When Dr. Van Helsing had done speaking, I asked him if he were certain that the Count had remained on board the ship.He replied: “We have the best proof of that: your own evidence,when in the hypnotic trance this morning.” I asked him again if it were really necessary that they should pursue the Count, for oh!I dread Jonathan leaving me, and I know that he would surely go if the others went.He answered in growing passion, at first quietly. As he went on, however,he grew more angry and more forceful, till in the end we could not but see wherein was at least some of that personal dominance which made him so long a master amongst men:--
“Yes, it is necessary--necessary--necessary!For your sake in the first, and then for the sake of humanity.This monster has done much harm already, in the narrow scope where he find himself,and in the short time when as yet he was only as a body groping his so small measure in darkness and not knowing.All this have I told these others; you, my dear Madam Mina,will learn it in the phonograph of my friend John, or in that of your husband.I have told them how the measure of leaving his own barren land--barren of peoples--and coming to a new land where life of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the work of centuries. Were another of the Un-Dead, like him, to try to do what he has done, perhaps not all the centuries of the world that have been, or that will be, could aid him. With this one, all the forces of nature that are occult and deep and strong must have worked together in some wondrous way. The very place, where he have been alive, Un-Dead for all these centuries, is full of strangeness of the geologic and chemical world. There are deep caverns and fissures that reach none know whither. There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify. Doubtless, there is something magnetic or electric in some of these combinations of occult forces which work for physical life in strange way; and in himself were from the first some great qualities. In a hard and warlike time he was celebrate that he have more iron nerve, more subtle brain, more braver heart, than any man. In him some vital principle have in strange way found their utmost; and as his body keep strong and grow and thrive, so his brain grow too. All this without that diabolic aid which is surely to him; for it have to yield to the powers that come from, and are, symbolic of good. And now this is what he is to us. He have infect you--oh, forgive me, my dear, that I must say such; but it is for good of you that I speak. He infect you in such wise, that even if he do no more, you have only to live--to live in your own old, sweet way; and so in time, death, which is of man’s common lot and with God’s sanction, shall make you like to him. This must not be!We have sworn together that it must not. Thus are we ministers of God’s own wish: that the world,and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters,whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one soul already,and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem more.Like them we shall travel towards the sunrise; and like them, if we fall, we fall in good cause. ” He paused and I said:--
“But will not the Count take his rebuff wisely?Since he has been driven from England, will he not avoid it,as a tiger does the village from which he has been hunted?”
“Aha!” he said, “your simile of the tiger good, for me, and I shall adopt him. Your man-eater,as they of India call the tiger who has once tasted blood of the human,care no more for the other prey, but prowl unceasing till he get him.This that we hunt from our village is a tiger, too, a man-eater, and he never cease to prowl. Nay,in himself he is not one to retire and stay afar. In his life, his living life,he go over the Turkey frontier and attack his enemy on his own ground; he be beaten back, but did he stay?No!He come again, and again, and again. Look at his persistence and endurance.With the child-brain that was to him he have long since conceive the idea of coming to a great city. What does he do?He find out the place of all the world most of promise for him.Then he deliberately set himself down to prepare for the task.He find in patience just how is his strength, and what are his powers. He study new tongues.He learn new social life; new environment of old ways, the politic, the law, the finance,the science, the habit of a new land and a new people who have come to be since he was.His glimpse that he have had, whet his appetite only and enkeen his desire. Nay,it help him to grow as to his brain; for it all prove to him how right he was at the first in his surmises. He have done this alone; all alone!from a ruin tomb in a forgotten land. What more may he not do when the greater world of thought is open to him.He that can smile at death, as we know him;who can flourish in the midst of diseases that kill off whole peoples. Oh,if such an one was to come from God, and not the Devil,what a force for good might he not be in this old world of ours.But we are pledged to set the world free. Our toil must be in silence,and our efforts all in secret; for in this enlightened age,when men believe not even what they see, the doubting of wise men would be his greatest strength.It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and his weapons to destroy us, his enemies,who are willing to peril even our own souls for the safety of one we love--for the good of mankind, and for the honour and glory of God.”
After a general discussion it was determined that for to-night nothing be definitely settled;that we should all sleep on the facts, and try to think out the proper conclusions. To-morrow,at breakfast, we are to meet again, and, after making our conclusions known to one another,we shall decide on some definite cause of action.
* * * * *
I feel a wonderful peace and rest to-night. It is as if some haunting presence were removed from me. Perhaps ...
My surmise was not finished, could not be;for I caught sight in the mirror of the red mark upon my forehead; and I knew that I was still unclean.
_Dr. Seward’s Diary._
_5 October._--We all rose early, and I think that sleep did much for each and all of us.When we met at early breakfast there was more general cheerfulness than any of us had ever expected to experience again.
It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let any obstructing cause,no matter what, be removed in any way--even by death--and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment.More than once as we sat around the table,my eyes opened in wonder whether the whole of the past days had not been a dream.It was only when I caught sight of the red blotch on Mrs.Harker’s forehead that I was brought back to reality. Even now,when I am gravely revolving the matter,it is almost impossible to realise that the cause of all our trouble is still existent. Even Mrs.Harker seems to lose sight of her trouble for whole spells; it is only now and again,when something recalls it to her mind, that she thinks of her terrible scar.We are to meet here in my study in half an hour and decide on our course of action.I see only one immediate difficulty, I know it by instinct rather than reason:we shall all have to speak frankly; and yet I fear that in some mysterious way poor Mrs.Harker’s tongue is tied. I _know_ that she forms conclusions of her own,and from all that has been I can guess how brilliant and how true they must be; but she will not,or cannot, give them utterance. I have mentioned this to Van Helsing,and he and I are to talk it over when we are alone.I suppose it is some of that horrid poison which has got into her veins beginning to work.The Count had his own purposes when he gave her what Van Helsing called “the Vampire’s baptism of blood.” Well, there may be a poison that distils itself out of good things;in an age when the existence of ptomaines is a mystery we should not wonder at anything!One thing I know: that if my instinct be true regarding poor Mrs. Harker’s silences,then there is a terrible difficulty--an unknown danger--in the work before us.The same power that compels her silence may compel her speech. I dare not think further;for so I should in my thoughts dishonour a noble woman!
Van Helsing is coming to my study a little before the others.I shall try to open the subject with him.
* * * * *
_Later._--When the Professor came in, we talked over the state of things.I could see that he had something on his mind which he wanted to say,but felt some hesitancy about broaching the subject. After beating about the bush a little, he said suddenly:--
“Friend John, there is something that you and I must talk of alone, just at the first at any rate.Later, we may have to take the others into our confidence”; then he stopped, so I waited; he went on:--
“Madam Mina, our poor, dear Madam Mina is changing.” A cold shiver ran through me to find my worst fears thus endorsed. Van Helsing continued:--
“With the sad experience of Miss Lucy, we must this time be warned before things go too far.Our task is now in reality more difficult than ever,and this new trouble makes every hour of the direst importance.I can see the characteristics of the vampire coming in her face. It is now but very, very slight;but it is to be seen if we have eyes to notice without to prejudge. Her teeth are some sharper,and at times her eyes are more hard. But these are not all, there is to her the silence now often;as so it was with Miss Lucy. She did not speak,even when she wrote that which she wished to be known later. Now my fear is this.If it be that she can, by our hypnotic trance, tell what the Count see and hear,is it not more true that he who have hypnotise her first,and who have drink of her very blood and make her drink of his, should, if he will,compel her mind to disclose to him that which she know?” I nodded acquiescence; he went on:--
“Then, what we must do is to prevent this; we must keep her ignorant of our intent,and so she cannot tell what she know not. This is a painful task!Oh, so painful that it heart-break me to think of; but it must be. When to-day we meet,I must tell her that for reason which we will not to speak she must not more be of our council,but be simply guarded by us.” He wiped his forehead,which had broken out in profuse perspiration at the thought of the pain which he might have to inflict upon the poor soul already so tortured.I knew that it would be some sort of comfort to him if I told him that I also had come to the same conclusion;for at any rate it would take away the pain of doubt. I told him, and the effect was as I expected.
It is now close to the time of our general gathering.Van Helsing has gone away to prepare for the meeting, and his painful part of it.I really believe his purpose is to be able to pray alone.
* * * * *
_Later._--At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief was experienced by both Van Helsing and myself.Mrs. Harker had sent a message by her husband to say that she would not join us at present,as she thought it better that we should be free to discuss our movements without her presence to embarrass us.The Professor and I looked at each other for an instant, and somehow we both seemed relieved.For my own part, I thought that if Mrs. Harker realised the danger herself,it was much pain as well as much danger averted. Under the circumstances we agreed,by a questioning look and answer, with finger on lip, to preserve silence in our suspicions,until we should have been able to confer alone again. We went at once into our Plan of Campaign.Van Helsing roughly put the facts before us first:--
“The _Czarina Catherine_ left the Thames yesterday morning.It will take her at the quickest speed she has ever made at least three weeks to reach Varna;but we can travel overland to the same place in three days. Now,if we allow for two days less for the ship’s voyage,owing to such weather influences as we know that the Count can bring to bear;and if we allow a whole day and night for any delays which may occur to us,then we have a margin of nearly two weeks. Thus, in order to be quite safe,we must leave here on 17th at latest. Then we shall at any rate be in Varna a day before the ship arrives,and able to make such preparations as may be necessary.Of course we shall all go armed--armed against evil things, spiritual as well as physical. ” Here Quincey Morris added:--
“I understand that the Count comes from a wolf country,and it may be that he shall get there before us. I propose that we add Winchesters to our armament.I have a kind of belief in a Winchester when there is any trouble of that sort around.Do you remember, Art, when we had the pack after us at Tobolsk?What wouldn’t we have given then for a repeater apiece!”
“Good!” said Van Helsing, “Winchesters it shall be. Quincey’s head is level at all times,but most so when there is to hunt, metaphor be more dishonour to science than wolves be of danger to man.In the meantime we can do nothing here; and as I think that Varna is not familiar to any of us, why not go there more soon?It is as long to wait here as there. To-night and to-morrow we can get ready, and then,if all be well, we four can set out on our journey.”
“We four?” said Harker interrogatively, looking from one to another of us.
“Of course!” answered the Professor quickly, “you must remain to take care of your so sweet wife!” Harker was silent for awhile and then said in a hollow voice:--
“Let us talk of that part of it in the morning. I want to consult with Mina.” I thought that now was the time for Van Helsing to warn him not to disclose our plans to her;but he took no notice. I looked at him significantly and coughed.For answer he put his finger on his lips and turned away.
_Jonathan Harker’s Journal._
_5 October, afternoon._--For some time after our meeting this morning I could not think.The new phases of things leave my mind in a state of wonder which allows no room for active thought.Mina’s determination not to take any part in the discussion set me thinking;and as I could not argue the matter with her, I could only guess.I am as far as ever from a solution now. The way the others received it, too, puzzled me;the last time we talked of the subject we agreed that there was to be no more concealment of anything amongst us.Mina is sleeping now, calmly and sweetly like a little child.Her lips are curved and her face beams with happiness. Thank God, there are such moments still for her.
* * * * *
_Later._--How strange it all is. I sat watching Mina’s happy sleep,and came as near to being happy myself as I suppose I shall ever be. As the evening drew on,and the earth took its shadows from the sun sinking lower,the silence of the room grew more and more solemn to me. All at once Mina opened her eyes, and looking at me tenderly, said:--
“Jonathan, I want you to promise me something on your word of honour. A promise made to me,but made holily in God’s hearing, and not to be broken though I should go down on my knees and implore you with bitter tears. Quick, you must make it to me at once.”
“Mina,” I said, “a promise like that, I cannot make at once. I may have no right to make it.”
“But, dear one,” she said, with such spiritual intensity that her eyes were like pole stars,“it is I who wish it; and it is not for myself. You can ask Dr. Van Helsing if I am not right;if he disagrees you may do as you will. Nay, more, if you all agree, later, you are absolved from the promise.”
“I promise!” I said, and for a moment she looked supremely happy;though to me all happiness for her was denied by the red scar on her forehead. She said:--
“Promise me that you will not tell me anything of the plans formed for the campaign against the Count.Not by word, or inference, or implication; not at any time whilst this remains to me!” and she solemnly pointed to the scar. I saw that she was in earnest, and said solemnly:--
“I promise!” and as I said it I felt that from that instant a door had been shut between us.
* * * * *
_Later, midnight._--Mina has been bright and cheerful all the evening.So much so that all the rest seemed to take courage, as if infected somewhat with her gaiety;as a result even I myself felt as if the pall of gloom which weighs us down were somewhat lifted.We all retired early. Mina is now sleeping like a little child;it is a wonderful thing that her faculty of sleep remains to her in the midst of her terrible trouble.Thank God for it, for then at least she can forget her care.Perhaps her example may affect me as her gaiety did to-night. I shall try it. Oh!for a dreamless sleep.
* * * * *
_6 October, morning._--Another surprise. Mina woke me early, about the same time as yesterday,and asked me to bring Dr. Van Helsing. I thought that it was another occasion for hypnotism,and without question went for the Professor. He had evidently expected some such call,for I found him dressed in his room. His door was ajar,so that he could hear the opening of the door of our room. He came at once;as he passed into the room, he asked Mina if the others might come, too.
“No,” she said quite simply, “it will not be necessary. You can tell them just as well. I must go with you on your journey.”
Dr. Van Helsing was as startled as I was. After a moment’s pause he asked:--
“But why?”
“You must take me with you. I am safer with you, and you shall be safer, too.”
“But why, dear Madam Mina?You know that your safety is our solemnest duty. We go into danger, to which you are, or may be,more liable than any of us from--from circumstances--things that have been.” He paused, embarrassed.
As she replied, she raised her finger and pointed to her forehead:--
“I know. That is why I must go. I can tell you now, whilst the sun is coming up;I may not be able again. I know that when the Count wills me I must go.I know that if he tells me to come in secret, I must come by wile;by any device to hoodwink--even Jonathan.” God saw the look that she turned on me as she spoke,and if there be indeed a Recording Angel that look is noted to her everlasting honour.I could only clasp her hand. I could not speak;my emotion was too great for even the relief of tears. She went on:--
“You men are brave and strong. You are strong in your numbers,for you can defy that which would break down the human endurance of one who had to guard alone.Besides, I may be of service, since you can hypnotise me and so learn that which even I myself do not know. ” Dr. Van Helsing said very gravely:--
“Madam Mina, you are, as always, most wise. You shall with us come;and together we shall do that which we go forth to achieve.” When he had spoken,Mina’s long spell of silence made me look at her. She had fallen back on her pillow asleep;she did not even wake when I had pulled up the blind and let in the sunlight which flooded the room.Van Helsing motioned to me to come with him quietly. We went to his room,and within a minute Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, and Mr. Morris were with us also.He told them what Mina had said, and went on:--
“In the morning we shall leave for Varna. We have now to deal with a new factor: Madam Mina. Oh,but her soul is true. It is to her an agony to tell us so much as she has done;but it is most right, and we are warned in time. There must be no chance lost,and in Varna we must be ready to act the instant when that ship arrives.”
“What shall we do exactly?” asked Mr. Morris laconically. The Professor paused before replying:--
“We shall at the first board that ship; then, when we have identified the box,we shall place a branch of the wild rose on it. This we shall fasten,for when it is there none can emerge; so at least says the superstition.And to superstition must we trust at the first; it was man’s faith in the early,and it have its root in faith still. Then, when we get the opportunity that we seek,when none are near to see, we shall open the box, and--and all will be well.”
“I shall not wait for any opportunity,” said Morris.“When I see the box I shall open it and destroy the monster,though there were a thousand men looking on, and if I am to be wiped out for it the next moment!” I grasped his hand instinctively and found it as firm as a piece of steel.I think he understood my look; I hope he did.
“Good boy,” said Dr. Van Helsing. “Brave boy. Quincey is all man. God bless him for it. My child,believe me none of us shall lag behind or pause from any fear.I do but say what we may do--what we must do. But, indeed, indeed we cannot say what we shall do.There are so many things which may happen,and their ways and their ends are so various that until the moment we may not say.We shall all be armed, in all ways; and when the time for the end has come,our effort shall not be lack. Now let us to-day put all our affairs in order.Let all things which touch on others dear to us, and who on us depend, be complete;for none of us can tell what, or when, or how, the end may be. As for me,my own affairs are regulate; and as I have nothing else to do,I shall go make arrangements for the travel. I shall have all tickets and so forth for our journey. ”
There was nothing further to be said, and we parted. I shall now settle up all my affairs of earth, and be ready for whatever may come....
* * * * *
_Later._--It is all done; my will is made, and all complete. Mina if she survive is my sole heir.If it should not be so, then the others who have been so good to us shall have remainder.
It is now drawing towards the sunset; Mina’s uneasiness calls my attention to it.I am sure that there is something on her mind which the time of exact sunset will reveal.These occasions are becoming harrowing times for us all,for each sunrise and sunset opens up some new danger--some new pain, which, however,may in God’s will be means to a good end.I write all these things in the diary since my darling must not hear them now;but if it may be that she can see them again, they shall be ready.
She is calling to me.
CHAPTER XXV
DR. SEWARD’S DIARY
_11 October, Evening._--Jonathan Harker has asked me to note this,as he says he is hardly equal to the task, and he wants an exact record kept.
I think that none of us were surprised when we were asked to see Mrs.Harker a little before the time of sunset.We have of late come to understand that sunrise and sunset are to her times of peculiar freedom;when her old self can be manifest without any controlling force subduing or restraining her,or inciting her to action. This mood or condition begins some half hour or more before actual sunrise or sunset,and lasts till either the sun is high, or whilst the clouds are still aglow with the rays streaming above the horizon.At first there is a sort of negative condition, as if some tie were loosened,and then the absolute freedom quickly follows; when, however,the freedom ceases the change-back or relapse comes quickly,preceded only by a spell of warning silence.
To-night, when we met, she was somewhat constrained, and bore all the signs of an internal struggle.I put it down myself to her making a violent effort at the earliest instant she could do so.A very few minutes, however, gave her complete control of herself; then,motioning her husband to sit beside her on the sofa where she was half reclining,she made the rest of us bring chairs up close. Taking her husband’s hand in hers began:--
“We are all here together in freedom, for perhaps the last time!I know, dear; I know that you will always be with me to the end.” This was to her husband whose hand had, as we could see, tightened upon hers.“In the morning we go out upon our task, and God alone knows what may be in store for any of us.You are going to be so good to me as to take me with you.I know that all that brave earnest men can do for a poor weak woman,whose soul perhaps is lost--no, no, not yet, but is at any rate at stake--you will do.But you must remember that I am not as you are. There is a poison in my blood, in my soul,which may destroy me; which must destroy me, unless some relief comes to us. Oh, my friends,you know as well as I do, that my soul is at stake; and though I know there is one way out for me, you must not and I must not take it!” She looked appealingly to us all in turn, beginning and ending with her husband.
“What is that way?” asked Van Helsing in a hoarse voice. “What is that way, which we must not--may not--take?”
“That I may die now, either by my own hand or that of another,before the greater evil is entirely wrought. I know, and you know,that were I once dead you could and would set free my immortal spirit,even as you did my poor Lucy’s. Were death, or the fear of death,the only thing that stood in the way I would not shrink to die here, now,amidst the friends who love me. But death is not all. I cannot believe that to die in such a case,when there is hope before us and a bitter task to be done, is God’s will. Therefore, I, on my part,give up here the certainty of eternal rest,and go out into the dark where may be the blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!” We were all silent, for we knew instinctively that this was only a prelude.The faces of the others were set and Harker’s grew ashen grey;perhaps he guessed better than any of us what was coming. She continued:--
“This is what I can give into the hotch-pot.” I could not but note the quaint legal phrase which she used in such a place,and with all seriousness. “What will each of you give?Your lives I know,” she went on quickly, “that is easy for brave men. Your lives are God’s,and you can give them back to Him; but what will you give to me?” She looked again questioningly, but this time avoided her husband’s face.Quincey seemed to understand; he nodded, and her face lit up.“Then I shall tell you plainly what I want,for there must be no doubtful matter in this connection between us now. You must promise me,one and all--even you, my beloved husband--that, should the time come, you will kill me.”
“What is that time?” The voice was Quincey’s, but it was low and strained.
“When you shall be convinced that I am so changed that it is better that I die than I may live.When I am thus dead in the flesh, then you will, without a moment’s delay,drive a stake through me and cut off my head; or do whatever else may be wanting to give me rest!”
Quincey was the first to rise after the pause.He knelt down before her and taking her hand in his said solemnly:--
“I’m only a rough fellow, who hasn’t, perhaps, lived as a man should to win such a distinction,but I swear to you by all that I hold sacred and dear that, should the time ever come,I shall not flinch from the duty that you have set us. And I promise you, too,that I shall make all certain, for if I am only doubtful I shall take it that the time has come!”
“My true friend!” was all she could say amid her fast-falling tears, as, bending over, she kissed his hand.
“I swear the same, my dear Madam Mina!” said Van Helsing.
“And I!” said Lord Godalming, each of them in turn kneeling to her to take the oath. I followed, myself.Then her husband turned to her wan-eyed and with a greenish pallor which subdued the snowy whiteness of his hair, and asked:--
“And must I, too, make such a promise, oh, my wife?”
“You too, my dearest,” she said, with infinite yearning of pity in her voice and eyes.“You must not shrink. You are nearest and dearest and all the world to me;our souls are knit into one, for all life and all time. Think, dear,that there have been times when brave men have killed their wives and their womenkind,to keep them from falling into the hands of the enemy.Their hands did not falter any the more because those that they loved implored them to slay them.It is men’s duty towards those whom they love, in such times of sore trial!And oh, my dear, if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand,let it be at the hand of him that loves me best. Dr. Van Helsing,I have not forgotten your mercy in poor Lucy’s case to him who loved”--she stopped with a flying blush,and changed her phrase--“to him who had best right to give her peace.If that time shall come again, I look to you to make it a happy memory of my husband’s life that it was his loving hand which set me free from the awful thrall upon me.”
“Again I swear!” came the Professor’s resonant voice. Mrs. Harker smiled, positively smiled,as with a sigh of relief she leaned back and said:--
“And now one word of warning, a warning which you must never forget: this time, if it ever come,may come quickly and unexpectedly, and in such case you must lose no time in using your opportunity. At such a time I myself might be--nay!if the time ever comes, _shall be_--leagued with your enemy against you.”
“One more request;” she became very solemn as she said this,“it is not vital and necessary like the other, but I want you to do one thing for me, if you will.” We all acquiesced, but no one spoke; there was no need to speak:--
“I want you to read the Burial Service.” She was interrupted by a deep groan from her husband;taking his hand in hers, she held it over her heart, and continued:“You must read it over me some day. Whatever may be the issue of all this fearful state of things,it will be a sweet thought to all or some of us. You, my dearest, will I hope read it,for then it will be in your voice in my memory for ever--come what may!”