Dracula - Chapter 18

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a LibriVox recording. All the LibriVox recordings are
in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Andrew Richards from
Futility Radio dot com. Dracula by Bram Stoker, Chapter eighteen.
Dr Seward's Diary, thirty September. I got home at five

(00:22):
o'clock and found that Godalming and Morris had not only arrived,
but had already studied the transcript of the various diaries
and letters which Harker had not yet returned from his
visit to the carrier's men, of whom doctor Hennessy had
written to me. Missus Harker gave us a cup of tea,
and I can honestly say that, for the first time
since I've lived in it, this old house seemed like home.

(00:42):
When we had finished tea, Missus Harker said, Doctor Seward,
may I ask a favor. I want to see your patient,
mister Renfield. Do let me see him. What you have
said of him in your diary interests me so much.
She looked so appealing and so pretty that I could
not refuse her. And there was no there, no possible
reason why I should, so I took her with me.

(01:03):
When I went into the room, I told the man
that a lady would like to see him, to which
he simply answered, why she's going through the house and
wants to see everyone in it. I said, oh, very well,
he said, let her come in by all means, but
just wait a minute till I tidy up the place.
His method of tidying was peculiar. He simply swallowed all

(01:24):
of the flies and spiders in the boxes before I
could stop him. It was quite evident that he feared
or was jealous of some interference. When he got through
his disgusting task, he said, cheerfully let the lady come in,
and sat down on the edge of his bed with
his head down, but with his eyelids raised so that
he could see her as she entered. For a moment,
I thought he might have some homicidal intent. I remembered

(01:46):
how quiet he had been just before he attacked me
in my own study, and I took care to stand
where I could seize him at once if he attempted
to make a spring at her. She came into the
room with an easy gracefulness which would at once command
the respect of any lunatic, for easiness is one of
the qualities mad people most respect. She walked over to him,
smiling pleasantly, and held out her hand. Good evening, Mister

(02:08):
Renfield said, she you see, I know you, for doctor
Seward has told me of you. He made no immediate reply,
but eyed her all over intently, with a set frown
on his face. This look gave a way to one
of wonder, which merged in doubt. Then, to my intense astonishment,
he said, you're not the girl that doctor wanted to marry,
are you? You can't be, you know, for she's dead.

(02:30):
Missus Harker smiled sweetly. She replied, oh no, I have
a husband of my own, to whom I was married
before I ever saw doctor Seward. Or he me I
and missus Harker, Then what are you doing here? My
husband and I are staying on a visit with doctor Seward.
Then don't stay. But why not? I thought that this
style of conversation might not be pleasant to missus Harker

(02:52):
any more than it was to me, so I joined in,
how did you know I wanted to marry any one?
His reply was simply contemptuous, given in a pause in
which he turned his eyes from missus Harker to me,
instantly turning them back again. What an asinine question. I
don't see that at all, mister Renfield, said missus Harker,
at once championing me. He replied to her with as

(03:16):
much courtesy and respect as he had shown contempt to me.
You will, of course understand, missus Harker, that when a
man is so loved and honored as our host is,
everything regarding him is of interest in our little community.
Doctor Seward is loved not only by his household and
his friends, but even by his patients, who, being some
of them hardly in mental equilibrium, are apt to distort

(03:37):
causes and effects. Since I myself have been an inmate
of a lunatic asylum, I cannot but notice that the
sophistic tendencies of some of his inmates leaned towards the
errors of non causer and ignoratio elench I positively opened
my eyes at this new development. Here was my own
pet lunatic, the most pronounced of his type that I
had ever met, with, talking elemental philosop and with the

(04:01):
manner of a polished gentleman. I wonder if it was
missus Harker's presence, which had touched some chord in his memory.
If this new phase was spontaneous or in any way
due to her unconscious influence, she must have some rare
gift or power. We continued to talk for some time,
and seeing that he was seemingly quite reasonable, she ventured
looking at me questioningly as she began to lead him

(04:21):
to his favorite topic. I was again astonished, for he
addressed himself to the question with the impartiality of the
completest sanity. He even took himself as an example when
he mentioned certain things. Why I myself am an instance
of a man who had a strange belief. Indeed, it
was no wonder that my friends were alarmed and insisted
on my being put under control. I used to fancy

(04:42):
that life was a positive and perpetual entity, and that
by consuming a multitude of living things, no matter how
low in the scale of creation, one might indefinitely prolong life.
At times I held the belief so strongly that I
had actually tried to take a human life. The doctor
here will bear me out that on one occasion I
tried to kill till him for the purpose of strengthening
my vital powers by the assimilation with my own body

(05:04):
of his life through the medium of his blood, relying
of course upon the scriptural phrase for the blood is
the life. Though indeed the vendor of a certain nostrum
has vulgarized the truism to the very point of contempt,
isn't that true? Doctor? I nodded assent, for I was
so amazed that I hardly knew what to either think
or say. It was hard to imagine that I had

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seen him eat up his spiders and flies not five
minutes before. Looking at my watch, I saw that I
should go to the station to meet Van Helsing, and
I told missus Harker that it was time to leave.
She came at once, after saying pleasantly to mister Renfield,
good bye, and I hope that I may see you
often under Auspice's pleasanter to yourself, to which, to my astonishment,

(05:45):
he replied, good bye, my dear. I pray God I
may never see your sweet face again. May He bless
and keep you. When I went to the station to
meet Van Helsing, I left the boys behind me. Poor
Art seemed more cheerful than he has been since Lucy
first took ill, and Quincey is more like his own
bright self than he has been for many a long day.
Van Helsing stepped from the carriage with the eager nimbleness

(06:06):
of a boy. He saw me at once and rushed
up to me, saying, Ah, friends, John, how goes all well?
So I have been busy, for I come here to
stay if need be. All affairs are settled with me,
and I have much to tell. Madam Mina is with you, yes,
and has so fine husband. And Arthur and my friend Quincey,
they are with you too good. As I drove to

(06:29):
the house, I told him of what had passed, and
of how my own diary had come to be of
some use through missus Harker's suggestion, at which the professor
interrupted me, Ah, that wonderful madam Mina. She has a
man's brain, a brain that a man should have were
he much gifted, and a woman's heart. The good God
fashioned her for a purpose. Believe me when he made

(06:50):
that so good combination, Friend John. Up to now, fortune
has made that woman of help to us after to night.
She must not have to do with this so terrible affair.
It is not good that she run a risk so
great we men are determined. Nay, are we not pledged
to destroy this monster? But it is no part for
a woman. Even if she be not harmed, her heart

(07:11):
may fail her in so much and so many horrors.
And hereafter she may suffer both in walking from her
nerves and in sleep from her dreams. And besides, she
is young woman, and not so long married. There may
be other things to think of some time. If not now,
you tell me she has wrote all, then she must
consult with us. But to morrow we say good bye

(07:31):
to this work, and we go alone. I agreed heartily
with him, and then I told him what we had
found in his absence, that the house which Dracula had
brought was the very next one to my own. He
was amazed, and a great concern seemed to come on him.
Oh that we had known it before, he said, for
then we might have reached him in time to save
poor Lucy. However, the milk that is spilt cries not

(07:54):
out afterwards, as you say, we shall not think of that,
but go on our way to the end. Then he
fell into silence that lasted till we entered my own gateway.
Before we went to prepare for dinner. He said to
missus Harker, I am told Madam Mina by my friend John,
that you and your husband have put up in exact
order all things that have been up to this moment.

(08:15):
Not up to this moment, Professor, she said, impulsively, but
up to this morning. But why not up to now?
We have seen hitherto how good light all the little
things have made. We have told our secrets, and yet
no one who has told is the worst for it.
Missus Harker began to blush, and taking a paper from
a pocket, she said, Doctor van helsing, will you read

(08:35):
this and tell me if it must go in? It
is my record of to day. I too have seen
the need of putting down at present everything, however trivial.
But there is little in this except what is personal.
Must it go in? The Professor read it over gravely,
and handed it back, saying it need not go in
if you do not wish it, But I pray that
it may. It can but make your husband love you

(08:56):
the more, and all us your friends more honor you,
as well as more as say dem and love. She
took it back with another blush and a bright smile,
And so now up to this very hour, all the
records we have are complete and in order. The Professor
took away one copy to study after dinner and before
our meeting, which is fixed for nine o'clock. The rest
of us have already read everything, so when we meet

(09:18):
in the study, we shall all be informed as to
facts and can arrange our plan of battle with this
terrible and mysterious enemy. Mina. Harker's Journal, thirtieth September. When
we met in doctor Seward's study two hours after dinner,
which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a
sort of board or committee. Professor van Helsing took the

(09:39):
head of the table, to which Doctor Seward motioned him.
As he came into the room, he made me sit
next to him on his right, and asked me to
act as secretary. Jonathan sat next to me. Opposite us
were Lord Godalming, Dr Seward, and mister Morris, Lord Godalming
being next the professor and Doctor Seward in the center.
The Professor said, I may I suppose take it that

(10:01):
we are all acquainted with the facts that are in
these papers. We all expressed assent, and he went on,
then it were I think good that I tell you
something of the kind of enemy with which we have
to deal. I shall then make known to you something
of the history of this man, which has been ascertained
for me, so we can then discuss how we shall
act and can take our measure according There are such

(10:21):
beings as vampires. Some of us have evidence that they exist.
Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience,
the teachings and the records of the past give proof
enough for sane people's I admit that at the first
I was skeptic. Were it not that through long years
I have trained myself to keep an open mind, I
could not have believed until such time as that fact

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thunder on my ear. See see I prove, I prove
alas had I known at first what now I know? Nay,
had I even guess at him? One so precious life
had been spared to many of us who did love her.
But that is gone, and we must so work that
other poor souls perish. Not whilst we can save the nosferatu.

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Do not die like the bee when he sting once
he is only stronger, and being stronger, have yet more
power to work evil. This vampire, which is amongst us
of himself is so strong in person as twenty men.
He is of cunning, more than mortal, for his cunning
be the growth of ages, and have still the aids
of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply the divination

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of the dead, and all the dead that he can
come nigh to are for him at command. He is brute,
and more than brute, he is devil in callous, and
the heart of him is not. He can within his
range direct the elements, the storm, the fog, the thunder.
He can command all the meaner things, the rat and
the owl, and the bat, the moth, and the fox

(11:50):
and the wolf. And he can grow and become small,
and he can at times vanish and come unknown. How
then are we to begin our strike to destroy him?
How shall we find his where? And having found it,
how can we destroy? My friends? This is much. It
is a terrible task that we undertake, and there may
be consequence to make the brave shudder. For if we

(12:12):
fail in this our fight, he must surely win. And
then where end we? Life is nothings. I heed him not,
But to fail here is not mere life or death.
It is that we become as him. That we, henceforward
become foul things of the night, like him, without heart
or conscience, preying on the bodies and the souls of

(12:32):
those we love best To us forever are the gates
of heaven shut? For who shall open them to us again?
We go on for all time, abhorred by all, a
blot on the face of God's sunshine, an arrow in
the side of him who died for man. But we
are face to face with duty, and in such case
we must shrink. For me, I say no, But then

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I am old and life, with his sunshine, his fair places,
his songs of birds, his music, and thea and his
love lie far behind you. Others are young, some have
seen sorrow, but there are fair days yet in store.
What say you? Whilst he was speaking, Jonathan had taken
my hand. I feared, oh so much that the appalling

(13:15):
nature of our danger was overcoming him when I saw
his hand stretch out. But it was life to me
to feel its touch, So strong, so self reliant, so resolute.
A brave man's hand can speak for itself. It does
not even need a woman's love to hear its music.
When the professor had done speaking, my husband looked into
my eyes, and I in his. There was no need

(13:36):
for speaking between us. I answer for Mina and myself,
he said, Count me in, Professor, said mister Quincey Morris, laconically,
as usual. I am with you, said Lord Godalming, for
Lucy's sake, if for no other reason, Doctor Seward simply nodded.
The Professor stood up, and, after laying his golden crucifix

(13:58):
on the table, held out his hand either side. I
took his right hand, and Lord Godalming his left. Jonathan
held my right with his left, and stretched across to
mister Morris. So as we all took hands, our solemn
compact was made. I felt my heart icy cold, but
it did not even occur to me to draw back.
We resumed our places, and Doctor van Helsing went on

(14:20):
with a sort of cheerfulness which showed that the serious
work had begun. It was to be taken as gravely
and in as businesslike a way as any other transaction
of life. Well, you know what we have to contend against.
But we too are not without strength. We have on
our side power of combination, a power denied to the
vampire kind. We have sources of science. We are free

(14:44):
to act and think, and the hours of the day
and the night are ours equally. In fact, so far
as our powers extend, they are unfettered, and we are
free to use them. We have self devotion in a cause,
and an end to achieve which is not a selfish one.
These things are much. Now, let us see how far
the general powers arrayed against us are restrict, and how

(15:06):
the individual cannot. In fine, let us consider the limitations
of the vampire in general, and this one in particular.
All we have to go upon are traditions and superstitions.
These do not at the first appear much when the
matter is one of life and death, nay of more
than life and death. Yet must we be satisfied, in

(15:27):
the first place because we have to be no other
means is at our control, and secondly, because after all
these things tradition and superstition are everything. Does not the
belief in vampires rest for others, though not alas for
us on them? A year ago? Which of us would
have received such a possibility. In the midst of our scientific,

(15:47):
skeptical matter of fact, nineteenth century we even scouted a
belief that we saw justified under our very eyes. Take it, then,
that the vampire, and the belief in his limitations and
his cure rest for the moment on some base. For
let me tell you he is known everywhere that men
have been, in Old Greece, in Old Rome, he flourish,

(16:09):
in Germany all over, in France, in India, even in
the Chermenees, and in China, so far from us. In
all ways there even is he, and the peoples for him.
At this day he have followed the wake of the Berserker, Icelander,
the devil begotten Hun, the slav, the Saxon, the Magyar.

(16:29):
So far then we have all we may act upon.
And let me tell you that very much of the
beliefs are justified by what we have seen in our
own so unhappy experience. The vampire live on and cannot
die by mere passing of the time. He can flourish
when that he can fatten on the blood of the living.
Even more, we have seen amongst us that he can

(16:51):
grow younger, that his vital faculties grow strenuous and seem
as though they refresh themselves when his special pabulum is plenty.
But he cannot flourish without this diet. He eat not
as others even friend Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks,
did never see him eat. Never he throws, no shadow,

(17:12):
he make in the mirror, no reflect As again Jonathan
observe he has the strength of many of his hand
Witness again Jonathan, when he shut the door against the wolves,
and when he help him from the diligence too, he
can transform himself to wolf, as we gather from the
ship arrival in Whitby. When he tear open the dog,
he can be as a bat, as Madam Mina saw

(17:34):
him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John
saw him fly from this so near house, and as
my friend Quincey saw him in the window of Miss Lucy.
He can come in mist which he create. That noble
ship's captain proved him of this. But from what we know,
the distance he can make this mist is limited, and
it can only be round himself. He come on moonlight,

(17:56):
rays as elemental dust, As again Jonathan saw those sisters
in the car of Dracula. He becomes so small we
ourselves saw Miss Lucy ere she was at peace, slip
through a hair breadth space at the tomb door. He can,
when once he finds his way, come out from anything
or into anything, no matter how close it be bound,
or even fused up with fire, soldier you call it.

(18:19):
He can see in the dark, no small power, this
in a world which is one half shut from the light. Ah.
But hear me through. He can do all these things.
Yet he is not free. Nay, he is even more
prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman
in his cell. He cannot go where he lists. He
who is not of nature, has yet to obey some

(18:41):
nature's laws. Why we know not. He may not enter
anywhere at the first unless there be some one of
the household who bid him to come. Though afterwards he
can come as he please. His power ceases, as does
that of all evil things, at the coming of the day.
Only at certain times can he have limited freedom. If
he be not at the place whither he is bound,

(19:03):
he can only change himself at noon or exact sunrise
or sunset. These things we are told, and in this
record of ours we have proof by inference. Thus, whereas
he can do as he will within his limit, when
he have his earth home, his coffin home, his hell home,
the place unhallowed, as we saw when he went to
the grave of the suicide at Whitby. Still at other

(19:26):
time he can only change when the time come. It
is said too that he can only pass running water
at the slack, or the flood of the tide. Then
there are things which so afflict him that he has
no power, as the garlic that we know of. And
as for things sacred, as this symbol, my crucifix that
was amongst us, even now, when we resolve to them,

(19:46):
he is nothing. But in their presence he take his
place far off and silent with respect. There are others too,
which I shall tell you of, lest in our seeking
we may need them. The branch of wild rose on
his coffin keep that he may not move from it.
A sacred bullet fired into the coffin kill him, so
that he be true dead. And as for the stake

(20:07):
through him, we know already of its peace, or the
cut off head that giveth rest. We have seen it
with our own eyes. Thus, when we find the habitation
of this man that was, we can confine him to
his coffin and destroy him if we obey what we know.
But he is clever. I have asked my friend Arminius
of Buda Pesth University to make his record, and from

(20:30):
all the means that are he tell me of what
he has been. He must indeed have been that virvoud
Dracula who won his name against the Turk over the
great River, on the very frontier of Turkey Land. If
it be so, then was he no common man, For
in that time and for centuries after he was spoken
of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well

(20:51):
as the bravest of the sons of the land beyond
the forest. That mighty brain and that iron resolution went
with him to his grave, and are even now against us.
The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race,
though now and again were scions who were held by
their covals to have had dealings with the evil one.

(21:11):
They learned his secrets in the Scholomans, amongst the mountains
over lake Hermannstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar,
as is due. In the records are such words as strogochica, witch, awe,
dog and pokol, Satan and hell. And in one manuscript
this very Dracula is spoken of as wampire, which we

(21:32):
all understand too well. There have been from the loins
of this very one. Great man, and good women, and
their graves make sacred the earth where alone this foulness
can dwell. For it is not the least of its terrors.
That this evil thing is rooted deep in all good,
in soil, barren of holy memories, it cannot rest. Whilst

(21:52):
they were talking, mister Morris was looking steadily at the window,
and he now got up quietly and went out of
the room. There was a little pause, and then the
professor went on, and now we must settle what we do.
We have here much data, and we must proceed to
lay out our campaign. We know from the inquiry of
Jonathan that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes

(22:14):
of earth, all of which were delivered at Carfax. We
also know that at least some of these boxes have
been removed. It seems to me that our first step
should be to ascertain whether all the rest remain in
the house beyond that wall where we look to day,
or whether any more have been removed. If the latter,
we must trace. Here we were interrupted in a very

(22:36):
startling way. Outside the house came the sound of a
pistol shot. The glass of the window was shattered with
a bullet, which, ricochetting from the top of the embrasure,
struck the far wall of the room. I am afraid,
I am at heart a coward, for I shrieked out.
The men all jumped to their feet. Lord Godalming flew
over to the window and threw up the sash. As
he did so, we heard mister Morris's voice without sorry.

(22:59):
I fear I have a armed you. I shall come
in and tell you about it. A minute later he
came in and said it was an idiotic thing of
me to do. And I ask your pardon, missus Harker,
most sincerely. I fear I must have frightened you terribly.
But the fact is that whilst the professor was talking,
there came a big bat and sat on the window sill.
I have got such a horror of the damned brutes

(23:21):
from recent events that I cannot stand them. And I
went out to have a shot, as I have been
doing late of evenings whenever I have seen one. He
used to laugh at me for it. Then, art did
you hit it? Asked Doctor van Helsing. I don't know.
I fancy not, for it flew away into the wood.
Without saying any more. He took his seat, and the
Professor began to resume his statement. We must trace each

(23:44):
of these boxes, and when we are ready, we must
either capture or kill this monster in his lair, or
we must, so to speak, sterilize the earth, so that
no more he can seek safely in it. Thus, in
the end we may find him in his form of man,
between the hours of noon and sunset, and so engage
with him when he is at his most weak. And

(24:04):
now for you, Madam Mina, this night is end until
all be well. You are too precious to us to
have such risk. When we part to night, you no
more must question. We are men and are able to bear.
But you must be our star and our hope, and
we shall act all the more free that you are
not in danger such as we are. All the men,

(24:26):
even Jonathan, seemed relieved. But it did not seem to
me good that they should brave danger and perhaps lessen
their safety strength being the best safety through care of me.
But their minds were made up, and though it was
a bitter pill for me to swallow, I could say
nothing save to accept their chivalrous care of me. Mister
Morris resumed the discussion as there is no time to lose.

(24:48):
I vote. We have a look at his house right now.
Time is everything with him, and swift action on our
part may save another victim. I own that my heart
began to fail me when the time for action came
so close, but I did not say anything, for I
had a greater fear that if I appeared as a
drag or a hindrance to their work, they might even
leave me out of their counsels altogether. They have now

(25:10):
gone off to Carfax with means to get into the
house man like they had told me to go to
bed and sleep, as if a woman can sleep when
those she loves are in danger, I shall lie down
and pretend to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about
me when he returns doctor Seward's diary. First of October
four a m. Just as we were about to leave

(25:32):
the house, an urgent message was brought to me from
Renfield to know if I would see him at once,
as he had something of the utmost importance to say
to me. I told the messenger to say that I
would attend to his wishes in the morning. I was busy.
Just at the moment the attendant added, he seems very importunate, Sir,
I have never seen him so eager. I don't know,
But what if you don't see him soon, he will

(25:53):
have one of his violent fits. I knew the man
would not have said this without some cause, so I said,
all right, I'll go now, and I asked the others
to wait a few minutes for me, as I had
to go and see my patient. Take me with you, friend, John,
said the professor. His case in your diary interest me much,
and it had bearing too now and again on our case.

(26:13):
I should much like to see him, and especial when
his mind is disturbed. May I come along, also asked
Lord Godalming, me too, said Quincy Morris. May I come,
said Harker. I nodded, and we all went down the
passage together. We found him in a state of considerable excitement,
but far more rational in his speech and manner than
I had ever seen him. There was an unusual understanding

(26:35):
of himself which was unlike anything I had ever seen
in a lunatic, and he took it for granted that
his reasons would prevail with others entirely sane. We all
five went into the room, but none of the others
at first said anything. His request was that I would
at once release him from the asylum and send him home.
This he backed up with arguments regarding his complete recovery

(26:56):
and adducing his own existing sanity. I appeal to your friends,
he said, they will perhaps not mind sitting in judgment
on my case. By the way, you have not introduced me.
I was so much astonished that the oddness of introducing
a madman in an asylum did not strike me at
the moment. And besides, there was a certain dignity in
the man's manner, so much of the habit of equality,

(27:17):
that I at once made the introduction, Lord Godalming, Professor
Van Helsing, mister Quincy Morris of Texas, mister Jonathan Harker,
mister Renfield. He shook hands with each of them, saying,
in turn, Lord Godalming, I had the honor of seconding
your father at the Windham. I grieve to know, by
your holding the title, that he is no more. He

(27:38):
was a man loved and honored by all who knew him,
and in his youth was I have heard the inventor
of a burnt rum punch, much patronized on Darby Knight.
Mister Morris, You should be proud of your great state.
Its reception into the Union was a precedent which may
have far reaching effects hereafter. When the Pole and the
Tropics may hold alliance for the stars and stripes, the

(27:59):
power of treaty may yet prove a vast engine of
enlargement when the Monroe doctrine takes its true place in
the political fable? What shall any man say of his
pleasure at meeting van Helsing, Sir, I make no apology
for dropping all forms of conventional prefix. When an individual
has revolutionized therapeutics by his discovery of the continuous evolution

(28:20):
of brain matter, conventional forms are unfitting, since they would
seem to limit him to one of a class. You, gentlemen,
who by nationality, by heredity, or by the possession of
natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective places in
the moving world. I take to witness that I am
sane as at least the majority of men who are
in full possession of their liberties. And I am sure

(28:41):
that you Doctor Seward, humanitarian and medico jurist as well
as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal
with me as one to be considered as under exceptional circumstances.
He made this last appeal with a courtly air of conviction,
which was not without its own charm. I think we
were all staff. For my own part, I was under

(29:02):
the conviction, despite my knowledge of the man's character and history,
that his reason had been restored, and I felt under
a strong impulse to tell him that I was satisfied
as to his sanity and would see about the necessary
formalities for his release in the morning. I thought it
better to wait, however, before making so grave a statement,
for of old I knew the sudden changes to which
this particular patient was liable, So I contented myself with

(29:25):
making a general statement that he appeared to be improving
very rapidly, that I would have a longer chat with
him in the morning, and would then see what I
could do in the direction of meeting his wishes. This
did not at all satisfy him, for he said quickly,
but I feared doctor Seward, that you hardly apprehend my wish.
I desire to go at once here now, this very hour,

(29:45):
this very moment, if I may time presses, and in
our implied agreement with the old scytheman, it is of
the essence of the contract. I am sure it is
only necessary to put before so admirable a practitioner as
doctor Seward, so simple yet so momentous a wish to
ensure its fulfillment. He looked at me keenly, and seeing
the negative in my face, turned to the others and

(30:06):
scrutinized them closely. Not meeting any sufficient response, he went on,
is it possible I have airred in my supposition? You have,
I said, frankly, but at the same time as I
felt brutally. There was a considerable pause, and then he said, slowly.
Then I suppose I must only shift my ground of request.

(30:27):
Let me ask for this concession, boon, privilege, whatever you will.
I am content to implore in such a case, not
on personal grounds, but for the sake of others. I
am not at liberty to give you the whole of
my reasons, but you may, I assure you take it
from me that they are good ones, unsound and unselfish,
and spring from the highest sense of duty. Could you look, sir,

(30:49):
into my heart, you would approve to the full the
sentiments which animate me. Nay more, you would count me
amongst the best and truest of your friends again, he
looked at us all keenly. I had a growing conviction
that this sudden change of his entire intellectual method was
but yet another phase of his madness, and so determined
to let him go on a little longer, knowing from

(31:10):
experience that he would, like all lunatics, give himself away.
In the end, Van Helsing was gazing at him with
a look of utmost intensity, his bushy eyebrows almost meeting
with the fixed concentration of his look. He said to
Renfield in a tone which did not surprise me at
the time, but only when I thought of it afterwards,
for it was as of one addressing an equal, Can
you not tell, frankly, your real reason for wishing to

(31:32):
be free? To night? I will undertake that if you
will satisfy even me, a stranger, without prejudice, and with
the habit of keeping an open mind, Doctor Seward will
give you, at his own risk and his own responsibility,
the privilege you seek. He shook his head sadly, and
with a look of poignant regret on his face. The
professor went on, Come, sir, bethink yourself. You claim the

(31:53):
privilege of reason in the highest degree. Since you seek
to impress us with your complete reasonableness, you do this
u sanity. We have reason to doubt, since you are
not yet released from medical treatment for this very defect.
If you will not help us in our effort to
choose the wisest course, how can we perform the duty
which you yourself put upon us. Be wise and help us,

(32:14):
and if we can, we shall aid you to achieve
your wish. He still shook his head as he said,
Doctor van Helsing, I have nothing to say. Your argument
is complete, and if I were free to speak, I
should not hesitate a moment. But I am not my
own master in the matter. I can only ask you
to trust me. If I am refused, the responsibility does
not rest with me. I thought it was now time

(32:36):
to end the scene, which was becoming too comically grave.
So I went towards the door, simply saying, come, my friends,
we have work to do. Good night. As however, I
got near the door, a new change came over the patient.
He moved towards me so quickly that for the moment
I feared he was about to make another homicidal attack.
My fears, however, were groundless, for he held up his

(32:58):
two hands imploringly, and made his petition in a moving manner.
As he saw that the very excess of his emotion
was mitigating against him by storing us more to our
old relations, he became still more demonstrative. I glanced at
Van Helsing and saw my conviction reflected in his eyes.
So it became a little more fixed in my manner,
if not more stern, and motioned to him that his

(33:19):
efforts were unavailing. I had previously seen something of the
same constantly growing excitement in him when he had to
make some request of which at the time he had
thought much, such for instance, as when he wanted a cat,
and I was prepared to see the collapse into the
same sullen acquiescence on this occasion, my expectation was not realized,
for when he found that his appeal would not be successful,

(33:40):
he got into quite a frantic condition. He threw himself
on to his knees and held up his hands, wringing
them in plaintive supplication, and poured forth a torrent of entreaty,
with the tears rolling down his cheeks and his whole
face and form expressive of the deepest emotion. Let me
entreat you, doctor Seward. Oh, let me implore you to
let me out of the house at once. Send me

(34:02):
away how you will and where you will. Send keepers
with me with whips and chains. Let them take me
in a strait waistcoat, manacled and leg ironed, even to jail.
But let me go out of this. You don't know
what you do by keeping me here. I'm speaking from
the depths of my heart, of my very soul. You
don't know whom you wrong or how, And I may

(34:22):
not tell. Woe is me. I may not tell. By
all you hold sacred, by all you hold dear, by
your love that is lost, by your hope that lives,
for the sake of the almighty. Take me out of
this and save my soul from guilt. Can't you hear me? Man?
Can't you understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know
that I am sane and earnest, now that I am
no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man

(34:45):
fighting for his soul. Oh hear me, hear me, Let
me go, Let me go, Let me go. I thought
that the longer this went on, the wilder he would get,
and so would bring on a fit. So I took
him by the hand and raised him up. Come, he
said sternly, no more of this. We have had quite
enough already. Get to your bed and try to behave

(35:05):
more discreetly. He suddenly stopped and looked at me intently
for several moments. Then, without a word, he rose, and,
moving over, sat down on the side of the bed.
The collapse had come, as on former occasions, just as
I had expected. When I was leaving the room last
of our party, he said to me, in a quiet,
well bred voice, you will, I trust, Doctor Seward, do

(35:28):
me the justice to bear in mind later on that
I did what I could to convince you to night.
End of chapter eighteen.