"Oh, do be more plain to me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke, "Ah, my child, I will be plainDo you not see how, of late, this monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentallyHow he has been making use of the zoophagous patient to effect his entry into friend John's homeFor 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 inmateBut these are not his most important experimentsDo we not see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by othersHe knew not then but that must be soBut all the time that so great child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he might not himself move the boxAnd then, when he found that this be all right, he try to move them all aloneAnd so he progress, and he scatter these graves of himAnd none but he know where they are hidden "He may have intend to bury them deep in the groundSo 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 himAnd before the sunset this shall be soThen he have no place where he can move and hideI delayed this morning that so we might be sureIs 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 usToday is our day, and we must go sure, if slow, and lose no chanceSee! There are five of us when those absent ones return Whilst we were speaking we were startled by a knock at the hall door, the double postman's knock of the telegraph boyWe 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 itThe boy handed in a dispatchThe Professor closed the door again, and after looking at the direction, opened it and read aloudHe has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and hastened towards the SouthHe seems to be going the round and may want to see you: Mina There was a pause, broken by Jonathan Harker's voice, "Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!" Van Helsing turned to him quickly and said, "God will act in His own way and timeDo not fear, and do not rejoice as yetFor what we wish for at the moment may be our own undoings "I care for nothing now," he answered hotly, "except to wipe out this brute from the face of creationI would sell my soul to do it!" "Oh, hush, hush, my child!" said Van Helsing"God does not purchase souls in this wise, and the Devil, though he may purchase, does not keep faithBut God is merciful and just, and knows your pain and your devotion to that dear Madam MinaThink you, how her pain would be doubled, did she but hear your wild wordsDo not fear any of us, we are all devoted to this cause, and today shall see the endThe time is coming for actionToday this Vampire is limit to the powers of man, and till sunset he may not changeIt 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 quickWhat we must hope for is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first About half an hour after we had received shop Mrs

With the big fan waving about in his hand and his face bathed in sweat, the picture they had taken could not pos sibly turn out very well When he got home and saw his mother and two sisters-in-law, he distrib uted the gifts he had brought back His mother said with a smile, "It takes going abroad to learn such thought~ fulnessHe even knows how to buy things for women His father said, "P'eng-t'u mentioned a Miss Six over the phone yesterdayWhat's that all about?" "It's just someone who was on the same boat," said Hung-chien crossly~ "There's nothing to it P'eng-t'u-he likes to talk a lot He was about to up braid his brother for spreading rumors, but caught himself when he saw P'eng-t'u's wife was present His father said, "We'll have to work on your marriage Both of youx brothers were married long ago and have childrenMatchmakers have already suggested several prospects, but you don't need disgusting old creatures like us to make decisions for youAs for Six Hung-yeh, he does have a bit of repu tation, and apparently held a few government posts in his day-" Hung-chien thought to himself, Why do charming girls all have fathers? She can be hidden away all by herself in one's heart to cuddle, but when he? father, uncle, and brother are dragged along with her, the girl stops being so cute and carefree and it's not so easy to conceal her away in your heart any moreHer charm has been mixed in with the dregsSome people talk about marriage as though it were homosexual love It's not the girl they fancy, but her old man or her elder brother they admire "I don't approve," said his mother"It's no good to marry an official's daughterShe'll want you to wait on her instead of waiting on youBesides, a daughter-in-law should come from the same village Girls from other districts are always a bit unsuited in temperamentYou won't be happy with herThis Miss Six is a returned student, so she couldn't be very young The faces of his two sisters-in-law, who had never graduated from high school and who had been born and raised in that district, both bore an expression of agree ment His father remarked, "She's not only studied abroad but has a PhI'm afraid Hung-chien couldn't manage her," as though Miss Six were some sort of hard object like a brick which would take the stomach of an ostrich or turkey to digest "Our Hung-chien has a Ph too," protested his mother"He's not in ferior to her, so why isn't he a match for her?" Stroking his beard, his father said with a smile, "Hung-chien, that's some thing your mother just couldn't understandWomen who've done a little 34 book learning are the hardest of all to handleThe man has to be a step above her, not an equalThat's why a college graduate should marry a high school graduate~ and a returned student should marry a college graduateAs for a girl who has studied abroad and received a Ph no one but a foreigner would dare marry herOtherwise, the man would have to have two doctor ates at leastI'm not mistaken about that, am I, Hung-chien? It's the same idea as 'Marry a daughter into a greater family than your own, but take a wife from a lesser family than your own'" His mother said, "Of the girls suggested by the go-betweens, the Hsus' second daughter is the best I'll show you her picture later The matter is taking a serious turn, thought Hung-chienAll his life he had detested those modern girls from small towns with outdated fashions and a provincial cosmopolitanismThey were just like the first Western suit made by a Chinese tailor with everything copied from a foreigner's old clothes used as a model down to the two square patches on the sleeves and trouser shop legs

We were all wild with excitement yesterday when Godalming got his telegram from Lloyd'sI know now what men feel in battle when the call to action is heardHarker, alone of our party, did not show any signs of emotionAfter all, it is not strange that she did not, for we took special care not to let her know anything about it, and we all tried not to show any excitement when we were in her presenceIn old days she would, I am sure, have noticed, no matter how we might have tried to conceal itBut in this way she is greatly changed during the past three weeksThe lethargy grows upon her, and though she seems strong and well, and is getting back some of her colour, Van Helsing and I are not satisfiedWe have not, however, said a word to the othersIt would break poor Harker's heart, certainly his nerve, if he knew that we had even a suspicion on the subjectVan Helsing examines, he tells me, her teeth very carefully, whilst she is in the hypnotic condition, for he says that so long as they do not begin to sharpen there is no active danger of a change in herIf this change should come, it would be necessary to take steps! We both know what those steps would have to be, though we do not mention our thoughts to each otherWe should neither of us shrink from the task, awful though it be to contemplate"Euthanasia" is an excellent and a comforting word! I am grateful to whoever invented it It is only about 24 hours' sail from the Dardanelles to here, at the rate the Czarina Catherine has come from LondonShe should therefore arrive some time in the morning, but as she cannot possibly get in before noon, we are all about to retire earlyWe shall get up at one o'clock, so as to be ready 25 October, Noon-No news yet of the ship's arrivalHarker's hypnotic report this morning was the same as usual, so it is possible that we may get news at any momentWe men are all in a fever of excitement, except Harker, who is calmHis hands are cold as ice, and an hour ago I found him whetting the edge of the great Ghoorka knife which he now always carries with himIt will be a bad lookout for the Count if the edge of that "Kukri" ever touches his throat, driven by that stern, ice-cold hand! Van Helsing and I were a little alarmed about MrsAbout noon she got into a sort of lethargy which we did not likeAlthough we kept silence to the others, we were neither of us happy about itShe had been restless all the morning, so that we were at first glad to know that she was sleepingWhen, however, her husband mentioned casually that she was sleeping so soundly that he could not wake her, we went to her room to see for ourselvesShe was breathing naturally and looked so well and peaceful that we agreed that the sleep was better for her than anything elsePoor girl, she has so much to forget that it is no wonder that sleep, if it brings oblivion to her, does her good-Our opinion was justified, for when after a refreshing sleep of some hours she woke up, she seemed brighter and better than she had been for daysAt sunset she made the usual hypnotic reportWherever he may be in the Black Sea, the Count is hurrying to his destinationTo his doom, I trust! 26 October-Another day and no tidings of the Czarina CatherineShe ought to be here by nowThat she is still journeying somewhere is apparent, for MrsHarker's hypnotic report at sunrise was still the sameIt is possible that the vessel may be lying by, at times, for fogSome of the steamers which came in last evening reported patches of fog both to north and south of the portWe must continue our watching, as the ship may now be signalled any moment 27 October, shop Noon

Oh, that it should be that it is I who am now his worst enemy, and whom he may have most cause to fear To this he spoke out resolutely, "Nonsense, MinaIt is a shame to me to hear such a wordI would not hear it of youAnd I shall not hear it from youMay God judge me by my deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!" He put out his arms and folded her to his breastAnd for a while she lay there sobbingHe looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked damply above his quivering nostrilsHis mouth was set as steel After a while her sobs became less frequent and more faint, and then he said to me, speaking with a studied calmness which I felt tried his nervous power to the utmostSeward, tell me all about itToo well I know the broad factTell me all that has been I told him exactly what had happened and he listened with seeming impassiveness, but his nostrils twitched and his eyes blazed as I told how the ruthless hands of the Count had held his wife in that terrible and horrid position, with her mouth to the open wound in his breastIt interested me, even at that moment, to see that whilst the face of white set passion worked convulsively over the bowed head, the hands tenderly and lovingly stroked the ruffled hairJust as I had finished, Quincey and Godalming knocked at the doorThey entered in obedience to our summonsVan Helsing looked at me questioninglyI understood him to mean if we were to take advantage of their coming to divert if possible the thoughts of the unhappy husband and wife from each other and from themselvesSo on nodding acquiescence to him he asked them what they had seen or doneTo which Lord Godalming answered "I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our roomsI looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had goneHe had, however?" He stopped suddenly, looking at the poor drooping figure on the bed Van Helsing said gravely, "Go on, friend ArthurWe want here no more concealmentsOur hope now is in knowing allTell freely!" So Art went on, "He had been there, and though it could only have been for a few seconds, he made rare hay of the placeAll the manuscript had been burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashesThe cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax had helped the flames Here I interrupted"Thank God there is the other copy in the safe!" His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he went on"I ran downstairs then, but could see no sign of himI looked into Renfield's room, but there was no trace there except?" Again he paused "Go on," said Harker hoarselySo he bowed his head and moistening his lips with his tongue, added, "except that the poor fellow is deadHarker raised her head, looking from one to the other of us she said solemnly, "God's will be done!" I could not but feel that Art was keeping back somethingBut, as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked, "And you, friend Quincey, have you any to tell?" "A little," he answered"It may be much eventually, but at present I can't shop say

-Once more I have seen the count go out in his lizard fashionHe moved downwards in a sidelong way, some hundred feet down, and a good deal to the leftHe vanished into some hole or windowWhen his head had disappeared, I leaned out to try and see more, but without availThe distance was too great to allow a proper angle of sightI knew he had left the castle now, and thought to use the opportunity to explore more than I had dared to do as yetI went back to the room, and taking a lamp, tried all the doorsThey were all locked, as I had expected, and the locks were comparatively newBut I went down the stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originallyI found I could pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great chainsBut the door was locked, and the key was gone! That key must be in the Count's roomI must watch should his door be unlocked, so that I may get it and escapeI went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs and passages, and to try the doors that opened from themOne or two small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in them except old furniture, dusty with age and moth-eatenAt last, however, I found one door at the top of the stairway which, though it seemed locked, gave a little under pressureI tried it harder, and found that it was not really locked, but that the resistance came from the fact that the hinges had fallen somewhat, and the heavy door rested on the floorHere was an opportunity which I might not have again, so I exerted myself, and with many efforts forced it back so that I could enterI was now in a wing of the castle further to the right than the rooms I knew and a storey lower downFrom the windows I could see that the suite of rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the windows of the end room looking out both west and southOn the latter side, as well as to the former, there was a great precipiceThe castle was built on the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or bow, or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort, impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were securedTo the west was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded with mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and crevices and crannies of the stoneThis was evidently the portion of the castle occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture had more an air of comfort than any I had seen The windows were curtainless, and the yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond panes, enabled one to see even colours, whilst it softened the wealth of dust which lay over all and disguised in some measure the ravages of time and mothMy lamp seemed to be of little effect in the brilliant moonlight, but I was glad to have it with me, for there was a dread loneliness in the place which chilled my heart and made my nerves trembleStill, it was better than living alone in the rooms which I had come to hate from the presence of the Count, and after trying a little to school my nerves, I found a soft quietude come over meHere I am, sitting at a little oak table where in old times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much thought and many blushes, her ill-spelt love letter, and writing in my diary in shorthand all that has happened since I closed it lastIt is the nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeanceAnd yet, unless my senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere "modernity" cannot kill Later: The morning of 16 May-God preserve my sanity, for to this I am reducedSafety and the assurance of safety are things of the pastWhilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad alreadyIf I be sane, then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me, that to him alone I can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his purposeGreat God! Merciful God, let me be calm, for out of that way lies madness indeedI begin to get new lights on certain things which have puzzled meUp to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant when he made Hamlet say, "My tablets! Quick, my tablets! 'tis meet that I put it down," etc For now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for reposeThe habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me The Count's mysterious warning frightened me at the shop time