beloved one, are now to me, flesh of my flesh, blood
of my blood, kin of my kin, my bountiful wine-press
for a while, and shall be later on my companion and
my helper. You shall be avenged in turn, for
not one of them but shall minister to your needs.
But as yet you are to be punished for what you have
done. You have aided in thwarting me. Now
you shall come to my call. When my brain says
“Come!” to you, you shall cross land or
sea to do my bidding. And to that end this!’
“With that he pulled open his shirt, and with
his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast.
When the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands
in one of his, holding them tight, and with the other
seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound, so
that I must either suffocate or swallow some to the
. . . Oh, my God! My God! What have
I done? What have I done to deserve such a fate,
I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness
all my days. God pity me! Look down on
a poor soul in worse than mortal peril. And in
mercy pity those to whom she is dear!” Then
she began to rub her lips as though to cleanse them
from pollution.
As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern
sky began to quicken, and everything became more and
more clear. Harker was still and quiet; but
over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came
a grey look which deepened and deepened in the morning
light, till when the first red streak of the coming
dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out against the
whitening hair.
We have arranged that one of us is to stay within
call of the unhappy pair till we can meet together
and arrange about taking action.
Of this I am sure. The sun rises today on no
more miserable house in all the great round of its
daily course.
CHAPTER 22
JONATHAN HARKER’S JOURNAL
3 October.—As I must do something or go
mad, I write this diary. It is now six o’clock,
and we are to meet in the study in half an hour and
take something to eat, for Dr. Van Helsing and Dr.
Seward are agreed that if we do not eat we cannot
work our best. Our best will be, God knows,
required today. I must keep writing at every
chance, for I dare not stop to think. All, big
and little, must go down. Perhaps at the end
the little things may teach us most. The teaching,
big or little, could not have landed Mina or me anywhere
worse than we are today. However, we must trust
and hope. Poor Mina told me just now, with the
tears running down her dear cheeks, that it is in
trouble and trial that our faith is tested. That
we must keep on trusting, and that God will aid us
up to the end. The end! Oh my God!
What end? . . . To work! To work!
When Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward had come back
from seeing poor Renfield, we went gravely into what
was to be done. First, Dr. Seward told us that
when he and Dr. Van Helsing had gone down to the room
below they had found Renfield lying on the floor, all
in a heap. His face was all bruised and crushed
in, and the bones of the neck were broken.
