#8221; he said, &#8220;in this, the quickest way home  is the longest way, so your proverb say.  We shall all act and act with desperate quick, when the time has come. But think, in all probable the key  of the  situation is  in that house in Piccadilly.  The Count may  have  many  houses which he has bought.  Of them he will have deeds of purchase, keys and other things.  He will have paper that he write on. He will have his book of cheques.  There are many belongings that  he must have somewhere.  Why not in this place so central, so quiet, where he come and go by the front or the back at all hours, when in the very vast  of the traffic there is none to notice. We shall go there and search that house. And when we learn what it holds, then we do what our friend Arthur call, in his phrases of hunt `stop the earths&#8217; and so we run down our old fox, so?  Is it not?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Then  let us  come  at once,&#8221; I cried, &#8220;we are wasting the precious, precious time!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Professor did not move, but simply said,  &#8220;And  how are we to get into that house in Piccadilly?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Any way!&#8221; I cried.  &#8220;We shall break in if need be.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And your police?  Where  will they  be,  and what will they say?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I was  staggered, but I knew that if he wished to delay he had a  good  reason for it.  So I  said,  as quietly as I could,  &#8220;Don&#8217;t wait more than need be.  You know, I am sure, what torture I am in.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ah, my child,  that I do.  And indeed there is no wish of me to add to your anguish.  But  just  think, what can we do, until all the world be at movement.  Then  will come our time.  I have thought and thought, and it seems to  me  that the simplest way is the best of all.  Now  we  wish  to  get into the house, but we have no key.  Is it not so?&#8221;I nodded.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now suppose that you were, in truth, the owner of that house,  and  could not still get in.  And think there was to you no conscience of the housebreaker, what would you do?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I should  get a  respectable locksmith, and set him to work to pick the lock for me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And your police, they would interfere, would they not?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh no! Not if they knew the man was properly employed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Then,&#8221;  he looked  at  me as keenly as he spoke,  &#8220;all that is in doubt is the conscience of  the employer, and the belief of your policemen as to whether or  not that employer has a good conscience or a bad one.  Your police must indeed be zealous men and  clever, oh  so  clever, in  reading  the heart, that they trouble themselves in such matter.  No, no, my friend Jonathan, you go take the lock off a hundred empty houses in this your London, or of any city in the world, and if you do it as such things are rightly done, and at the time such things are rightly done, no one will interfere.  I have read of a gentleman who owned a so fine house in London, and when he went for months of summer to Switzerland and lock up his  house,  some  burglar come and broke window at back and got in. Then he went and made open the shutters in front and walk out and in through the door, before the very eyes of the police. Then he have an auction in that house, and advertise it, and put up big notice. And when the day come he sell off by a  great  auctioneer  all the goods of that other man who own them.  Then  he  go  to  a builder, and he sell him that house, making an agreement that he pull it down and take all away  within  a  certain  time.  And  your  police and other authority  help him  all they can.  And when that owner come back from his  holiday  in Switzerland he find only an empty hole where  his house had been.  This was all done en regle, and in our work we shall be en regle too. We shall not go so early  that  the policemen who have then little to think of, shall deem it  strange.  But  we shall go after ten o&#8217;clock, when there are many about, and such things would be done were we indeed owners of the house.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I  could  not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of Mina&#8217;s face became relaxed in thought.  There was hope in such good counsel.<\/p>\n<p>Van Helsing  went on,  &#8220;When  once within that house we may find more  clues.  At  any  rate  some  of us can remain there whilst the rest find the other places  where  there be more earth boxes, at Bermondsey and Mile End.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lord Godalming stood up.  &#8220;I can be of  some use here,&#8221; he said.  &#8220;I shall wire  to my people  to  have  horses  and carriages where they will be most convenient.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Look here, old fellow,&#8221; said Morris, &#8220;it  is a capital idea to have all ready in case we want to go  horse backing, but don&#8217;t you think that one  of  your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in  a byway of Walworth  or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purpose?  It  seems to  me that we ought to take cabs when we go  south or east. And even  leave them somewhere near  the neighborhood we are going to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Friend Quincey  is right!&#8221;  said  the Professor.  &#8220;His head is what you call in plane with  the  horizon.  It is  a difficult  thing  that  we  go to do, and we  do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mina took  a  growing  interest in everything and I was rejoiced to  see  that  the exigency of affairs  was helping her  to  forget  for a  time the terrible  experience of the night. She was very, very pale, almost  ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in somewhat of prominence.  I did not mention this last, lest  it should give her needless pain, but it made my blood run cold in  my veins to think of what had occurred with poor Lucy  when the Count had sucked her blood.  As yet there was no sign of the teeth growing sharper,  but the time as  yet  was short, and there was time for fear.<\/p>\n<p>When  we  came to the discussion of the sequence of our efforts and of the disposition of our forces, there were new sources of doubt. It was finally agreed that before starting for Piccadilly we should destroy the Count&#8217;s lair  close  at hand. In case he should find it out too soon, we should thus be still ahead of him in our work of  destruction.  And  his presence in his purely material shape, and  at  his weakest, might give us some new clue.<\/p>\n<p>A s to  the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor  that,  after  our visit  to Carfax, we should all enter the house in Piccadilly.  That  the  two doctors and I should remain there, whilst Lord Godalming and Quincey found the lairs at Walworth and Mile End and destroyed them.  It was possible, if not likely, the Professor urged, that the Count might appear in Piccadilly during the day, and that if so we might be able to cope with him then and there. At  any rate, we might be  able to  follow him in force.  To  this plan  I strenuously objected, and so far as my going was  concerned, for  I  said  that  I  intended to stay and protect Mina.  I thought that my  mind was made up on the subject,  but  Mina would not listen to my objection.  She said that there might be some law matter in which I could be useful.  That amongst the  Count&#8217;s  papers might be some clue which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania.  And that, as it was, all the strength we could muster  was required  to cope with the Count&#8217;s extraordinary power.  I had to give in, for Mina&#8217;s resolution was fixed.  She said that  it was the last hope for her that we should all work together.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As for me,&#8221; she  said,  &#8220;I  have no fear.  Things have been as bad as they  can  be.  And whatever  may happen must have in it some element of hope or comfort.  Go, my husband! God can, if He wishes it, guard me as well alone as with any one present.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So I started up crying out,  &#8220;Then in God&#8217;s name let us come at once, for we are losing time.  The Count may come to Piccadilly earlier than we think.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not so!&#8221; said Van Helsing, holding up his hand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But why?&#8221;  I asked.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Do you forget,&#8221;  he said, with actually a smile, &#8220;that last night he banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Did I forget!   Shall I ever . . . can I ever!  Can any of us ever forget that  terrible scene!  Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance, but the pain overmastered her and she put her hands before her face, and shuddered  whilst she  moaned.   Van  Helsing  had  not intended to recall her frightful experience.  He had simply lost sight of  her  and her part in the affair in his intellectual effort.<\/p>\n<p>When it struck him what he said, he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh, Madam Mina,&#8221; he said,&#8221;dear, dear, Madam Mina, alas! That I of all who so reverence you should have said anything so forgetful.  These stupid old lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so, but you will forget it, will you not?&#8221;  He bent low beside her as he spoke.<\/p>\n<p>She took his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely,  &#8220;No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember. And with it I have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all together.  Now, you must all be going soon.  Breakfast is ready, and we must all eat that we may be strong.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Breakfast was a strange meal to us all.  We tried to be cheerful and encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said, &#8220;Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise.  Are we all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy&#8217;s lair.  Armed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We all assured him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Then it is well.  Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case quite safe here until the sunset.  And before then  we shall return . . . if . . .  We shall return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attack.  I have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing of things of which we know, so that He may not enter. Now let me guard yourself.  On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the name of the Father, the Son, and . . .<\/p>\n<p>There  was  a  fearful  scream  which  almost froze our hearts to hear.  As he had placed the Wafer on Mina&#8217;s  forehead, it had seared it . . . had burned  into the  flesh  as though it had been a piece of whitehot metal.  My poor darling&#8217;s  brain had  told  her  the significance of the fact as quickly as her nerves received the pain of it, and the two so overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream.<\/p>\n<p>But the words to her thought came quickly.  The echo of the scream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her knees on the floor  in  an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unclean! Unclean!  Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgement Day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>They all paused.  I had thrown myself beside her in  an agony of helpless grief, and putting my arms around held her tight.  For a few minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away their eyes that ran tears silently.  Then Van Helsing turned and said gravely.  So gravely  that  I could  not help feeling that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things outside himself.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, as He most surely shall, on  the  Judgement Day, to redress all wrongs of the earth  and of His children that He has placed thereon.  And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that red scar, the sign of God&#8217;s knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know. For so surely as we live, that scar  shall pass  away when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon us.  Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His Will.  It may be that we are chosen instruments  of His good pleasure, and that we ascend to  His  bidding  as  that other  through stripes and shame.  Through tears and blood.  Through doubts and fear, and all that  makes the difference between God and man.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There  was  hope in  his  words, and comfort.  And they made for  resignation.  Mina and  I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old man&#8217;s  hands and  bent over and kissed it.  Then without a word  we all  knelt down together, and  all holding hands, swore  to be true to  each other.  We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way, we loved.  And we prayed for help and  guidance in the terrible task  which lay before us. It was then time to start. So I said farewell to Mina, a parting which neither of us  shall  forget to our dying day, and we set out.<\/p>\n<p>To  one  thing  I have made up my mind.  If we find out that Mina must be a vampire in  the end,  then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible land alone.  I  suppose it is thus that in old times one  vampire meant many.  Just  as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant  for  their ghastly ranks.<\/p>\n<p>We  entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as  on the  first occasion.  It was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such fear as already we knew. Had not our minds been made up, and had there not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have  proceeded with our task. We found no papers, or any sign of use in the house.  And in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen them last.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Van Helsing  said to us solemnly as we stood before him,  &#8220;And now,  my friends,  we have a duty here to do.  We must sterilize this earth, so sacred of holy memories,  that he has brought from a far distant land for such fell use. He has chosen this earth because it has been holy.  Thus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we  sanctify it to God.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As he  spoke  he took  from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown open.  The earth smelled musty and close, but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention was concentrated  on the Professor.  Taking from his box a piece of the  Scared Wafer he laid it reverently on the  earth,  and then shutting down the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked.<\/p>\n<p>One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and left them as we had found them to all appearance. But in each was a portion of the Host.  When we  closed  the door behind us, the Professor  said  solemnly,  &#8220;So  much is already done.  It may be  that with all the others we can be so successful, then  the sunset of this evening may shine of Madam Mina&#8217;s forehead all white as ivory and with no stain!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As we passed  across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our train we  could see the front of the asylum.  I looked eagerly,  and  in the window of my own room saw Mina. I  waved  my  hand  to her, and nodded to tell that our work there was successfully accomplished.  She nodded in reply to show that she understood. The last I saw, she was waving her hand in farewell.  It was with a heavy heart that we  sought the station and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the platform.  I have written this in the train.<\/p>\n<p>Piccadilly,  12:30  o&#8217;clock.&#8211;Just  before  we  reached Fenchurch Street Lord Godalming said to me,  &#8220;Quincey  and I will find a locksmith.  You had better not come  with  us in case there should be any difficulty.  For under the  circumstances  it wouldn&#8217;t  seem  so  bad  for us to break into an empty  house.  But you are a  solicitor and the Incorporated Law  Society might tell  you  that  you  should  have  known better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I  demurred  as  to  my  not sharing any danger even of odium, but he went on, &#8220;Besides, it will attract less attention if there are not too many of us.  My title will make it all right with the locksmith, and with any policeman that may come along.  You had better go with Jack and the Professor and stay in the Green Park. Somewhere in sight of the house, and when you see the door opened and the smith has gone away, do you all come across. We shall be on the lookout for you, and shall let you in.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The  advice is good!&#8221;  said Van Helsing, so we said no more.  Godalming and Morris hurried off in a cab, we following in another. At the corner of Arlington Street our contingent got out and strolled into the Green Park. My heart beat as I saw the house on which so much of our hope was centered, looming up grim and silent in its deserted condition amongst its more lively and spruce-looking neighbors.   We sat down on a bench within good  view , and began to smoke cigars so as to attract as little attention as possible.  The minutes seemed to pass with  leaden feet as we waited for the coming of the others.<\/p>\n<p>At  length  we saw a four-wheeler drive up.  Out of it, in leisurely  fashion,  got  Lord Godalming and Morris.  And down from the box descended a thick-set working man with his rush-woven  basket  of  tools.  Morris  paid the cabman, who touched his hat and drove away.  Together  the  two ascended the steps, and Lord Godalming pointed out what he wanted done. The workman took off his coat leisurely and hung it  on  one of the spikes of the rail, saying something  to  a policeman who just  then sauntered along.  The policeman nodded acquiescence, and the man kneeling down placed his bag beside him. After searching through it, he took out a selection of tools which he proceeded to lay beside him in orderly fashion.  Then he stood up, looked in the keyhole, blew into it, and turning to his employers, made some  remark.  Lord Godalming smiled, and  the man lifted a good  sized bunch  of keys.  Selecting one of them, he began  to probe  the lock, as if feeling his way with  it.  After fumbling about for a bit he tried a second, and then a third.  All at once the door opened under a slight push  from him, and he and the two others entered the hall.  We sat still.  My  own cigar burnt furiously, but Van Helsing&#8217;s  went cold altogether.  We  waited patiently as we saw the workman come out and bring his bag. Then he held the door  partly open,  steadying it  with his knees,  whilst he fitted  a  key  to the lock.  This he finally handed to Lord Godalming, who took out his purse and gave him something.  The man touched his hat, took his bag, put on his coat  and  departed.  Not  a  soul took the slightest notice of the whole transaction.<\/p>\n<p>When  the  man  had  fairly gone,  we three crossed the street and knocked at the door.  It  was immediately  opened by Quincey Morris, beside whom stood Lord Godalming lighting a cigar.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The place  smells  so  vilely,&#8221;  said the latter as we came in.  It did indeed smell vilely. Like the old chapel at Carfax.  And with our previous experience it was plain to us that  the  Count had been using the place pretty freely.  We moved to explore the house, all keeping together in  case of attack, for we knew we had a strong and wily  enemy to  deal with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not be in the house.<\/p>\n<p>In the dining room,  which lay at the back of the hall, we found eight boxes  of earth.  Eight boxes only out of the nine which we sought! Our work was not over, and would never be until we should have found the missing box.<\/p>\n<p>First we opened the shutters of the window which looked out across a narrow stone flagged yard at the blank face  of a  stable,  pointed to  look  like  the front of a miniature house.  There were no windows in it,  so  we were not afraid of being overlooked.  We did not lose any time  in examining the chests.  With the tools which we had brought with  us we opened them, one by one, and treated them as  we had treated those others in the old chapel.  It was evident to  us  that the Count was not at present in the house,  and we proceeded to search for any of his effects.<\/p>\n<p>After a cursory glance at  the  rest of the rooms, from basement to attic, we came to the conclusion that the dining room contained  any effects which might belong to the Count. And so we proceeded to minutely examine them.  They lay in a sort of orderly disorder on the great dining room table.<\/p>\n<p>There  were  title  deeds  of the Piccadilly house in a great bundle, deeds  of the  purchase  of the houses at Mile End and  Bermondsey, notepaper, envelopes, and pens and ink. All were covered up in thin wrapping paper to keep them from the dust. There were also a clothes brush, a brush and comb, and a jug and basin. The latter containing dirty water which was reddened as if with blood. Last of all was a little heap of keys of all sorts and sizes,  probably those belonging to the other houses.<\/p>\n<p>When we had examined this last find, Lord Godalming and Quincey  Morris  taking  accurate  notes of the various addresses of  the houses  in  the East and the South, took with them  the keys in  a great bunch, and set out to destroy the boxes in these places.  The rest of us are, with what patience we can, waiting their return, or the coming of the Count.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JONATHAN HARKER&#8217;S JOURNAL 3 October.&#8211;As I must do something or go mad, I write this diary. It is now six o&#8217;clock, and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and take something to eat, for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward are agreed that if we do not eat we cannot [&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-kd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253"}],"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=1253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}