Dr.
Seward's Diary3 October The time seemed terribly 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 grief-written 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 of life. Poor fellow, I thought
my own trouble was bad enough, but his . . . ! 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: "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. "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'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." Harker groaned and said,
"And this is all arrayed against my darling! But how is he experimenting?
The knowledge may help us to defeat him!" "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." "I
fail to understand," said Harker wearily. "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 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'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. "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." Whilst we were speaking we were startled by a
knock at the hall door, the double postman'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. "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." 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
time. Do not fear, and do not rejoice as yet. For 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 creation. I 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 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." About half
an hour after we had received Mrs. Harker'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'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: "It is all right. We found
both places. Six boxes in each and we destroyed them all." "Destroyed?"
asked the Professor. "For him!" We were silent for a minute, and
then Quincey said, "There's nothing to do but to wait here. If, however,
he doesn't turn up by five o'clock, we must start off. For it won't do to leave
Mrs. Harker alone after sunset." "He will be here before long
now," said Van Helsing, who had been consulting his pocketbook. "Nota
bene, in Madam'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'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!" 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. 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. 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. 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's leap back saved him. A second less and the trenchant blade had
shorn through his heart. As it was, the point just cut the cloth of his coat,
making a wide gap whence a bundle of bank notes and a stream of gold fell out.
The expression of the Count'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'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'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 "ting" of the gold, as some of the
sovereigns fell on the flagging. 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. "You think to baffle
me, you with your pale faces all in a row, like sheep in a butcher'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!" 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. "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." 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. 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. 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,
"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." 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. With
sad hearts we came back to my house, where we found Mrs. Harker waiting us, with
an appearance of cheerfulness which did honour 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. And then she said cheerfully,
"I can never thank you all enough. Oh, my poor darling!" As she
spoke, she took her husband's grey head in her hands and kissed it. "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." The poor fellow groaned. There was
no place for words in his sublime misery. We had a sort of perfunctory supper
together, and I think it cheered us all up somewhat. It was, perhaps, the mere
animal heat of food to hungry people, for none of us had eaten anything since
breakfast, or the sense of companionship may have helped us, but anyhow we were
all less miserable, and saw the morrow as not altogether without hope. True
to our promise, we told Mrs. Harker everything which had passed. And although
she grew snowy white at times when danger had seemed to threaten her husband,
and red at others when his devotion to her was manifested, she listened bravely
and with calmness. When we came to the part where Harker had rushed at the Count
so recklessly, she clung to her husband's arm, and held it tight as though her
clinging could protect him from any harm that might come. She said nothing, however,
till the narration was all done, and matters had been brought up to the present
time. Then without letting go her husband's hand she stood up amongst us
and spoke. Oh, that I could give any idea of the scene. Of that sweet, sweet,
good, good woman in all the radiant beauty of her youth and animation, with the
red scar on her forehead, of which she was conscious, and which we saw with grinding
of our teeth, remembering whence and how it came. Her loving kindness against
our grim hate. Her tender faith against all our fears and doubting. And we, knowing
that so far as symbols went, she with all her goodness and purity and faith, was
outcast from God. "Jonathan," she said, and the word sounded like
music on her lips it was so full of love and tenderness, "Jonathan dear,
and you all my true, true friends, I want you to bear something in mind through
all this dreadful time. I know that you must fight. That you must destroy even
as you destroyed the false Lucy so that the true Lucy might live hereafter. But
it is not a work of hate. That poor soul who has wrought all this misery is the
saddest case of all. Just think what will be his joy when he, too, is destroyed
in his worser part that his better part may have spiritual immortality. You must
be pitiful to him, too, though it may not hold your hands from his destruction." As
she spoke I could see her husband's face darken and draw together, as though the
passion in him were shriveling his being to its core. Instinctively the clasp
on his wife's hand grew closer, till his knuckles looked white. She did not flinch
from the pain which I knew she must have suffered, but looked at him with eyes
that were more appealing than ever. As she stopped speaking he leaped to
his feet, almost tearing his hand from hers as he spoke. "May God give
him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that earthly life of him which
we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send his soul forever and ever to burning
hell I would do it!" "Oh, hush! Oh, hush in the name of the good
God. Don't say such things, Jonathan, my husband, or you will crush me with fear
and horror. Just think, my dear . . . I have been thinking all this long, long
day of it . . . that . . . perhaps . . . some day . . . I, too, may need such
pity, and that some other like you, and with equal cause for anger, may deny it
to me! Oh, my husband! My husband, indeed I would have spared you such a thought
had there been another way. But I pray that God may not have treasured your wild
words, except as the 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." 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. Before they retired the Professor
fixed up the room against any coming of the Vampire, and assured Mrs. Harker that
she might rest in peace. She tried to school herself to the belief, and manifestly
for her husband's sake, tried to seem content. It was a brave struggle, and was,
I think and believe, not without its reward. Van Helsing had placed at hand a
bell which either of them was to sound in case of any emergency. When they had
retired, Quincey, Godalming, and I arranged that we should sit up, dividing the
night between us, and watch over the safety of the poor stricken lady. The first
watch falls to Quincey, so the rest of us shall be off to bed as soon as we can. Godalming
has already turned in, for his is the second watch. Now that my work is done I,
too, shall go to bed. |
