after a few hours, as he reaches a desolate valley, it begins to snow; as a dark storm gathers intensity, the englishman takes shelter in a grove of cypress and yew trees. the englishman's location is soon illuminated by moonlight to be a cemetery, and he finds himself before a marble tomb with a large iron stake driven through the roof, the inscription reads: "countess dolingen of gratz / in styria / sought and found death / 1801". this inscription is now recognised as being a tribute to joseph sheridan le fanu, one of stoker's fellow predecessor in terms of vampire writing. le fanu's carmilla (1872) deals with a protagonist showing resemblances with countess dolingen. carmilla's main protagonist is ultimately revealed to countess millarca karnestein, a vampire. inscribed on the back of the tomb, graven in great russian letters, is: "the dead travel fast", which was an ode to the fable "lenore".