Dracula. Bram Stoker

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

      2O Dracula

      estate in London. You shall, I trust, rest here with me awhile, 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 ex-

      periences 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 ques-

      tions 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

      Jonathan Marker’s Journal 21

      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 undis-

      covered, 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

      flames 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 mat-

      ters.

      «Come, ' he said at last, «tell me of London and 01 the house

      which you have procured for me.» With an apology for my re-

      missness, 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, no-

      ticed 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, read-

      ing, 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 neigh-

      bourhood, 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

      22 Dracula

      estate at Purfleet. When I had told