Dracula. Bram Stoker

some cause or another, I had certainly been much upset.

      I must watch for proof. Of one thing I am glad: if it was that the

      Count carried me here and undressed me, he must have been

      hurried in his task, for my pockets are intact. I am sure this

      diary would have been a mystery to him which he would not

      have brooked. He would have taken or destroyed it. As I look

      round this room, although it has been to me so full of fear, it is

      now a sort of sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than

      those awful women, who were who are waiting to suck my

      blood.

      18 May. I have been down to look at that room again in

      daylight, for I must know the truth. When I got to the doorway

      at the top of the stairs I found it closed. It had been so forcibly

      driven against the jamb that part of the woodwork was splin-

      tered. I could see that the bolt of the lock had not been shot, but

      the door is fastened from the inside. I fear it was no dream, and

      must act on this surmise.

      ip May. I am surely in the toils. Last night the Count

      asked me in the suavest tones to write three letters, one saying

      that my work here was nearly done, and that I should start for

      home within a few days, another that I was starting on the

      next morning from the time of the letter, and the third that I

      had left the castle and arrived at Bistritz. I would fain have

      rebelled, but felt that in the present state of things it would

      be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I am so

      38

      Jonathan Marker’s Journal 39

      absolutely in his power; and to refuse would be to excite his sus-

      picion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much,

      and that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him; my only

      chance is to prolong my opportunities. Something may occur

      which will give me a chance to escape. I saw in his eyes something

      of that gathering wrath which was manifest when he hurled that

      fair woman from him. He explained to me that posts were few

      and uncertain, and that my writing now would ensure ease of

      mind to my friends; and he assured me with so much impressive-

      ness that he would countermand the later letters, which would

      be held over at Bistritz until due time in case chance would

      admit of my prolonging my stay, that to oppose him would have

      been to create new suspicion. I therefore pretended to fall in

      with his views, and asked him what dates I should put on the

      letters. He calculated a minute, and then said:

      «The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the

      third June 29.»

      I know now the span of my life. God help me!

      28 May. There is a chance of escape, or at any rate of being

      able to send word home. A band of Szgany have come to the

      castle, and are encamped in the courtyard. These Szgany are

      gipsies; I have notes of them in my book. They are peculiar to

      this part of the world, though allied to the ordinary gipsies all

      the world over. There are thousands of them in Hungary and

      Transylvania, who are almost outside all law. They attach them-

      selves as a rule to some great noble or boyar, and call themselves

      by his name. They are fearless and without religion, save super-

      stition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany

      tongue.

      I shall write some letters home, and shall try to get them to

      have them posted. I have already spoken them through my

      window to begin acquaintanceship. They took their hats off

      and made obeisance and many signs, which, however, I could

      not understand any more than I could their spoken language….

      I have written the letters. Mina’s is in shorthand, and I simply

      ask Mr. Hawkins to communicate with her. To her I have ex-

      plained my situation, but without the horrors which I may only

      surmise. It would shock and frighten her to death were I to ex-

      pose my heart to her. Should the letters not carry, then the

      Count shall not yet know my secret or the extent of my knowl-

      edge….

      40 Dracula

      I have given the letters; I threw them through the bars o!

      my window with a gold piece, and made what signs I could to

      have them posted. The man who took them pressed them to his

      heart and bowed, and then put them in his cap. I could do no

      more. I stole back to the study, and began to read. As the Count

      did not come in, I have written here….

      The Count has come. He sat down beside me, and said in his

      smoothest voice as he opened two letters:

      «The Szgany has given me these, of which, though I know not

      whence they come, I shall, of course, take care. See!» he must

      have looked at it «one is from you, and to my friend Peter

      Hawkins; the other» here he caught sight of the strange sym-

      bols as he opened the envelope, and the dark look came into his

      face, and his eyes blazed wickedly «the other is a vile thing,

      an outrage upon friendship and hospitality! It is not signed.

      Well! so it cannot matter to us.» And he calmly held letter and

      envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed.

      Then he went on:

      «The letter to Hawkins that I shall, of course, send on, since

      it is yours. Your letters are sacred to me. Your pardon, my friend,

      that unknowingly I did break the seal. Will you not cover it

      again? "He held out the letter to me, and with a courteous bow

      handed me a clean envelope. I could only redirect it and hand it

      to him in silence. When he went out of the room I could hear the

      key turn softly. A minute later I went over and tried it, and the

      door was locked.

      When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the

      room,