pleasantly, and held out her hand.
"Good evening, Mr. Renfield," said she. "You see, I know you,
for Dr. Seward has told me of you." He made no immediate reply, but
eyed her all over intently with a set frown on his face. This look
gave way to one of wonder, which merged in doubt, then to my
intense astonishment he said, "You're not the girl the doctor
wanted to marry, are you? You can't be, you know, for she's
dead."
Mrs. Harker smiled sweetly as she replied, "Oh no! I have a
husband of my own, to whom I was married before I ever saw Dr.
Seward, or he me. I am Mrs. Harker."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"My husband and I are staying on a visit with Dr. Seward."
"Then don't stay."
"But why not?"
I thought that this style of conversation might not be pleasant
to Mrs. Harker, any more than it was to me, so I joined in, "How
did you know I wanted to marry anyone?"
His reply was simply contemptuous, given in a pause in which he
turned his eyes from Mrs. Harker to me, instantly turning them back
again, "What an asinine question!"
"I don't see that at all, Mr. Renfield,"said Mrs. Harker, at
once championing me.
He replied to her with as much courtesy and respect as he had
shown contempt to me, "You will, of course, understand, Mrs.
Harker, that when a man is so loved and honored as our host is,
everything regarding him is of interest in our little community.
Dr. Seward is loved not only by his household and his friends, but
even by his patients, who, being some of them hardly in mental
equilibrium, are apt to distort causes and effects. Since I myself
have been an inmate of a lunatic asylum, I cannot but notice that
the sophistic tendencies of some of its inmates lean towards the
errors of non causa and ignoratio elenche."
I positively opened my eyes at this new development. Here was my
own pet lunatic, the most pronounced of his type that I had ever
met with, talking elemental philosophy, and with the manner of a
polished gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence whichpolished gentleman. I wonder if it was Mrs. Harker's presence which
had touched some chord in his memory. If this new phase was
spontaneous, or in any way due to her unconscious influence, she
must have some rare gift or power.
We continued to talk for some time, and seeing that he was
seemingly quite reasonable, she ventured, looking at me
questioningly as she began, to lead him to his favorite topic. I
was again astonished, for he addressed himself to the question with
the impartiality of the completest sanity. He even took himself as
an example when he mentioned certain things.
"Why, I myself am an instance of a man who had a strange belief.
Indeed, it was no wonder that my friends were alarmed, and insisted
on my being put under control. I used to fancy that life was a
positive and perpetual entity, and that by consuming a multitude of
live things, no matter how low in the scale of creation, one might
indefinitely prolong life. At times I held the belief so strongly
that I actually tried to take human life. The doctor here will bear
me out that on one occasion I tried to kill him for the purpose of
strengthening my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body
of his life through the medium of his blood, relying of course,
upon the Scriptural phrase, `For the blood is the life.' Though,
indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has vulgarized the truism
to the very point of contempt. Isn't that true, doctor?"
I nodded assent, for I was so amazed that I hardly knew what to
either think or say, it was hard to imagine that I had seen him eat
up his spiders and flies not five minutes before. Looking at my
watch, I saw that I should go to the station to meet Van Helsing,
so I told Mrs. Harker that it was time to leave.
She came at once, after saying pleasantly to Mr. Renfield,
"Goodbye, and I hope I may see you often, under auspices pleasanter
to yourself."
To which, to my astonishment, he replied, "Goodbye, my dear. I
pray God I may never see your sweet face again. May He bless and
keep you!"pray God I may never see your sweet face again. May He bless and
keep you!"
When I went to the station to meet Van Helsing I left the boys
behind me. Poor Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since
Lucy first took ill, and Quincey is more like his own bright self
than he has been for many a long day.
Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness
of a boy. He saw me at once, and rushed up to me, saying, "Ah,
friend John, how goes all? Well? So! I have been busy, for I come
here to stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me, and I
have much to tell. Madam Mina is with you? Yes. And her so fine
husband? And Arthur and my friend Quincey, they are with you, too?
Good!"
As I drove to the house I told him of what had passed, and of
how my own diary had come to be of some use through Mrs. Harker's
suggestion, at which the Professor interrupted me.
"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brain, a brain
that a man should have were he much gifted, and a woman's heart.
The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when He made
that so good combination. Friend John, up to now fortune has made
that woman of help to us, after tonight she must not have to do
with this so terrible affair. It is not good that she run a risk so
great. We men are determined, nay, are we not pledged, to destroy
this monster? But it is no part for a woman. Even if she be not
harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors and
hereafter she may suffer, both in waking,from her nerves, and in
sleep,from her dreams. And, besides, she is young woman and not so
long married, there may be other things to think of some time, if
not now. You tell me she has wrote all, then she must consult with
us, but tomorrow she say goodbye to this work, and we go
alone."
I agreed heartily with him, and then I told him what we had
found in his absence, that the house which Dracula had bought was
the very next one to my own. He was amazed, and a great concern
seemed to come on him.