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was made suspicious. It was Renfield himself, with many winks and grimaces and
pointings of his thumb, who notified me of the presence of this lookout as
soon as I came in through his window. Of course I was not required to pass
through Renfield's room at all after once gaining admission to the house, but
I had already begun to feel somewhat uneasy about Mina, lodged as she was in
rooms directly above that of this inhumanly powerful man who yearned to rape
and torture her. I thought I would try to soothe the lunatic with a few soft,
calming words, as from his lord and master.
But first of all there was the attendant in the hallway to be dealt with. It
was no great trick to send this sentry, who already nodded on its brink,
toppling safely into the abyss of sleep. I did it by creating a certain
electrical resonance between my brain and that of the subject, a means that
your science is now beginning to discover.
Then I put my hands on Renfield's shoulders and gave him a few soft words. He
took them rather sulkily, I thought. It was not peace and calm he wanted. But
I tried&
I left him quiet, if not pacified. Then, wraith-like, I went out of his room
and past the guard who nodded in his chair, and up the stairs again. Listening
outside the door of the Harkers' apartment, I could hear only one set of lungs
at work within Mina's, that I had already come to be able to recognize. And
there came also to my sensitive ears the soft, thick murmur of her heart, so
tender a pump that pushed such pure elixir through her veins. The fang roots
in my upper jaw were aching as I tapped lightly at her door. And at my tapping
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her breath inside, that had already been quick with anticipation, quickened
more&
If chastity can be defined as that which is protected by a chastity belt,
then Mina, like Lucy before her, was always chaste with me. But as I am
concerned to speak the truth I must relate that Mina gave herself to me as
fully as she could, as early as that night, our second meeting. Very little in
the way of making plans did we accomplish then, for ourselves even, let alone
for her husband's future welfare& ah, Mina! My true, enduring love! Dear one,
heart of my heart& Harker on his tardy return home to the asylum, that is on
that night of first October found Mina fast asleep, and thought her a little
too pale; her eyes look as though she has been crying. Poor dear, I've no
doubt it frets her to be kept in the dark, and it may make her doubly anxious
about me and the others. But& it is better to be disappointed and worried in
such a way now than to have her nerve broken. The doctors were quite right to
insist on her being kept out of this dreadful business& indeed, it may not be
a hard task after all, for she herself has become reticent on the subject, and
has not spoken of the count and his doings ever since we told her of our
decision.
The next day, October second, I rested, glassy-eyed, in trance. That day saw
Arthur and Quincey out looking at horses, with a view to purchasing some in
case any sort of cavalry action should be required; they were basically men of
action, chafed by Van Helsing's deviousness and delays. Harker continued his
interviews with teamsters, by which he was methodically tracking down my
boxes though of course he had not discovered that several of them no longer
contained their original soil. Seward had enough work of his own about the
asylum to keep him out of mischief; and one of the most advanced scientists of
his day was reportedly at the British Museum's reading room, "searching for
witch and demon cures" that he had told Seward "might be useful later." Mina
got some rest during the day, but the mental strain of her ambiguous new
position was affecting her, and Harker on rejoining her in the afternoon
thought she still looked wan.
She made a gallant effort to be bright and cheerful& it took all my courage
to hold to the wise resolution of keeping her out of our grim task. She seemed
somehow more reconciled; or else the very subject seems to have become
repugnant to her, for when any accidental allusion is made she actually
shudders&
He had just found my house in Piccadilly, ripe for plundering; but had to
record regretfully that he could not tell the other men of the day's great
discovery whilst his wife was hanging about.
So after dinner followed by a little music to save appearances even amongst
ourselves I took Mina to her room and left her to go to bed. The dear girl was
more affectionate with me than ever, and clung to me as though she would
detain me; but there was much to be talked of and I came away. Thank God, the
ceasing of telling things has made no difference between us.
So many a cuckolded husband has comforted himself, I should imagine, as his
last chance to retain first place in his girl's heart slips through his hands,
unnoticed by himself.
Now come we to a night that formed another major turning point for all of us.
When after dark I slipped into Renfield's room I found him seated moodily on a
stool in the middle of his small floor. All day he had evidently been
brooding, and had convinced himself that I had deliberately tricked and misled
him, promised him Mina and then snatched her away for my own enjoyment. He
looked sidelong at me as I came in and for the first time did not rush to fawn
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over me and protest his loyalty. His very stillness made me slow my passage
through his chamber and look at him well, and mark the cunning of violent
madness that gleamed so in his eyes.
He addressed me then in a most soft and beseeching voice, and wearing the
face of perfect sanity that he put on periodically in his discussions with
Seward and the rest; but Seward had never been taken in by this appearance,
and no more was I.
Renfield pressed me again to grant him Mina for his obscene delight, as if
she were some slave or chattel, whose favors and very flesh and blood were
mine to do with as I chose. When I would hear no more, and made to walk past
him in man-form to reach the door, he at last exploded in frustrated wrath.
"God! God! God!" he screamed. "Then I shall take her for myself. Twice before
I have escaped and fled to plead my cause with you; the next time I go
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