themselves. So on nodding acquiescence to him he asked them what
they had seen or done. To which Lord Godalming answered.
"I could not see him anywhere in the passage, or in any of our
rooms. I looked in the study but, though he had been there, he had
gone. He had, however … " He stopped suddenly, looking at the
poor drooping figure on the bed.
Van Helsing said gravely, "Go on, friend Arthur. We want here no
more concealments. Our hope now is in knowing all. Tell
freely!"
So Art went on, "He had been there, and though it could only
have been for a few seconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the
manuscript had been burned, and the blue flames were flickering
amongst the white ashes. The cylinders of your phonograph too were
thrown on the fire, and the wax had helped the flames."
Here I interrupted. "Thank God there is the other copy in the
safe!"
His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he went on. "I ran
downstairs then, but could see no sign of him. I looked into
Renfield's room, but there was no trace there except … " Again
he paused.
"Go on," said Harker hoarsely. So he bowed his head and
moistening his lips with his tongue, added, "except that the poor
fellow is dead."
Mrs. Harker raised her head, looking from one to the other of us
she said solemnly, "God's will be done!"
I could not but feel that Art was keeping back something. But,
as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing.
Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked,"And you, friend Quincey,
have you any to tell?"
"A little," he answered. "It may be much eventually, but at
present I can't say. I thought it well to know if possible where
the Count would go when he left the house. I did not see him, but I
saw a bat rise from Renfield's window, and flap westward. I
expected to see him in some shape go back to Carfax, but he
evidently sought some other lair. He will not be back tonight, for
the sky is reddening in the east, and the dawn is close. We must
work tomorrow!"
He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space ofwork tomorrow!"
He said the latter words through his shut teeth. For a space of
perhaps a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy
that I could hear the sound of our hearts beating.
Then Van Helsing said, placing his hand tenderly on Mrs.
Harker's head, "And now, Madam Mina, poor dear, dear, Madam Mina,
tell us exactly what happened. God knows that I do not want that
you be pained, but it is need that we know all. For now more than
ever has all work to be done quick and sharp, and in deadly
earnest. The day is close to us that must end all, if it may be so,
and now is the chance that we may live and learn."
The poor dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her
nerves as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head
lower and lower still on his breast. Then she raised her head
proudly, and held out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his,
and after stooping and kissing it reverently, held it fast. The
other hand was locked in that of her husband, who held his other
arm thrown round her protectingly. After a pause in which she was
evidently ordering her thoughts, she began.
"I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me,
but for a long time it did not act. I seemed to become more
wakeful, and myriads of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my
mind. All of them connected with death, and vampires, with blood,
and pain, and trouble." Her husband involuntarily groaned as she
turned to him and said lovingly, "Do not fret, dear. You must be
brave and strong, and help me through the horrible task. If you
only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing
at all, you would understand how much I need your help. Well, I saw
I must try to help the medicine to its work with my will, if it was
to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself to sleep. Sure enough
sleep must soon have come to me, for I remember no more. Jonathan
coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side when next I
remember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I hadremember. There was in the room the same thin white mist that I had
before noticed. But I forget now if you know of this. You will find
it in my diary which I shall show you later. I felt the same vague
terror which had come to me before and the same sense of some
presence. I turned to wake Jonathan, but found that he slept so
soundly that it seemed as if it was he who had taken the sleeping
draught, and not I. I tried, but I could not wake him. This caused
me a great fear, and I looked around terrified. Then indeed, my
heart sank within me. Beside the bed, as if he had stepped out of
the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for
it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in black.
I knew him at once from the description of the others. The waxen
face, the high aquiline nose, on which the light fell in a thin
white line, the parted red lips, with the sharp white teeth showing
between, and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the sunset on
the windows of St. Mary's Church at Witby. I knew, too, the red
scar on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant
my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I
was paralyzed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting
whisper, pointing as he spoke to Jonathan.
"`Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his
brains out before your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too
bewildered to do or say anything. With a mocking smile, he placed
one hand upon my shoulder and, holding me tight, bared my throat
with the other, saying as he did so, `First, a little refreshment
to reward my exertions. You may as well be quiet. It is not the
first time, or the second, that your veins have appeased my
thirst!' I was bewildered, and strangely enough, I did not want to
hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that such
is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pity
me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned