5 May.- I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully
awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place.
In the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several
dark ways led from it under great round arches it perhaps seemed
bigger than it really is. I have not yet been able to see it by
daylight.
  When the caleche stopped the driver jumped down, and held out his
hand to assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his
prodigious strength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that
could have crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took out my traps,
and placed them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great
door, old and studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting
doorway of massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the
stone was massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by
time and weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat
and shook the reins; the horses started forward, and trap and all
disappeared down one of the dark openings.
  I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of
bell or knocker there was no sign; through these frowning walls and
dark window openings it was not likely that my voice could
penetrate. The time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and
fears crowding upon me. What sort of place had I come to, and among
what kind of people? What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had
embarked? Was this a customary incident in the life of a solicitor's
clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a
foreigner? Solicitor's clerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor,-
for just before leaving London I got word that my examination was
successful; and I am now a full-blown solicitor! I began to rub my
eyes and pinch myself to see if I were awake. It all seemed like a
horrible nightmare to me, and I expected that I should suddenly awake,
and find myself at home, with the dawn struggling in through the
windows, as I had now and again felt in the morning after a day of
overwork. But my flesh answered the pinching test, and my eyes were
not to be deceived. I was indeed awake and among the Carpathians.
All I could do now was to be patient, and to wait the coming of the
morning.
  Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step
approaching behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the
gleam of a coming light. Then there was the sound of rattling chains
and the clanking of massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with
the loud grating noise of long disuse, and the great door swung back.
  Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white
moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck
of colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver
lamp, in which the name burned without chimney or globe of any kind,
throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of
the open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand with a
courtly gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange
intonation:-
  "Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!" He made no
motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though
his gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however,
that I had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward,
and holding out his hand grasped mine with a strength which made me
wince, an effect which was not lessened by the fact that it seemed
as cold as ice- more like the hand of a dead than a living man.
Again he said:-
  "Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of
the happiness you bring!" The strength of the handshake was so much
akin to that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not
seen, that for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to
whom I was speaking; so to make sure, I said interrogatively:-
  "Count Dracula?" He bowed in a courtly way as he replied:-
  "I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my house.
Come in; the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest."
As he was speaking he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and
stepping out, took my luggage; he had carried it in before I could
forestall him. I protested but he insisted:-
  "Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are not
available. Let me see to your comfort myself." He insisted on carrying
my traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and
along another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rang
heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoiced
to see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for
supper, and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly
replenished, flamed and flared.
  The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and
crossing the room, opened another door, which led into a small
octagonal room lit by a single lamp, and seemingly without a window of
any sort. Passing through this, he opened another door, and motioned
me to enter. It was a welcome sight; for here was a great bedroom well
lighted and warmed with another log fire,- also added to but lately
for the top logs were fresh- which sent a hollow roar up the wide
chimney. The Count himself left my luggage inside and withdrew,
saying, before he closed the door:-
  "You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making
your toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready
come into the other room, where you will find your supper prepared."
  The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to
have dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normal
state, I discovered that I was half famished with hunger; so making
a hasty toilet, I went into the other room.
  I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of
the great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful
wave of his hand to the table, and said:-
  "I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust,
excuse me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do
not sup."
  I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to
me. He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a charming smile,
he handed it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a
thrill of pleasure:
  "I much regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a
constant sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for
some time to come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient
substitute, one in whom I have every possible confidence. He is a
young man, full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very
faithful disposition. He is discreet and silent, and has grown into
manhood in my service. He shall be ready to attend on you when you
will during his stay, and shall take your instructions in all
matters."
  The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and
I fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some
cheese and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which I had two
glasses, was my supper. During the time I was eating it the Count
asked me many questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees
all I had experienced.
  By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire had
drawn up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he
offered me, at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I
had now an opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very
marked physiognomy.
  His face was a strong- a very strong- aquiline, with high bridge
of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed
forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely
elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the
nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion.
The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was
fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth;
these protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed
astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest, his ears
were pale and at the tops extremely pointed; the chin was broad and
strong, and the cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of
extraordinary pallor.
  Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his
knees in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but
seeing them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were
rather coarse- broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were
hairs in the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut
to a sharp point. As the Count learned over me and his hands touched
me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath
was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do
what I would, I could not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it,
drew back; and with a grim sort of smile. which showed more than he
had yet done his protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his
own side of the fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I
looked towards the window I saw the first dim streak of the coming
dawn. There seemed a strange stillness over everything; but as I
listened I heard as if from down below in the valley the howling of
many wolves. The Count's eyes gleamed, and he said:-
  "Listen to them- the children of the night. What music they make!"
Seeing, I suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he
added:-
  "Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of
the hunter." Then he rose and said:-
  "But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and to-morrow you
shall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon;
so sleep well and dream well!" With a courteous bow, he opened for
me himself the door to the octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom...
  I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear, I think strange
things which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only
for the sake of those dear to me!

  7 May.- it is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed the
last twenty-four hours. I slept till late in the day, and awoke of
my own accord. When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we
had supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept
hot by the pot being placed on the hearth. There was a card on the
table, on which was written:-
  "I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me.- D." I set
to and enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell, so
that I might let the servants know I had finished; but I could not
find one. There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house,
considering the extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round
me. The table service is of gold, and so beautifully wrought that it
must be of immense value. The curtains and upholstery of the chairs
and sofas and the hangings of my bed are of the costliest and most
beautiful fabrics, and must have been of fabulous value when they were
made, for they are centuries old, though in excellent order. I saw
something like them in Hampton Court, but there they were worn and
frayed and moth-eaten. But still in none of the rooms in there a
mirror. There is not even a toilet glass on my table and I had to
get the little shaving glass from my bag before I could either shave
or brush my hair. I have not yet seen a servant anywhere, or heard a
sound near the castle except the howling of wolves. Some time after
I had finished my meal- I do not know whether to call it breakfast
or dinner, for it was between five and six o'clock when I had it- I
looked about for something to read, for I did not like to go about the
castle until I had asked the Count's permission. There was
absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper, or even writing
materials; so I opened another door in the room and found a sort of
library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found it locked.
  In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of
English books, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of
magazines and newspapers. A table in the centre was littered with
English magazines and newspapers, though none of them were of very
recent date. The books were of the most varied kind- history,
geography, politics, political economy, botany, geology, law- all
relating to England and English life and customs and manners. There
were even such books of reference as the London Directory, the "Red"
and "Blue" books, Whitaker's Almanac, the Army and Navy Lists, and- it
somehow gladdened my heart to see it- the Law List.
  Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the Count
entered. He saluted me in a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a
good night's rest. Then he went on:-
  "I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much
that will interest you. These companions"- and he laid his hand on
some of the books- "have been good friends to me, and for some years
past, ever since I had the idea of going to London, have given me
many, many hours of pleasure. Through them I have come to know your
great England; and to know her is to love her. I long to go through
the crowded streets of your mighty London, to be in the midst of the
whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its
death, and all that makes it what it is. But alas! as yet I only
know your tongue through books. To you, my friend, I look that I
know it to speak."
  "But, Count," I said, "you know and speak English thoroughly!" He
bowed gravely.
  "I thank you, my friend, for your all too flattering estimate, but
yet I fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel.
True, I know the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to
speak them."
  "Indeed," I said, "you speak excellently."
  "Not so," he answered. "Well I know that, did I move and speak in
your London, none there are who would not know me for a stranger. That
is not enough for me. Here I am noble; I am boyar; the common people
know me, and I am master. But a stranger in a strange land, he is no
one; men know him not- and to know not is to care not for. I am
content if I am like the rest, so that no man stops if he see me, or
pause in his speaking if he hear my words, 'Ha, ha! a stranger!' I
have been so long master that I would be master still- or at least
that none other should be master of me. You come to me not alone as
agent of my friend Peter Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my
new estate in London. You shall, I trust, rest here with me a while,
so that by our talking I may learn the English intonation; and I would
that you tell me when I make error, even of the smallest, in my
speaking. I am sorry that I had to be away so long to-day; but you
will, I know, forgive one who has so many important affairs in hand."
  Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I
might come into that room when I chose. He answered: "Yes, certainly,"
and added:-
  "You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the
doors are locked, where of course you will not wish to go. There is
reason that all things are as they are, and did you see with my eyes
and know with my knowledge, you would perhaps better understand." I
said I was sure of this, and then he went on:-
  "We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways
are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things. Nay,
from what you have told me of your experiences already, you know
something of what strange things there may be."
  This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he
wanted to talk, if only for talking's sake, I asked him many questions
regarding things that had already happened to me or come within my
notice. Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned the
conversation by pretending not to understand; but generally he
answered all I asked most frankly. Then as time went on, and I had got
somewhat bolder, I asked him of some of the strange things of the
preceding night, as, for instance, why the coachman went to the places
where he had seen the blue flames. He then explained to me that it was
commonly believed that on a certain night of the year- last night,
in fact, when all evil spirits are supposed to have unchecked sway-
a blue flame is seen over any place where treasure has been concealed.
"That treasure has been hidden," he went on, "in the region through
which you came last night, there can be but little doubt; for it was
the ground fought over for centuries by the Wallachian, the Saxon, and
the Turk. Why, there is hardly a foot of soil in all this region
that has not been enriched by the blood of men, patriots or
invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when the Austrian and
the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out to meet
them- men and women, the aged and the children too- and waited their
coming on the rocks above the passes, that they might sweep
destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader
was triumphant he found but little, for whatever there was had been
sheltered in the friendly soil."
  "But how," said I, "can it have remained so long undiscovered,
when there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to
look?" The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over his gums, the
long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered:-
  "Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those names
only appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land
will, if he can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even
if he did he would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant that you
tell me of who marked the place of the flame would not know where to
look in daylight even for his own work. Even you would not, I dare
be sworn, be able to find these places again?"
  "There you are right," I said. "I know no more than the dead where
even to look for them." Then we drifted into other matters.
  "Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which
you have procured for me." With an apology for my remissness, I went
into my own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing
them in order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room,
and as I passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and
the lamp lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps
were also lit in the study or library, and I found the Count lying
on the sofa, reading, of all things in the world, an English
Bradshaw's Guide. When I came in he cleared the books and papers
from the table; and with him I went into plans and deeds and figures
of all sorts. He was interested in everything, and asked me a myriad
questions about the place and its surroundings. He clearly had studied
beforehand all he could get on the subject of the neighborhood, for he
evidently at the end knew very much more than I did. When I remarked
this, he answered:-
  "Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go
there I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan- nay, pardon
me, I fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first-
my friend Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid
me. He will be in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of
the law with my other friend, Peter Hawkins. So!"
  We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate
at Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to
the necessary papers, and had written a letter with them ready to post
to Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a
place. I read to him the notes which I had made at the time, and which
I inscribe here:-
  "At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as
seemed to be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice
that the place was for sale. It is surrounded by a high wall, of
ancient structure, built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired
for a large number of years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and
iron, all eaten with rust.
  "The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old
Quatre Face, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal
points of the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite
surrounded by the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many
trees on it, which make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep,
dark-looking pond or small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the
water is clear and flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is
very large and of all periods back, I should say, to mediaeval
times, for one part is of stone immensely thick, with only a few
windows high up and heavily barred with iron. It looks like part of
a keep, and is close to an old chapel or church. I could not enter it,
as I had not the key of the door leading to it from the house, but I
have taken with my kodak views of it from various points. The house
has been added to, but in a very straggling way, and I can only
guess at the amount of ground it covers, which must be very great.
There are but few houses close at hand, one being a very large house
only recently added to and formed into a private lunatic asylum. It is
not, however, visible from the grounds."
  When I had finished, he said:-
  "I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and
to live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable
in a day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I
rejoice also that there is a chapel of old times. We Transylvanian
nobles love not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common
dead. I seek not gaiety nor mirth, not the bright voluptuousness of
much sunshine and sparkling waters which please the young and gay. I
am no longer young; and my heart, through weary years of mourning over
the dead, is not attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle
are broken; the shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through
the broken battlements and casements. I love the shade and the shadow,
and would be alone with my thoughts when I may." Somehow his words and
his look did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast of
face made his smile look malignant and saturnine.
  Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to put all my
papers together. He was some little time away, and I began to look
at some of the books around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened
naturally at England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at
it I found in certain places little rings marked, and on examining
these I noticed that one was near London on the east side,
manifestly where his new estate was situated; the other two were
Exeter, and Whitby on the Yorkshire coast.
  It was the better part of an hour when the Count returned. "Aha!" he
said; "still at your books? Good! But you must not work always.
Come; I am informed that your supper is ready." He took my arm, and we
went into the next room, where I found an excellent supper ready on
the table. The Count again excused himself, as he had dined out on his
being away from home. But he sat as on the previous night, and chatted
whilst I ate. After supper I smoked, as on the last evening, and the
Count stayed with me, chatting and asking questions on every
conceivable subject, hour after hour. I felt that it was getting
very late indeed, but I did not say anything, for I felt under
obligation to meet my host's wishes in every way. I was not sleepy
as the long sleep yesterday had fortified me; but I could not help
experiencing that chill which comes over one at the coming of the
dawn, which is like, in its way, the turn of the tide. They say that
people who are near death die generally at the change to the dawn or
at the turn of the tide; any one who has when tired, and tied as it
were to his post, experienced this change in the atmosphere can well
believe it. All at once we heard the crow of a cock coming up with
preternatural shrillness through the clear morning air, Count Dracula,
jumping to his feet, said:-
  "Why, there is the morning again! How remiss I am to let you stay up
so long. You must make your conversation regarding my dear new country
of England, less interesting, so that I may not forget how time
flies by us," and, with courtly bow, he quickly left me.
  I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was
little to notice; my window opened into the courtyard, all I could see
was the warm grey of quickening sky. So I pulled the curtains again,
and have written of this day.

  8 May.- I began to fear as I wrote in this book that I was getting
too diffuse; but now I am glad that I went into detail from the first,
for there is something so strange about this place and all in it
that I cannot but feel uneasy. I wish I were safe out of it, or that I
had never come. It may be that this strange night-existence is telling
on me; but would that that were all! If there were any one to talk
to I could bear it, but there is no one. I have only the Count to
speak with, and he!- I fear I am myself the only living soul within
the place. Let me be prosaic so far as facts can be; it will help me
to bear up, and imagination must not run riot with me. If it does I am
lost. Let me say at once how I stand- or seem to.
  I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I
could not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the
window, and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on
my shoulder, and heard the Count's voice saying to me, "Good-morning."
I started, for it amazed me that I had not seen him, since the
reflection of the glass covered the whole room behind me. In
starting I had cut myself slightly, but did not notice it at the
moment. Having answered the Count's salutation, I turned to the
glass again to see how I had been mistaken. This time there could be
no error, for the man was close to me, and I could see him over my
shoulder. But there was no reflection of him in the mirror! The
whole room behind me was displayed; but there was no sign of a man
in it, except myself. This was startling, and, coming on the top of so
many strange things, was beginning to increase that vague feeling of
uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near; but at the
instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood was
trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I did so
half round to look for some sticking plaster. When the Count saw my
face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demoniac fury, and he suddenly
made a grab at my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string
of beads which held the crucifix. It made an instant change in him,
for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was
ever there.
  "Take care," he said, "take care how you cut yourself. It is more
dangerous than you think in this country." Then seizing the shaving
glass, he went on: "And this is the wretched thing that has done the
mischief. It is a foul bauble of man's vanity. Away with it!" and
opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he
flung out the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the
stones of the courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It
is very annoying, for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my
watch-case or the bottom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of
metal.
  When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I
could not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone. It is
strange that as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink. He must be
a very peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little exploring in the
castle. I went out on the stairs and found a room looking towards
the South. The view was magnificent, and from where I stood there
was every opportunity of seeing it. The castle is on the very edge
of a terrible precipice. A stone falling from the window would fall
a thousand feet without touching anything! As far as the eye can reach
is a sea of green tree tops, with occasionally a deep rift where there
is a chasm. Here and there are silver threads where the rivers wind in
deep gorges through the forests.
  But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the
view I explored further, doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all
locked and bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle
walls is there an available exit.
  The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!
  back to 'Dracula'
previous - next

Hosting Provided By HORRORFIND.COM
To find out about advertising on the Horrorfind Network Click Here