{"id":1254,"date":"2007-02-11T01:41:50","date_gmt":"2007-02-11T07:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conradaskland.com\/blog\/2007\/02\/dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-twenty-three\/"},"modified":"2007-02-11T01:41:50","modified_gmt":"2007-02-11T07:41:50","slug":"dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-twenty-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-twenty-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Dracula by Bram Stoker &#8211; Chapter Twenty Three"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  DR. SEWARD&#8217;S DIARY<\/p>\n<p>3 October.&#8211;The time seemed teribly long whilst we were waiting for the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker. The poor fellow is overwhelmed in a misery that is appalling to see. Last night he was a frank, happy-looking man, with strong, youthful face, full of energy, and with dark brown hair. Today he is a drawn, haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning eyes and griefwritten lines of his face. His energy is still intact. In fact, he is like a living flame. This may yet be his salvation, for if all go well, it will tide him over the despairing period. He will then, in a kind of way, wake again to the realities o f life. Poor fellow, I thought my own trouble was bad enough, but his . . .!<\/p>\n<p>The Professor knows  this well enough, and is doing his best to keep his mind active.  What he  has been saying was, under the circumstances, of absorbing interest.  So  well as I can remember, here it is:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have studied,  over  and  over again since they came into my hands, all the papers relating to  this monster, and the more I have studied, the greater  seems the necessity to utterly stamp him out.  All through there  are  signs of his advance.  Not only of his power, but of his knowledge of it. As  I  learned  from the researches of my friend Arminius of Buda-Pesth,  he was  in life a most wonderful man.  Soldier, statesman,  and alchemist.  Which  latter  was  the  highest development of the science knowledge of his time.  He  had a mighty  brain, a  learning beyond  compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no  remorse.  He dared  even  to attend the Scholomance,  and there  was no  branch of knowledge  of his time that he did not essay.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Well, in  him  the brain  powers survived the physical death. Though it would seem that memory was not all complete. In some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a child. But he is growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now  of  man&#8217;s stature.  He  is experimenting, and doing it well.  And if it had not been that  we have crossed his  path  he would be yet,  he  may  be yet if we fail, the father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must lead through Death, not Life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Harker groaned and  said,  &#8220;And  this  is  all  arrayed against my darling!  But how is he experimenting?  The knowledge may help us to defeat him!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He  has all along, since  his coming,  been trying his power, slowly but  surely.  That big child-brain  of  his is working.  Well for us, it is as yet, a child-brain.  For had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain  things  he would long ago have been beyond our power.  However,  he means  to succeed, and a man who has centuries before  him can  afford to wait and to go slow.  Festina lente may well be his motto.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I fail to understand,&#8221; said  Harker  wearily.  &#8220;Oh, do be more plain to me!  Perhaps grief and  trouble are dulling my brain.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke,  &#8220;Ah, my child, I will be plain.  Do you  not  see how, of late, this monster has  been creeping into knowledge experimentally. How he has been making use of the zoophagous patient to effect his entry into friend John&#8217;s home.  For your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when and how he will, must at the first make  entry only when asked  thereto by  an inmate.  But these are not his most important experiments.  Do  we not see  how at the first  all these so great boxes were moved by others.   He knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great child-brain of his was growing, and he began  to consider whether he might not himself  move the box.  So he began to help.  And then, when he found that this be all right, he try to move them all alone. And so he progress, and he scatter these graves of him.  And none but he know where they are hidden.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He may have intend to bury them deep in the ground. So that only he use them in the night, or at such  time  as  he can  change his  form, they do  him equal well, and none may know these are his hiding place!  But, my child, do not despair, this knowledge came to him just too late!  Already all of his lairs but one be sterilize as for him. And before the sunset this shall be so.  Then he have no place where he can move and hide.  I delayed this morning that  so we  might be sure.  Is there not more at stake for us than for him?  Then why not be more careful than him? By my clock it is one hour and already, if all be well, friend Arthur and Quincey are on their way to us.  Today is our  day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chance.  See!  There  are five of us  when those absent ones return.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Whilst we  were speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall  door, the double  postman&#8217;s knock of the telegraph boy.  We all moved out to the hall with one impulse, and Van Helsing, holding up his hand to us to  keep silence, stepped to  the door and opened it.  The boy handed in  a  dispatch. The Professor closed the door again, and after looking at the direction, opened it and read aloud.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Look out  for  D.  He  has  just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and hastened towards the South. He seems to be going the round and may want to see you:  Mina.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There  was  a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker&#8217;s voice, &#8220;Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Van Helsing  turned to him quickly and said,  &#8220;God will act in His own way and time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice as yet.  For  what we wish  for at the moment may be our own undoings.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I care for nothing now,&#8221; he answered hotly, &#8220;except to wipe out this brute from the face of creation.  I would sell my soul to do it!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh, hush, hush, my child!&#8221; said Van Helsing. &#8220;God does not purchase souls in this wise, and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep faith.  But God is merciful and just, and  knows  your  pain and  your devotion to that dear Madam Mina.  Think you, how her pain would be doubled, did she but hear your wild words.  Do not fear any of us, we are all devoted to this cause, and today shall  see the end.  The time is coming for action.  Today  this  Vampire is  limit to the powers of man, and till sunset he may  not  change.  It will take him time to arrive here, see  it is twenty minutes past one, and there are yet some times before he can hither come, be he never so quick.  What we must hope for is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>About half an hour  after we had received Mrs. Harker&#8217;s telegram,  there  came a quiet,  resolute  knock at the hall door. It was just an ordinary knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made the Professor&#8217;s heart and mine beat loudly.  We looked at each other, and together moved out into the hall.  We each held ready to use our various armaments, the spiritual in the  left  hand, the mortal in the right. Van Helsing pulled back the latch, and holding the door half open, stood back, having both  hands ready for action.  The gladness of our hearts must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we saw Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris. They came quickly in and closed the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the hall.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is all right.  We  found both places.  Six boxes in each and we destroyed them all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Destroyed?&#8221; asked the Professor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For him!&#8221; We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said,  &#8220;There&#8217;s nothing to do but to wait here. If, however, he doesn&#8217;t turn up by five o&#8217;clock, we must start  off.  For it won&#8217;t do to leave Mrs. Harker alone after sunset.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He will  be  here  before long now,&#8217; said Van Helsing, who  had been  consulting  his  pocketbook.  &#8220;Nota bene,  in Madam&#8217;s telegram he went south from Carfax.  That  means  he went to cross the river, and he could only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one o&#8217;clock.  That he went south has a meaning for us.  He is  as yet  only suspicious, and he went  from Carfax  first to the place where he would suspect interference least. You must have been at Bermondsey only a short time before him.  That he is  not  here already shows that he went to  Mile End next.  This took him some time, for he would  then have  to be carried  over  the river in some way. Believe me, my friends, we shall not have long to wait now.  We should have ready some plan of attack, so that we may throw away no chance.  Hush, there is no time now.  Have all your arms!  Be ready!&#8221;  He held  up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door.<\/p>\n<p>I could  not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a dominant spirit asserted itself. In all our hunting parties and adventures in different parts of the  world, Quincey Morris had always been the one to  arrange  the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been accustomed  to obey him implicitly. Now, the old habit seemed to be renewed instinctively.  With a swift glance around the room, he at once laid out our plan of attack, and without speaking  a word, with a gesture, placed us  each in position.  Van Helsing,  Harker, and I were just behind the door, so that  when it was opened the Professor could guard it whilst we two  stepped  between the incomer and the door.  Godalming  behind and  Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to  move in front of the window.  We waited in a suspense that made  the seconds pass with nightmare slowness.  The slow, careful steps came along the hall. The Count was evidently prepared for some surprise, at least he feared it.<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly  with  a single  bound he leaped into the room. Winning  a  way past us before  any of us could raise a hand to  stay him.  There was  something  so  pantherlike  in the movement, something so unhuman, that it  seemed to  sober us all from the shock of his coming. The first to act was Harker, who with a quick movement, threw  himself before the door leading  into the room in the front  of the  house.  As  the Count saw us, a horrible sort of snarl passed over his face, showing the eyeteeth long and  pointed.  But the  evil smile as quickly passed into  a  cold stare  of lion-like disdain. His expression again  changed as, with a single  impulse, we all advanced upon  him.  It was a pity that  we had not some better organized plan  of attack, for  even at the moment  I wondered what we were  to do.  I did not myself know whether our lethal weapons would avail us anything.<\/p>\n<p>Harker evidently  meant  to try  the matter, for he had ready his  great Kukri knife and  made  a  fierce and sudden cut at him.  The blow was a powerful one.  Only  the diabolical quickness of the Count&#8217;s leap back saved him.  A second less and the trenchant blade had  shorn  through  his  coat, making  a  wide  gap  whence a  bundle of  bank notes and  a stream of gold fell out. The expression of the Count&#8217;s  face was so hellish, that for a moment I feared for Harker, though I saw him throw the terrible knife aloft again  for  another stroke.  Instinctively I moved  forward  with  a  protective impulse, holding the Crucifix and  Wafer in my left hand.  I felt a mighty power fly  along my arm, and  it  was  without surprise that I saw the monster cower back before  a similar movement made spontaneously by each one of us.  It would  be impossible to describe the expression  of  hate and  baffled malignity, of anger and hellish rage,  which  came over  the Count&#8217;s face.  His waxen hue  became greenish-yellow  by the contrast of his burning eyes, and the red scar on  the forehead showed on the pallid skin like a palpitating wound. The next instant, with a sinuous dive  he swept  under  Harker&#8217;s arm, ere his blow could fall, and grasping a handful of  the money from the floor, dashed across the room, threw  himself at the window.  Amid the  crash  and  glitter of the falling glass, he tumbled into the flagged area below.  Through  the sound of the shivering glass I could  hear the &#8220;ting&#8221; of the gold, as some of the  sovereigns fell on the flagging.<\/p>\n<p>We ran over and saw him spring  unhurt from the ground. He, rushing up  the  steps,  crossed  the  flagged yard, and pushed open the stable door.  There he  turned  and spoke to us.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You  think  to baffle me, you with your pale faces all in a row, like  sheep  in  a butcher&#8217;s.  You shall be  sorry yet, each one of you!  You think you have left me without  a place to rest, but I have more.  My revenge  is just  begun! I spread it over  centuries, and time is  on my  side.  Your girls that you all love  are mine already.  And through them you and  others shall yet be mine, my  creatures, to  do  my bidding and to be my jackals when I want to feed.  Bah!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>With  a  contemptuous sneer, he  passed quickly through the door, and we  heard the rusty bolt  creak as he fastened it behind him.  A door beyond opened and shut.  The first of us to speak was the Professor.  Realizing  the difficulty of following him through the stable, we  moved toward the hall.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have learnt something . . . much!   Notwithstanding his brave words, he fears us.  He fears time, he fears want! For if not, why he hurry so?  His  very tone betray  him, or my ears deceive.  Why  take  that money?  You  follow quick. You are hunters of the wild beast,  and  understand  it  so. For me, I make sure that nothing here may be of use to  him, if so that he returns.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As he spoke  he put  the money remaining in his pocket, took the title deeds in the  bundle as Harker had left them, and  swept  the  remaining  things into  the open fireplace, where he set fire to them with a match.<\/p>\n<p>Godalming  and Morris had rushed out into the yard, and Harker  had  lowered  himself from  the window to follow the Count.  He had, however, bolted  the stable door, and by the time they had forced it open there  was no sign of him.  Van Helsing and I tried to make inquiry at the back of the house. But the mews was deserted and no one had seen him depart.<\/p>\n<p>It was now late in the afternoon, and sunset was not far off.  We had to recognize that our game was up.  With  heavy hearts we agreed with the Professor when he said, &#8220;Let us go back to Madam Mina.  Poor, poor dear Madam Mina.  All we can do just now is done, and we can there, at least, protect her. But we need not despair.  There is but one more earth box, and we must try to find it.  When that is done all may yet be well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I could see that he spoke as bravely as he could to comfort Harker.  The poor fellow was quite broken down, now and again he gave a low groan which he could not suppress.  He was thinking of his wife.<\/p>\n<p>With  sad hearts  we came  back to  my  house, where we found Mrs. Harker waiting us, with an appearance of cheerfulness which did honor to her bravery and unselfishness.  When she saw our faces, her own became as pale  as death.  For  a second or two her eyes were closed as if she were  in secret prayer.<\/p>\n<p>And  then  she said cheerfully,  &#8220;I can never thank you all enough.  Oh, my poor darling!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As  she spoke, she took  her husband&#8217;s grey head in her hands and kissed it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Lay your poor  head here and rest it.  All will yet be well, dear!  God  will  protect  us  if He so will it in His good intent.&#8221;  The poor fellow groaned.  There  was no place for words in his sublime misery.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;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 up to the present time.<\/p>\n<p>Then without letting go her husband&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Jonathan,&#8221;  she said,  and the word sounded like music on her lips it was so full of love and tenderness, &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As she spoke I could see her husband&#8217;s face  darken and draw together, as though the passion in  him were shriveling his being to its core. Instinctively the clasp on his wife&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>As she stopped  speaking he leaped  to his feet, almost tearing his hand from hers as he spoke.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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 forever and ever to  burning hell I would do it!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Oh, hush! Oh, hush in the name of the good God.  Don&#8217;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 heart-broken 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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>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 their God.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;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 shall be off to bed as soon as we can.<\/p>\n<p>Godalming has already turned in,  for his is the second watch.  Now that my work is done I, too, shall go to bed.<\/p>\n<p>JONATHAN HARKER&#8217;S JOURNAL<\/p>\n<p>3-4 October, close to  midnight.&#8211;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 loved 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 has a deeper meaning.  I am not sleepy myself, though I am weary . . . weary to death.  However,  I must try to sleep.  For there is tomorrow to think  of,  and there is no rest for me until . . .<\/p>\n<p>Later&#8211;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, &#8220;Hush!  There is someone in the corridor!&#8221;  I got up softly, and crossing  the room,  gently opened the door.<\/p>\n<p>Just  outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake.  He raised a warning hand for silence as he whispered to me,  &#8220;Hush!  Go back to bed.  It is all right.  One of us will be here all night.  We don&#8217;t  mean  to  take  any chances!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>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,  &#8220;Oh, thank God for good brave men!&#8221; With a sigh she sank back again to sleep.  I write this now as I am not sleepy, though I must try again.<\/p>\n<p>4 October, morning.&#8211;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.<\/p>\n<p>She said to me hurriedly,  &#8220;Go, call the  Professor.  I want to see him at once.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Why?&#8221; I asked.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I  have  an  idea.  I suppose it must have come in the night, and matured without my knowing it.  He must hypnotize me before the dawn, and then I shall be able  to  speak.  Go quick, dearest, the time is getting close.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I went to the door.  Dr. Seward was resting on the mattress, and seeing me, he sprang to his feet.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Is anything wrong?&#8221; he asked, in alarm.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;But Mina wants to see Dr. Van Helsing at once.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I will go,&#8221;  he said, and hurried into the Professor&#8217;s room.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>He  rubbed  his  hands  as he said,  &#8220;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 today!&#8221; Then turning to her, he said cheerfully,  &#8220;And what am I  to do for you? For at this hour you do not want me for nothing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want  you to hypnotize me!&#8221; she said.  &#8220;Do it before the dawn,  for I feel that then I can speak, and speak freely.  Be  quick,  for the time is short!&#8221;  Without a word  he motioned her to sit up in bed.<\/p>\n<p>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 far-away 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 to  me to  bring  the others in.  They came on tiptoe, 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&#8217;s voice speaking in a low level tone which would not break the current of her thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Where are you?&#8221;  The answer came in a neutral way.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do not know.  Sleep has no place it can call its own.&#8221; For several minutes there was silence.  Mina sat  rigid, and the Professor stood staring at her fixedly.<\/p>\n<p>The rest  of us  hardly dared to breathe.  The room was growing lighter.  Without  taking his eyes from Mina&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Where are you now?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The answer  came dreamily, but with intention.  It were as though she were interpreting something.  I have heard her use the same tone when reading her shorthand notes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do not know.  It is all strange to me!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What do you see?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can see nothing.  It is all dark.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What do  you  hear?&#8221;  I could detect the strain in the Professor&#8217;s patient voice.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The lapping of  water.  It is gurgling  by, and little waves leap.  I can hear them on the outside.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Then you are on a ship?'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We all looked at each  other, trying to glean something each from the other.  We were afraid to think.<\/p>\n<p>The answer came quick,  &#8220;Oh, yes!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What else do you hear?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What are you doing?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am still, oh so still.  It is like death!&#8221;  The voice faded away into a  deep  breath as  of one sleeping, and the open eyes closed again.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Have I been talking in my sleep?&#8221; 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,  &#8220;Then there is not a moment to lose.  It may not be yet too late!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming started for the door  but the Professor&#8217;s calm voice called them back.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Stay,  my  friends.  That  ship, wherever  it was, was 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 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&#8217;s mind,  when he seize that money, though Jonathan&#8217;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 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 us.  Let us take bath, and  dress, and have breakfast which we all need, and which we can eat comfortably since he be not in the same land with us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mina looked at him appealingly as she asked,  &#8220;But  why need we seek him further, when he is gone away from us?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He took her hand and patted it as he replied,  &#8220;Ask  me nothing as yet.  When we have breakfast, then  I answer  all questions.&#8221;  He would say no more, and we separated to dress.<\/p>\n<p>After breakfast Mina repeated her question.  He  looked at her gravely for a minute and then said sorrowfully,  &#8220;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!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She grew paler as she asked faintly,  &#8220;Why?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Because,&#8221; he answered solemnly, &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I was just in time to catch her as she fell  forward in a faint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DR. SEWARD&#8217;S DIARY 3 October.&#8211;The time seemed teribly long whilst we were waiting for the coming of Godalming and Quincey Morris. The Professor tried to keep our minds active by using them all the time. I could see his beneficent purpose, by the side glances which he threw from time to time at Harker. 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