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 maneater, 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 maneater, 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 hisstay? 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 politics, 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 armor, 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 honor and glory of God."
After a general discussion it was determined that for tonight
nothing be definitely settled. That we should all sleep on the
facts, and try to think out the proper conclusions. Tomorrow, 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 tonight. It is as if someaction …
I feel a wonderful peace and rest tonight. 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 arose 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
realize 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