Dracula / Дракула. Брэм Стокер

rock, and by its light I saw around us a ring of wolves. In the grim silence, they were a hundred times more terrible than even when they howled. I was nearly paralysed by fear.

      The wolves began to howl at once as though the moonlight had had some strange effect on them. The horses jumped about and reared up, but the living ring of terror surrounded them on every side. I called the coachman, for it seemed to me that our only chance was to try to break out through the ring and to help his approach. I shouted and beat the side of the carriage. I hoped to scare the wolves from that side, so as to give him a chance to come to the carriage. Soon I heard his imperious command and saw him on the roadway. He moved his long arms, as though he was sweeping aside some invisible obstacle; the wolves fell back. Just then a heavy cloud passed across the face of the moon, and we were in darkness again.

      When I could see again, the driver was getting into the carriage, and the wolves had disappeared. This was all so strange and uncanny that a terrible fear came upon me, and I was afraid to speak or move. The time seemed endless as we swept on our way, now in almost complete darkness, for the clouds hid the moon. We continued to ascend, with occasional periods of quick descent. Suddenly, I felt that the driver was pulling up the horses, and I saw the courtyard of a big ruined castle. No light came from its tall black windows, and its broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky.

      Chapter II

JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL(continued)

      5 May. Evidently, I had been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully awake, I would have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place. In the darkness the courtyard looked very big, and several dark ways led from it under great round arches.

      When the carriage stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand to help me get off. Then he took out my bags and placed them on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and studded with large iron nails. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and took the reins; the horses started forward, and the carriage disappeared down one of the dark ways.

      I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. There was no sign of bell or knocker; it was not likely that my voice could be heard behind these thick walls and dark windows. The time I waited seemed endless, and doubts and fears filled me. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? What sort of grim adventure was awaiting me? Was this a usual 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, 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 was awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I expected that I would suddenly awake, and find myself at home, with the dawn light in the room. But my flesh answered the pinching test. 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 heavy steps behind the great door. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of massive bolts drawn back, and the great door opened.

      I saw a tall old man, clean shaven, with a long white moustache, and dressed in black from head to foot. He held in his hand an antique silver lamp, the flame from which threw long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the open door. The old man made a courtly inviting gesture with his right hand and said in excellent English, but with a strange intonation: “Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!” He did not move to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. But as I stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and grasped my hand with a strength that made me wince. His hand 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 like 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 I said interrogatively: “Count Dracula?” He bowed in a courtly way as he replied: “I am Dracula; and I welcome you, Mr. Harker, to my house. Come in.

      The night air is cold, and you must need to eat and rest.” As he was speaking, he stepped out and took my luggage. 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 luggage along the passage, and then up the stair, and along another great passage. At the end of it he opened a heavy door, and I saw a well-lit room in which a table was laid for supper, and a great fire of logs flamed in a great fireplace.

      The Count crossed the room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal room with a single lamp, and, as it seemed, without a window of any sort. When we passed through this, he opened another door, and invited me to enter. It was a welcome sight, for here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with another log fire. The Count himself left my luggage inside and said, before he closed the door and went out:

      “You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself. I hope 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 helped me reach my normal state. All my doubts and fears disappeared. I felt that I was very hungry. So I made a hasty toilet and went into the other room.

      My host stood there at the fireplace. He said: “Please, be seated and have supper. You will, I hope, excuse me that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not have supper.”

      I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted to me.

      He opened it and read it. Then, with a charming smile, he handed it to me to read. One part of it gave me pleasure.

      “I regret that I cannot come myself because of an attack of gout.But I am happy to say I can send an adequate substitute, one in whom I have every confidence. He is a young man, full of energy and talent. He is discreet and silent.He will be ready to serve you during his stay, and will take your instructions in all matters.”

      The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish where there was 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 about my journey, and I told him all I had experienced.

      When I finished my supper, my host offered me a cigar and we sat by the fire. He excused himself that he did not smoke. I had now an opportunity to see him properly, and found his appearance very remarkable.

      He had a very strong aquiline face, with high bridge of the thin nose and unusually arched nostrils, with high domed forehead. His hair grew thinly round the temples but thickly elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive and bushy, and almost met over the nose. The mouth was firm and rather cruel-looking, with very sharp white teeth; they protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed surprising 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.

      The backs of his hands seemed rather white and fine, but now I could see them properly in the firelight, and I noticed that they were rather coarse – broad, with short and thick fingers. Strange, there were hairs in the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and sharp-pointed. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not suppress a shudder. A horrible feeling of nausea came over me, perhaps, because his breath was foul. Evidently, the Count noticed it and sat down