_5 May._--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fullyawake I must have noticed the approach to such a remarkable place. Inthe gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as severaldark ways led from it under great round arches it perhaps seemedbigger than it really is. I have not yet been able to see it bydaylight.
When the caleche stopped the driver jumped down, and held out his handto assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigiousstrength. His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could havecrushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took out my traps, and placedthem on the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, oldand studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway ofmassive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stone wasmassively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time andweather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shookthe reins; the horses started forward, and trap and all disappeareddown one of the dark openings.
I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bellor knocker there was no sign; through these frowning walls and darkwindow openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate. Thetime I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding uponme. 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 thisa customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out toexplain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor'sclerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor,--for just before leavingLondon I got word that my examination was successful; and I am now afull-blown solicitor! I began to rub my eyes and pinch myself to seeif I were awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and Iexpected that I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home, withthe dawn struggling in through the windows, as I had now and againfelt in the morning after a day of overwork. But my flesh answered thepinching test, and my eyes were not to be deceived. I was indeed awakeand among the Carpathians. All I could do now was to be patient, and towait the coming of the morning.
Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approachingbehind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a cominglight. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking ofmassive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noiseof long disuse, and the great door swung back.
Within, stood a tall old man, clean-shaven save for a long whitemoustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speckof colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silverlamp, in which the flame burned without chimney or globe of any kind,throwing long, quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught ofthe open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand witha courtly gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strangeintonation:--
"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!" He made nomotion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though hisgesture of welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, thatI had stepped over the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, andholding 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 asice--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 ofthe happiness you bring!" The strength of the handshake was so muchakin to that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had notseen, that for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person towhom 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 wasspeaking 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. Iprotested but he insisted:--
"Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are notavailable. Let me see to your comfort myself." He insisted on carryingmy traps along the passage, and then up a great winding stair, andalong another great passage, on whose stone floor our steps rangheavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy door, and I rejoicedto see within a well-lit room in which a table was spread for supper,and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs flamed and flared.
The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door, and crossingthe room, opened another door, which led into a small octagonal roomlit 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 andwarmed with another log fire, which sent a hollow roar up the widechimney. 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 yourtoilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready comeinto the other room, where you will find your supper prepared."
The light and warmth and the Count's courteous welcome seemed to havedissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then reached my normalstate, I discovered that I was half-famished with hunger; so making ahasty toilet, I went into the other room.
I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one side of thegreat fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made a graceful wave ofhis 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 donot sup."
I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had entrusted tome. He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a charming smile, hehanded it to me to read. One passage of it, at least, gave me a thrillof pleasure:--
"I much regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am aconstant sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part forsome time to come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficientsubstitute, one in whom I have every possible confidence. He is a youngman, full of energy and talent in his own way, and of a very faithfuldisposition. He is discreet and silent, and has grown into manhood inmy service. He shall be ready to attend on you when you will during hisstay, and shall take your instructions in all matters."
The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a dish, and Ifell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This, with some cheeseand 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 memany questions as to my journey, and I told him by degrees all I hadexperienced.
By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host's desire haddrawn up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which heoffered me, at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. Ihad now an opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very markedphysiognomy.
His face was a strong--a very strong--aquiline, with high bridge of thethin 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 withbushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, sofar as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rathercruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded overthe lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality ina man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale and at the topsextremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firmthough thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.
Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his kneesin the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but seeingthem now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rathercoarse--broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairsin the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut toa sharp point. As the Count leaned over me a
nd his hands touched me,I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath wasrank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do whatI would, I could not conceal. The Count, evidently noticing it, drewback; and with a grim sort of smile, which showed more than he had yetdone his protuberant teeth, sat himself down again on his own side ofthe fireplace. We were both silent for a while; and as I looked towardsthe window I saw the first dim streak of the coming dawn. There seemeda strange stillness over everything; but as I listened I heard, as iffrom down below in the valley, the howling of many wolves. The Count'seyes 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, headded:--
"Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings ofthe hunter." Then he rose and said:--
"But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and to-morrow youshall sleep as late as you will. I have to be away till the afternoon;so sleep well and dream well!" and, with a courteous bow, he opened forme 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 thingswhich I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for thesake of those dear to me!
_7 May._--It is again early morning, but I have rested and enjoyed thelast twenty-four hours. I slept till late in the day, and awoke of myown accord. When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we hadsupped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot bythe pot being placed on the hearth. There was a card on the table, onwhich was written:--
"I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me.--D." So I set toand enjoyed a hearty meal. When I had done, I looked for a bell, sothat I might let the servants know I had finished; but I could not findone. There are certainly odd deficiencies in the house, consideringthe extraordinary evidences of wealth which are round me. The tableservice is of gold, and so beautifully wrought that it must be ofimmense value. The curtains and upholstery of the chairs and sofas andthe 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 arecenturies old, though in excellent order. I saw something like themin Hampton Court, but there they were worn and frayed and moth-eaten.But still in none of the rooms is there a mirror. There is not even atoilet glass on my table, and I had to get the little shaving glassfrom my bag before I could either shave or brush my hair. I have notyet seen a servant anywhere, or heard a sound near the castle exceptfor the howling of wolves. When I had finished my meal--I do not knowwhether to call it breakfast or dinner, for it was between five andsix o'clock when I had it--I looked about for something to read, forI did not like to go about the castle until I had asked the Count'spermission. There was absolutely nothing in the room, book, newspaper,or even writing materials; so I opened another door in the room andfound a sort of library. The door opposite mine I tried, but found itlocked.
In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of Englishbooks, whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines andnewspapers. A table in the centre was littered with English magazinesand newspapers, though none of them were of very recent date. The bookswere of the most varied kind--history, geography, politics, politicaleconomy, botany, geology, law--all relating to England and English lifeand customs and manners. There were even such books of reference as theLondon Directory, the "Red" and "Blue" books, Whitaker's Almanack, theArmy and Navy Lists, and--it somehow gladdened my heart to see it--theLaw List.
Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the Countentered. He saluted me in a hearty way, and hoped that I had had a goodnight's rest. Then he went on:--