every blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and
have, with love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make
your home here with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child.
All are gone, and in my will I have left you everything.' I cried,
Lucy dear, as Jonathan and the old man clasped hands. Our evening
was a very, very happy one.
"So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from
both my bedroom and the drawing room I can see the great elms of
the cathedral close, with their great black stems standing out
against the old yellow stone of the cathedral, and I can hear the
rooks overhead cawing and cawing and chattering and chattering and
gossiping all day, after the manner of rooks—and humans. I am busy,
I need not tell you, arranging things and housekeeping. Jonathan
and Mr. Hawkins are busy all day, for now that Jonathan is a
partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to tell him all about the clients.
"How is your dear mother getting on? I wish I could run up to
town for a day or two to see you, dear, but I, dare not go yet,
with so much on my shoulders, and Jonathan wants looking after
still. He is beginning to put some flesh on his bones again, but he
was terribly weakened by the long illness. Even now he sometimes
starts out of his sleep in a sudden way and awakes all trembling
until I can coax him back to his usual placidity. However, thank
God, these occasions grow less frequent as the days go on, and they
will in time pass away altogether, I trust. And now I have told you
my news, let me ask yours. When are you to be married, and where,
and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, and
is it to be a public or private wedding? Tell me all about it,
dear, tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which
interests you which will not be dear to me. Jonathan asks me to
send his `respectful duty', but I do not think that is good enough
from the junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker.from the junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker.
And so, as you love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all
the moods and tenses of the verb, I send you simply his `love'
instead. Goodbye, my dearest Lucy, and blessings on you." Yours,
Mina Harker
REPORT FROM PATRICK HENNESSEY, MD, MRCSLK, QCPI, ETC, ETC, TO
JOHN SEWARD, MD
20 September
My dear Sir:
"In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the
conditions of everything left in my charge. With regard to patient,
Renfield, there is more to say. He has had another outbreak, which
might have had a dreadful ending, but which, as it fortunately
happened, was unattended with any unhappy results. This afternoon a
carrier's cart with two men made a call at the empty house whose
grounds abut on ours, the house to which, you will remember, the
patient twice ran away. The men stopped at our gate to ask the
porter their way, as they were strangers.
"I was myself looking out of the study window, having a smoke
after dinner, and saw one of them come up to the house. As he
passed the window of Renfield's room, the patient began to rate him
from within, and called him all the foul names he could lay his
tongue to. The man, who seemed a decent fellow enough, contented
himself by telling him to `shut up for a foul-mouthed
beggar',whereon our man accused him of robbing him and wanting to
murder him and said that he would hinder him if he were to swing
for it. I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice, so
he contented himself after looking the place over and making up his
mind as to what kind of place he had got to by saying, `Lor' bless
yer, sir, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin'
madhouse. I pity ye and the guv'nor for havin' to live in the house
with a wild beast like that.'
"Then he asked his way civilly enough, and I told him where the
gate of the empty house was. He went away followed by threats and
curses and revilings from our man. I went down to see if I couldcurses and revilings from our man. I went down to see if I could
make out any cause for his anger, since he is usually such a
well-behaved man, and except his violent fits nothing of the kind
had ever occurred. I found him, to my astonishment, quite composed
and most genial in his manner. I tried to get him to talk of the
incident, but he blandly asked me questions as to what I meant, and
led me to believe that he was completely oblivious of the affair.
It was, I am sorry to say, however, only another instance of his
cunning, for within half an hour I heard of him again. This time he
had broken out through the window of his room, and was running down
the avenue. I called to the attendants to follow me, and ran after
him, for I feared he was intent on some mischief. My fear was
justified when I saw the same cart which had passed before coming
down the road, having on it some great wooden boxes. The men were
wiping their foreheads, and were flushed in the face, as if with
violent exercise. Before I could get up to him, the patient rushed
at them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to knock his
head against the ground. If I had not seized him just at the
moment, I believe he would have killed the man there and then. The
other fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with the butt
end of his heavy whip. It was a horrible blow, but he did not seem
to mind it, but seized him also, and struggled with the three of
us, pulling us to and fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no
lightweight, and the others were both burly men. At first he was
silent in his fighting, but as we began to master him, and the
attendants were putting a strait waistcoat on him, he began to
shout, `I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me!They shan't murder
me by inches! I'll fight for my Lord and Master!'and all sorts of
similar incoherent ravings. It was with very considerable
difficulty that they got him back to the house and put him in the
padded room. One of the attendants, Hardy, had a finger broken.