1 October, 5 a.m.- I went with the party to the search with an
easy mind, for I think I never saw Mina so absolutely strong and well.
I am so glad that she consented to hold back and let us men do the
work. Somehow, it was a dread to me that she was in this fearful
business at all; but now that her work is done, and that it is due
to her energy and brains and foresight that the whole story is put
together in such a way that every point tells, she may well feel
that her part is finished, and that she can henceforth leave the
rest to us. We were, I think, all a little upset by the scene with Mr.
Renfield. When we came away from his room we were silent till we got
back to the study. Then Mr. Morris said to Dr. Seward:-
  "Say, Jack, if that man wasn't attempting a bluff, he is about the
sanest lunatic I ever saw. I'm not sure, but I believe that he had
some serious purpose, and if he had, it was pretty rough on him not to
get a chance." Lord Godalming and I were silent, but Dr. Van Helsing
added:-
  "Friend John, you know more of lunatics than I do, and I'm glad of
it, for I fear that if it had been to me to decide I would before that
last hysterical outburst have given him free. But we live and learn,
and in our present task we must take no chance, as my friend Quincey
would say. All is best as they are." Dr. Seward seemed to answer
them both in a dreamy kind of way:-
  "I don't know but that I agree with you. If that man had been an
ordinary lunatic I would have taken my chance of trusting him; but
he seems so mixed up with the Count in an indexy kind of way that I am
afraid of doing anything wrong by helping his fads. I can't forget how
he prayed with almost equal fervour for a cat, and then tried to
tear my throat out with his teeth. Besides, he called the Count
'lord and master,' and he may want to get out to help him in some
diabolical way. That horrid thing has the wolves and the rats and
his own kind to help him, so I suppose he isn't above trying to use
a respectable lunatic. He certainly did seem earnest, though. I only
hope we have done what is best. These things, in conjunction with
the wild work we have in hand, help to unnerve a man." The Professor
stepped over, and laying his hand on his shoulder, said in his
grave, kindly way:-
  "Friend John, have no fear. We are trying to do our duty in a very
sad and terrible case; we can only do as we deem best. What else
have we to hope for, except the pity of the good God?" Lord
Godalming had slipped away for a few minutes, but he now returned.
He held up a little silver whistle as he remarked:-
  "That old place may be full of rats, and if so, I've got an antidote
on call." Having passed the wall, we took our way to the house, taking
care to keep in the shadows of the trees on the lawn when the
moonlight shone out. When we got to the porch the Professor opened his
bag and took out a lot of things, which he laid on the step, sorting
them into four little groups, evidently one for each. Then he spoke:-
  "My friends, we are going into a terrible danger, and we need arms
of many kinds. Our enemy is not merely spiritual. Remember that he has
the strength of twenty men, and that, though our necks or our
windpipes are of the common kind- and therefore breakable or
crushable- his are not amenable to mere strength. A stronger man, or a
body of men more strong in all than him, can at certain times hold
him; but yet they cannot hurt him as we can be hurt by him. We must,
therefore, guard ourselves from his touch. Keep this near your heart"-
as he spoke he lifted a little silver crucifix and held it out to
me, I being nearest to him- "put these flowers round your neck"-
here he handed to me a wreath of withered garlic blossoms- "for
other enemies more mundane, this revolver and this knife; and for
aid in all, these small electric lamps, which you can fasten to your
breast; and for all, and above all at the last, this, which we must
not desecrate needless." This was a portion of Sacred Wafer, which
he put in an envelope and handed to me. Each of the others was
similarly equipped. "Now," he said, "friend John, where are the
skeleton keys? If so that we can open the door, we need not break
house by the window, as before at Miss Lucy's."
  Dr. Seward tried one or two skeleton keys, his mechanical
dexterity as a surgeon standing him in good stead. Presently he got
one to suit; after a little play back and forward the bolt yielded,
and, with a rusty clang, shot back. We pressed on the door, the
rusty hinges creaked, and it slowly opened. It was startlingly like
the image conveyed to me in Dr. Seward's diary of the opening of
Miss Westenra's tomb; I fancy that the same idea seemed to strike
the others, for with one accord they shrank back. The Professor was
the first to move forward, and stepped into the open door.
  "In manus tuas, Domine!" he said, crossing himself as he passed over
the threshold. We closed the door behind us, lest when we should
have lit our lamps we should possibly attract attention from the road.
The Professor carefully tried the lock, lest we might not be able to
open it from within should we be in a hurry making our exit. Then we
all lit our lamps and proceeded on our search.
  The light from the tiny lamps fell in all sorts of odd forms, as the
rays crossed each other, or the opacity of our bodies threw great
shadows. I could not for my life get away from the feeling that
there was some one else amongst us. I suppose it was the recollection,
so powerfully brought home to me by the grim surroundings, of that
terrible experience in Transylvania. I think the feeling was common to
us all, for I noticed that the others kept looking over their
shoulders at every sound and every new shadow, just as I felt myself
doing.
  The whole place was thick with dust. The floor was seemingly
inches deep, except where there were recent footsteps, in which on
holding down my lamp I could see marks of hobnails where the dust
was cracked. The walls were fluffy and heavy with dust, and in the
corners were masses of spider's webs, whereon the dust had gathered
till they looked like old tattered rags as the weight had torn them
partly down. On a table in the hall was a great bunch of keys, with
a time-yellowed label on each. They had been used several times, for
on the table were several similar rents in the blanket of dust,
similar to that exposed when the Professor lifted them. He turned to
me and said:-
  "You know this place, Jonathan. You have copied maps of it, and
you know it at least more than we do. Which is the way to the chapel?"
I had an idea of its direction, though on my former visit I had not
been able to get admission to it; so I led the way, and after a few
wrong turnings found myself opposite a low, arched oaken door,
ribbed with iron bands. "This is the spot," said the Professor as he
turned his lamp on a small map of the house, copied from the file of
my original correspondence regarding the purchase. With a little
trouble we found the key on the bunch and opened the door. We were
prepared for some unpleasantness, for as we were opening the door a
faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale through the gaps, but none of
us even expected such an odour as we encountered. None of the others
had met the Count at all at close quarters, and when I had seen him he
was either in the fasting stage of his existence in his rooms or, when
he was gloated with fresh blood, in a ruined building open to the air;
but here the place was small and close, and the long disuse had made
the air stagnant and foul. There was an earthy smell, as of some dry
miasma, which came through the fouler air. But as to the odour itself,
now shall I describe it? It was not alone that it was composed of
all the ills of mortality and with the pungent, acrid smell of
blood, but it seemed as though corruption had become itself corrupt.
Faugh! it sickens me to think of it. Every breath exhaled by that
monster seemed to have clung to the place and intensified its
loathsomeness.
  Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought our
enterprise to an end; but this was no ordinary case, and the high
and terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a strength
which rose above merely physical considerations. After the involuntary
shrinking consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set
about our work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses.
  We made an accurate examination of the place, and Professor saying
as we began:-
  "The first thing is to see how many of the boxes are left; we must
then examine every hole and corner and cranny and see if we cannot get
some clue as to what has become of the rest." A glance was
sufficient to show how many remained, for the great earth chests
were bulky, and there was no mistaking them.
  There were only twenty-nine left out of the fifty! Once I got a
fright, for, seeing Lord Godalming suddenly turn and look out of the
vaulted door into the dark passage beyond, I looked too, and for an
instant my heart stood still. Somewhere, looking out from the
shadow, I seemed to see the high lights of the Count's evil face,
the ridge of the nose, the red eyes, the red lips, the awful pallor.
It was only for a moment, for, as Lord Godalming said, "I thought I
saw a face, but it was only the shadows," and resumed his inquiry, I
turned my lamp in the direction, and stepped into the passage. There
was no sign of any one; and as there were no corners, no doors, no
aperture of any kind, but only the solid walls of the passage, there
could be no hiding-place even for him. I took it that fear had
helped imagination, and said nothing.
  A few minutes later I saw Morris step suddenly back from a corner,
which he was examining. We all followed his movements with our eyes,
for undoubtedly some nervousness was growing on us, and we saw a whole
mass of phosphorescence, which twinkled like stars. We all
instinctively drew back. The whole place was becoming alive with rats.
  For a moment or two we stood appalled, all save Lord Godalming,
who was seemingly prepared for such an emergency. Rushing over to
the great iron-bound oaken door, which Dr. Seward had described from
the outside, and which I had seen myself, he turned the key in the
lock, drew the huge bolts, and swung the door open. Then, taking his
little silver whistle from his pocket, he blew a low, shrill call.
It was answered from behind Dr. Seward's house by the yelping of dogs,
and after about a minute three terriers came dashing round the
corner of the house. Unconsciously we had all moved towards the
door, and as we moved I noticed that the dust had been much disturbed:
the boxes which had been taken out had been brought this way. But even
in the minute that had elapsed the number of the rats had vastly
increased. They seemed to swarm over the place all at once, till the
lamplight, shining on their moving dark bodies and glittering, baleful
eyes, made the place look like a bank of earth set with fireflies. The
dogs dashed on, but at the threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and
then, simultaneously lifting their noses, began to howl in most
lugubrious fashion. The rats were multiplying in thousands, and we
moved out.
  Lord Godalming lifted one of the dogs, and carrying him in, placed
him on the floor. The instant his feet touched the ground he seemed to
recover his courage, and rushed at his natural enemies. They fled
before him so fast that before he had shaken the life out of a
score, the other dogs, who had by now been lifted in in the same
manner, had but small prey ere the whole mass had vanished.
  With their going it seemed as if some evil presence had departed,
for the dogs frisked about and barked merrily as they made sudden
darts at their prostrate foes, and turned them over and over and
tossed them in the air with vicious shakes. We all seemed to find
our spirits rise. Whether it was the purifying of the deadly
atmosphere by the opening of the chapel door, or the relief which we
experienced by finding ourselves in the open I know not; but most
certainly the shadow of dread seemed to slip from us like a robe,
and the occasion of our coming lost something of its grim
significance, though we did not slacken a whit in our resolution. We
closed the outer door and barred and locked it, and bringing the
dogs with us, began our search of the house. We found nothing
throughout except dust in extraordinary proportions, and all untouched
save for my own footsteps when I had made my first visit. Never once
did the dogs exhibit any symptom of uneasiness, and even when we
returned to the chapel they frisked about as though they had been
rabbit-hunting in a summer wood.
  The morning was quickening in the east when we emerged from the
front. Dr. Van Helsing had taken the key of the hall-door from the
bunch, and locked the door in orthodox fashion, putting the key into
his pocket when he had done.
  "So far," he said, "our night has been eminently successful. No harm
has come to us such as I feared might be and yet we have ascertained
how many boxes are missing. More than all do I rejoice that this,
our first- and perhaps our most difficult and dangerous- step has been
accomplished without the bringing thereinto our most sweet Madam
Mina or troubling her walking or sleeping thoughts with sights and
sounds and smells of horror which she might never forget. One
lesson, too, we have learned, if it be allowable to argue a
particulari: that the brute beasts which are to the Count's command
are yet themselves not amenable to his spiritual power; for look,
these rats that would come to his call, just as from his castle top he
summon the wolves to your going and to that poor mother's cry,
though they come to him, they run pell-mell from the so little dogs of
my friend Arthur. We have other matters before us, other dangers,
other fears; and that monster- he has not used his power over the
brute world for the only or the last time to-night. So be it that he
has gone elsewhere. Good! It has given us opportunity to cry 'check'
in some ways in this chess game, which we play for the stake of
human souls. And now let us go home. The dawn is close at hand, and we
have reason to be content with our first night's work. It may be
ordained that we have many nights and days to follow, if full of
peril; but we must go on, and from no danger shall we shrink."
  The house was silent when we got back, save for some poor creature
who was screaming away in one of the distant wards, and a low, moaning
sound from Renfield's room. The poor wretch was doubtless torturing
himself, after the manner of the insane, with needless thoughts of
pain.
  I came tiptoe into our own room, and found Mina asleep, breathing so
softly that I had to put my ear down to hear it. She looks paler
than usual. I hope the meeting to-night has not upset her. I am
truly thankful that she is to be left out of our future work, and even
of our deliberations. It is too great a strain for a woman to bear.
I did not think so at first, but I know better now. Therefore I am
glad that it is settled. There may be things which would frighten
her to hear; and yet to conceal them from her might be worse than to
tell her if once she suspected that there was any concealment.
Henceforth our work is to be a sealed book to her, till at least
such time as we can tell her that all is finished, and the earth
free from a monster of the nether world. I daresay it will be
difficult to begin to keep silence after such confidence as ours;
but I must be resolute, and to-morrow I shall keep dark over
to-night's doings, and shall refuse to speak of anything that has
happened. I rest on the sofa, so as not to disturb her.

  1 October, later.- I suppose it was natural that we should have
all overslept ourselves, for the day was a busy one, and the night had
no rest at all. Even Mina must have felt its exhaustion, for though
I slept till the sun was high, I was awake before her, and had to call
two or three times before she awoke. Indeed, she was so sound asleep
that for a few seconds she did not recognize me, but looked at me with
a sort of blank terror, as one looks who has been waked out of a bad
dream. She complained a little of being tired, and I let her rest till
later in the day. We now know of twenty one boxes having been removed,
and if it be that several were taken in any of these removals we may
be able to trace them all. Such will, of course, immensely simplify
our labour, and the sooner the matter is attended to the better. I
shall look up Thomas Snelling to-day.
 

                         Dr. Seward's Diary.

  1 October.- it was towards noon when I was awakened by the Professor
walking into my room. He was more jolly and cheerful than usual, and
it is quite evident that last night's work has helped to take some
of the brooding weight off his mind. After going over the adventure of
the night he suddenly said:-
  "Your patient interests me much. May it be that with you I visit him
this morning? Or if that you are too occupy, I can go alone if it
may be. It is a new experience to me to find a lunatic who talk
philosophy, and reason sound." I had some work to do which pressed, so
I told him that if he would go alone I would be glad, as then I should
not have to keep him waiting; so I called an attendant and gave him
the necessary instructions. Before the Professor left the room I
cautioned him against getting any false impression from my patient.
"But," he answered, "I want him to talk of himself and of his delusion
as to consuming live things. He said to Madam Mina, as I see in your
diary of yesterday, that he had once had such a belief. Why do you
smile, friend John?"
  "Excuse me," I said, "but the answer is here." I laid my hand on the
type-written matter. "When our sane and learned lunatic made that very
statement of how he used to consume life, his mouth was actually
nauseous with the flies and spiders which he had eaten just before
Mrs. Harker entered the room." Van Helsing smiled in turn. "Good!"
he said. "Your memory is true, friend John. I should have
remembered. And yet it is this very obliquity of thought and memory
which makes mental disease such a fascinating study. Perhaps I may
gain more knowledge out of the folly of this madman than I shall
from the teaching of the most wise. Who knows?" I went on with my
work, and before long was through that in hand. It seemed that the
time had been very short indeed, but there was Van Helsing back in the
study. "Do I interrupt?" he asked politely as he stood at the door.
  "Not at all," I answered. "Come in. My work is finished, and I am
free. I can go with you now, if you like"
  "It is needless; I have seen him!"
  "Well?"
  "I fear that he does not appraise me at much. Our interview was
short. When I entered his room he was sitting on a stool in the
centre, with his elbows on his knees, and his face was the picture
of sullen discontent. I spoke to him as cheerfully as I could, and
with such a measure of respect as I could assume. He made no reply
whatever. "Don't you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring:
"I know you well enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish
you would take yourself and your idiotic brain theories somewhere
else. Damn all thick-headed Dutchmen!" Not a word more would he say,
but sat in his implacable sullenness as indifferent to the as though I
had not been ill the room at all. Thus departed for this time my
chance of much learning from this so clever lunatic; so I shall go, if
I may, and cheer myself with a few happy words with that sweet soul
Madam Mina. Friend John, it does rejoice me unspeakable that she is no
more to be pained, no more to be worried, with our terrible things.
Though we shall much miss her help, it is better so."
  "I agree with you with all my heart," I answered earnestly, for I
did not want him to weaken in this matter, "Mrs. Harker is better
out of it. Things are quite bad enough for us, all men of the world,
and who have been in many tight places in our time; but it is no place
for a woman, and if she had remained in touch with the affair, it
would in time infallibly have wrecked her."
  So Van Helsing has gone to confer with Mrs. Harker and Harker;
Quincey and Art are all out following up the clues as to the
earth-boxes. I shall finish my round of work, and we shall meet
to-night.
 

                        Mina Harker's Journal.

  1 October.- it is strange to me to be kept in the dark as I am
to-day; after Jonathan's full confidence for so many years, to see him
manifestly avoid certain matters, and those the most vital of all.
This morning I slept late after the fatigues of yesterday, and
though Jonathan was late too, he was the earlier. He spoke to me
before he went out, never more sweetly or tenderly, but he never
mentioned a word of what had happened in the visit to the Count's
house. And yet he must have known how terribly anxious I was. Poor
dear fellow! I suppose it must have distressed him even more than it
did me. They all agreed that it was best that I should not be drawn
further into this awful work, and I acquiesced. But to think that he
keeps anything from me! And now I am crying like a silly fool, when
I know it comes from my husband's great love and from the good, good
wishes of those other strong men...
  That has done me good. Well, some day Jonathan will tell me all, and
lest it should ever be that he should think for a moment that I kept
anything from him, I still keep my journal as usual. Then if he has
feared of my trust I shall show it to him, with every thought of my
heart put down for his dear eyes to read. I feel strangely sad and
low-spirited to-day. I suppose it is the reaction from the terrible
excitement.
  Last night I went to bed when the men had gone, simply because
they told me to. I didn't feel sleepy, and I did feel full of
devouring anxiety. I kept thinking over everything that has been
ever since Jonathan came to see me in London, and it all seems like
a horrible tragedy, with fate pressing on relentlessly to some
destined end. Everything that one does seems, no matter how right it
may be, to bring on the very thing which is most to be deplored. If
I hadn't gone to Whitby, perhaps poor dear Lucy would be with us
now. She hadn't taken to visiting the churchyard till I came, and if
she hadn't come there in the day-time with me she wouldn't have walked
there in her sleep; and if she hadn't gone there at night and
asleep, that monster couldn't have destroyed her as he did. Oh, why
did I ever go to Whitby? There now, crying again! I wonder what has
come over me today. I must hide it from Jonathan, for if he knew
that I had been crying twice in one morning- I, who never cried on
my own account, and whom he has never caused to shed a tear- the
dear fellow would fret his heart out. I shall put a bold face on,
and if I do feel weepy, he shall never see it. I suppose it is one
of the lessons that we poor women have to learn...
  I can't quite remember how I fell asleep last night. I remember
hearing the sudden barking of the dogs and a lot of queer sounds, like
praying on a very tumultuous scale, from Mr. Renfield's room, which is
somewhere under this. And then there was silence over everything,
silence so profound that it startled me, and I got up and looked out
of the window. All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by
the moonlight seeming full of a silent mystery of their own. Not a
thing seemed to be stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death
or fate; so that a thin streak of white mist, that crept with almost
imperceptible slowness across the grass towards the house, seemed to
have a sentience and a vitality of its own. I think that the
digression of my thoughts must have done me good, for when I got
back to bed I found a lethargy creeping over me. I lay a while, but
could not quite sleep, so I got out and looked out of the window
again. The mist was spreading, and was now close up to the house, so
that I could see it lying thick against the wall, as though it were
stealing up to the windows. The poor man was more loud than ever,
and though I could not distinguish a word he said, I could in some way
recognise in his tones some passionate entreaty on his part. Then
there was the sound of a struggle, and I knew that the attendants were
dealing with him. I was so frightened that I crept into bed, and
pulled the clothes over my head, putting my fingers in my ears. I
was not then a bit sleepy, at least so I thought; but I must have
fallen asleep, for, except dreams, I do not remember anything until
the morning, when Jonathan woke me. I think that it took me an
effort and a little time to realise where I was, and that it was
Jonathan who was bending over me. My dream was very peculiar, and
was almost typical of the way that waking thoughts become merged in,
or continued in, dreams.
  I thought that I was asleep, and waiting for Jonathan to come
back. I was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act; my
feet, and my hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing
could proceed at the usual pace. And so I slept uneasily and
thought. Then it began to dawn upon me that the air was heavy, and
dank, and cold. I put back the clothes from my face, and found, to
my surprise, that all was dim around. The gas-light which I had left
lit for Jonathan, but turned down, came only like a tiny red spark
through the fog, which had evidently grown thicker and poured into the
room. There it occurred to me that I had shut the window before I
had come to bed. I would have got out to make certain on the point,
but some leaden lethargy seemed to chain my limbs and even my will.
I lay still and endured; that was all. I closed my eyes, but could
still see through my eyelids. (it is wonderful what tricks our
dreams play us, and how conveniently we can imagine.) The mist grew
thicker and thicker, and I could see now how it came in, for I could
see it like smoke- or with the white energy of boiling water-
pouring in, not through the window, but through the joinings of the
door. It got thicker and thicker, till it seemed as if it became
concentrated into a sort of pillar of cloud in the room, through the
top of which I could see the light of the gas shining like a red
eye. Things began to whirl through my brain just as the cloudy
column was now whirling in the room, and through it all came the
scriptural words "a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night."
Was it indeed some such spiritual guidance that was coming to me in my
sleep? But the pillar was composed of both the day and the
night-guiding, for the fire was in the red eye, which at the thought
got a new fascination for me; till, as I looked, the fire divided, and
seemed to shine on me through the fog like two red eyes, such as
Lucy told me of in her momentary mental wandering when, on the
cliff, the dying sunlight struck the windows of St. Mary's Church.
Suddenly the horror burst upon me that it was thus that Jonathan had
seen those awful women growing into reality throught the whirling mist
in the moonlight, and in my dream I must have fainted, for all
became black darkness. The last conscious effort which imagination
made was to show me a livid white face bending over me out of the
mist. I must be careful of such dreams, for they would unseat one's
reason if there were too much of them. I would get Dr. Van Helsing
or Dr. Seward to prescribe something for me which would make me sleep,
only that I fear to alarm them. Such a dream at the present time would
become woven into their fears for me. To-night I shall strive hard
to sleep naturally. If I do not, I shall to-morrow night get them to
give me a dose of chloral; that cannot hurt me for once, and it will
give me a good night's sleep. Last night tired me more than if I had
not slept at all.

  2 October 10 p.m.- Last night I slept, but did not dream, I must
have slept soundly, for I was not waked by Jonathan coming to bed; but
the sleep has not refreshed me, for to-day I feel terribly weak and
spiritless. I spent all yesterday trying to read, or lying down
dozing. In the afternoon Mr. Renfield asked if he might see me. Poor
man, he was very gentle, and when I came away he kissed my hand and
bade God bless me. Some way it affected me much; I am crying when I
think of him. This is a new weakness, of which I must be careful.
Jonathan would be miserable if he knew I had been crying. He and the
others were out until dinner-time, and they all came in tired. I did
what I could to brighten them up, and I suppose that the effort did me
good, for I forgot how tired I was. After dinner they sent me to
bed, and all went off to smoke together, as they said, but I knew that
they wanted to tell each other of what had occurred to each during the
day; I could see from Jonathan's manner that he had something
important to communicate. I was not so sleepy as I should have been;
so before they went I asked Dr. Seward to give me a little opiate of
some kind, as I had not slept well the night before. He very kindly
made me up a sleeping draught, which he gave to me, telling me that it
would do me no harm, as it was very mild... I have taken it, and am
waiting for sleep, which still keeps aloof. I hope I have not done
wrong, for as sleep begins to flirt with me, a new fear comes: that
I may have been foolish in thus depriving myself of the power of
waking. I might want it. Here comes sleep. Goodnight.
 

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