“Because it is a part of the terrible story,
a part of poor Lucy’s death and all that led
to it. Because in the struggle which we have
before us to rid the earth of this terrible monster
we must have all the knowledge and all the help which
we can get. I think that the cylinders which
you gave me contained more than you intended me to
know. But I can see that there are in your record
many lights to this dark mystery. You will let
me help, will you not? I know all up to a certain
point, and I see already, though your diary only took
me to 7 September, how poor Lucy was beset, and how
her terrible doom was being wrought out. Jonathan
and I have been working day and night since Professor
Van Helsing saw us. He is gone to Whitby to get
more information, and he will be here tomorrow to
help us. We need have no secrets amongst us.
Working together and with absolute trust, we can
surely be stronger than if some of us were in the dark.”
She looked at me so appealingly, and at the same time
manifested such courage and resolution in her bearing,
that I gave in at once to her wishes. “You
shall,” I said, “do as you like in the
matter. God forgive me if I do wrong!
There are terrible things yet to learn of, but if
you have so far traveled on the road to poor Lucy’s
death, you will not be content, I know, to remain
in the dark. Nay, the end, the very end, may
give you a gleam of peace. Come, there is dinner.
We must keep one another strong for what is before
us. We have a cruel and dreadful task.
When you have eaten you shall learn the rest, and
I shall answer any questions you ask, if there be anything
which you do not understand, though it was apparent
to us who were present.”
MINA HARKER’S JOURNAL
29 September.—After dinner I came with
Dr. Seward to his study. He brought back the
phonograph from my room, and I took a chair, and arranged
the phonograph so that I could touch it without getting
up, and showed me how to stop it in case I should
want to pause. Then he very thoughtfully took
a chair, with his back to me, so that I might be as
free as possible, and began to read. I put the
forked metal to my ears and listened.
When the terrible story of Lucy’s death, and
all that followed, was done, I lay back in my chair
powerless. Fortunately I am not of a fainting
disposition. When Dr. Seward saw me he jumped
up with a horrified exclamation, and hurriedly taking
a case bottle from the cupboard, gave me some brandy,
which in a few minutes somewhat restored me.
My brain was all in a whirl, and only that there came
through all the multitude of horrors, the holy ray
of light that my dear Lucy was at last at peace, I
do not think I could have borne it without making
a scene. It is all so wild and mysterious, and
strange that if I had not known Jonathan’s experience
in Transylvania I could not have believed. As
it was, I didn’t know what to believe, and so
got out of my difficulty by attending to something
else. I took the cover off my typewriter, and
said to Dr. Seward,
