Dracula's Guest & Other Weird Tales - Dracula's Guest

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Dracula's Guest. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Robert White. Dracula's

(00:21):
Guest by Bram Stoker. When we started for our drive,
the sun was shining brightly on Munich, and the air
was full of the joyousness of early summer. Just as
we were about to depart, Herr. Delbrook, the Matre d'hotel
of the Catrasazon where I was staying, came down bare
headed to the carriage, and, after wishing me a pleasant drive,

(00:45):
said to the coachman, still holding his hand on the
handle of the carriage door, remember you are back by nightfall.
The sky looks bright, but there is a shiver in
the north wind that says there may be a sudden storm.
But I am sure you will not be late here.
He smiled, and added, for you know what night it is.

(01:08):
Johann answered with an emphatic yar mane hair, and touching
his hat, drove off quickly. When we had cleared the town,
I said, after signaling to him to stop. Tell me, Johann,
what is to night. He crossed himself as he answered laconically,
valpurgis Nacht. Then he took out his watch, a great

(01:30):
old fashioned German silver thing as big as a turnip,
and looked at it with his eyebrows gathered together and
a little impatient shrug of his shoulders. I realized that
this was his way of respectfully protesting against the unnecessary delay,
and sank back in the carriage, merely motioning him to proceed.
He started off rapidly, as if to make up for

(01:52):
lost time. Every now and then the horses seemed to
throw up their heads and sniff the air suspiciously. On
such occasions, often looked round in alarm. The road was
pretty bleak, for we were traversing a sort of high
windswept plateau. As we drove, I saw a road that
looked but little used, and which seemed to dip through

(02:14):
a little winding valley. It looked so inviting that, even
at the risk of offending him, I called Johann to stop,
and when he had pulled up, I told him I
would like to drive down that road. He made all
sorts of excuses and frequently crossed himself as he spoke.
This somewhat piqued my curiosity, so I asked him various questions.

(02:37):
He answered fencingly, and repeated looking at his watch in protest. Finally,
I said, well, Johann, I want to go down this road.
I shall not ask you to come unless you like,
But tell me why you do not like to go,
That is all I ask for answer he seemed to
throw himself off the box, so quickly did he reach

(02:58):
the ground. Then he wretched out his hands appealingly to
me and implored me not to go. There was just
enough of English mixed with the German for me to
understand the drift of his talk. He seemed always just
about to tell me something, the very idea of which
evidently frightened him. But each time he pulled himself up, saying,

(03:18):
as he crossed himself Valpurgisnacht. I tried to argue with him,
but it was difficult to argue with a man when
I did not know his language. The advantage certainly rested
with him, for although he began to speak in English
of a very crude and broken kind, he always got
excited and broke into his native tongue, And every time

(03:41):
he did so, he looked at his watch. Then the
horses became restless and sniffed the air. At this he
grew very pale, and looking around in a frightened way.
He suddenly jumped forward, took them by the bridles, and
led them on some twenty feet. I followed and asked
why he had done this. For answer, he crossed himself

(04:02):
and pointed to the spot we had left, and drew
his carriage in the direction of the other road, indicating
a cross, and said, first in German, then in English.
Buried him him what killed themselves? I remembered the old
custom of burying suicides at the cross roads. Ah, I
see a suicide. How interesting. But for the life of me,

(04:26):
I could not make out why the horses were frightened.
Whilst we were talking, we heard a sort of sound
between a yelp and a bark. It was far away,
but the horses got very restless, and it took Johan
all his time to quiet them. He was pale and said,
it sounds like a wolf. But yet there are no

(04:47):
wolves here now no, I said, questioning him, isn't it
long since the wolves were so near the city? Long long?
He answered, In the spring and summer but with the no,
the wolves have been here not so long. While he
was petting the horses and trying to quiet them, the
dark clouds drifted rapidly across the sky. The sunshine passed away,

(05:11):
and a breath of cold wind seemed to drift past us.
It was only a breath, however, and more in the
nature of a warning than a fact, for the sun
came out brightly again. Johann looked under his lifted hand
at the horizon and said, the storm of snow he
comes before long time. Then he looked at his watch
again and straightway, holding his reins firmly, for the horses

(05:34):
were still pouring the ground restlessly and shaking their heads.
He climbed to his box, as though the time had
come for proceeding on our journey. I felt a little obstinate,
and did not at once get into the carriage. Tell me,
I said, about this place where the road leads, and
I pointed down again. He crossed himself and mumbled a

(05:54):
prayer before he answered, it is unholy. What is unholy?
I inquired, the village? Then there is a village, No, no, No,
one lives there hundreds of years. My curiosity was piqued,
But you said there was a village, there was, where

(06:14):
is it now? Whereupon he burst out into a long
story in German and English, so mixed up that I
could not quite understand exactly what he said, but roughly
I gathered that long ago, hundreds of years, men had
died there and been buried in their graves, and sounds
were heard under the clay, and when the graves were opened,

(06:35):
men and women were found rosy with life, and their
mouths red with blood, and so in haste to save
their lives, ay, and their souls. And here he crossed himself.
Those who were left fled away to other places, where
the living lived and the dead were dead, and not
not something he was evidently afraid to speak the last words.

(06:59):
As he with his narration, he grew more and more excited.
It seemed as if imagination had got hold of him,
and he ended in a perfect paroxysm of fear, white faced, perspiring, trembling,
and looking round him, as if expecting that some dreadful
presence would manifest itself there in the bright sunshine on
the open plain. Finally, in an agony of desperation, he

(07:23):
cried Valpurgisnacht and pointed to the carriage for me to
get in. All my English blood rose at this, and
standing back, I said, you're afraid, Johann, you are afraid.
Go home. I shall return alone. The walk will do
me good. The carriage door was open. I took from

(07:43):
the seat my oak walking stick, which I always carry
on my holiday excursions, and closed the door, pointing back
to Munich, and said, go home, Johann. Valpurgisnacht doesn't concern Englishmen.
The horses were now more restive than ever, and Johann
was trying to hold them in, while excitedly imploring me
not to do anything so foolish. I pitied the poor fellow.

(08:07):
He was deeply in earnest, but all the same I
could not help laughing. His English was quite gone now.
In his anxiety, he had forgotten that his only means
of making me understand was to talk my language. So
he jabbered away in his native German. It began to
be a little tedious. After giving the direction home, I

(08:29):
turned to go down the cross road into the valley.
With a despairing gesture, Johann turned his horses towards Munich.
I leaned on my stick and looked after him. He
went slowly along the road for a while. Then there
came over the crest of the hill a man, tall
and thin, I could see so much in the distance.
When he drew near the horses, they began to jump

(08:50):
and kick about, then to scream with terror. Johann could
not hold them in. They bolted down the road, running
away madly. I watched them out of sight, then looked
for the stranger, but I found that he too was gone.
With a light heart, I turned down the side road
through the deepening valley to which Johann had objected. There

(09:14):
was not the slightest reason that I could see for
his objection, and I dare say I tramped for a
couple of hours without thinking of time or distance, and
certainly without seeing a person or a house. So far
as the place was concerned, it was desolation itself. But
I did not notice this particularly till on turning a
bend in the road, I came upon a scattered fringe

(09:35):
of wood. Then I recognized that I had been impressed
unconsciously by the desolation of the region through which I
had passed. I sat down to rest myself and began
to look round. It struck me that it was considerably
colder than it had been at the commencement of my walk.
A sort of sighing sound seemed to be around me

(09:56):
with now, and then high overhead, a sort of roar.
Looking upwards, I noticed that great, thick clouds were drifting
rapidly across the sky from north to south at a
great height. There were signs of coming storm in some
lofty stratum of the air. I was a little chilly, and,
thinking that it was the sitting still after the exercise

(10:18):
of walking, I resumed my journey. The ground I passed
over was now much more picturesque. There were no striking
objects that the eye might single out, but in all
there was a charm of beauty. I took little heed
of time, and it was only when the deepening twilight
forced itself upon me that I began to think of

(10:38):
how I should find my way home. The brightness of
the day had gone, the air was cold, and the
drifting of clouds high overhead was more marked. They were
accompanied by a sort of far away, rushing sound through
which seemed to come at intervals. That mysterious cry which
the driver had said came from a wolf. For a

(11:01):
while I hesitated. I had said I would see the
deserted village. So on I went, and presently came on
a wide stretch of open country, shut in by hills.
All around their sides were covered with trees which spread
down to the plain, dotting in clumps the gentler slopes
and hollows which showed here and there. I followed with

(11:24):
my eye the winding of the road, and saw that
it curved close to one of the densest of these clumps,
and was lost behind it. As I looked, there came
a cold shiver in the air, and the snow began
to fall. I thought of the miles and miles of
bleak country I had passed, and then hurried on to
seek the shelter of the wood in front. Darker and

(11:45):
darker grew the sky, and faster and heavier fell the snow,
till the earth before and around me was a glistening
white carpet, the further edge of which was lost in
misty vagueness. The road was here but crude, and when
on the l its boundaries were not so marked. And
when it passed through the cuttings and in a little
while I found that I must have strayed from it,

(12:08):
for I missed under foot the hard surface, and my
feet sank deeper in the grass and moss. Then the
wind grew stronger and blew with ever increasing force, till
I was fain to run before it. The air became
icy cold, and in spite of my exercise, I began
to suffer. The snow was now falling so thickly and

(12:28):
whirling around me in such rapid eddies that I could
hardly keep my eyes open. Every now and then the
heavens were torn asunder by vivid lightning, and in the
flashes I could see ahead of me a great mass
of trees, chiefly ew and cypress, all heavily coated with snow.
I was soon amongst the shelter of the trees, and there,

(12:50):
in comparative silence, I could hear the rush of the
wind high overhead. Presently, the blackness of the storm had
become merged in the darkness of the night. By and
by the storm seemed to be passing away. It now
only came in fierce puffs or blasts. At such moments,
the weird sound of the wolf appeared to be echoed
by many similar sounds around me. Now and again, through

(13:14):
the black mass of drifting cloud came a straggling ray
of moonlight, which lit up the expanse and showed me
that I was at the edge of a dense mass
of cypress and yew trees. As the snow had ceased
to fall, I walked out from the shelter and began
to investigate more closely. It appeared to me that among
so many old foundations as I had passed, there might

(13:36):
still be standing a house in which, though in ruins,
I could find some sort of shelter for a while.
As I skirted the edge of the copse, I found
that a low wall encircled it, and following this I
presently found an opening. Here the cypress formed an alley
leading up to a square mass of some kind of building.
Just as I caught sight of this, however, the drifting

(13:58):
clouds obscured the moon, and I passed up the path
in darkness. The wind must have grown colder, for I
felt myself shiver as I walked, but there was hope
of shelter, and I groped my way blindly. On I stopped,
for there was a sudden stillness the storm had passed, and,
perhaps in sympathy with nature's silence, my heart seemed to

(14:20):
cease to beat. But this was only momentarily, for suddenly
the moonlight broke through the clouds, showing me that I
was in a graveyard, and that the square object before
me was a great, massive tomb of marble, as white
as the snow that lay on and all around it.
With the moonlight, there came a fierce sigh of the storm,

(14:43):
which appeared to resume its course with a long, low
howl as of many dogs or wolves. I was awed
and shocked, and felt the cold perceptibly grow upon me,
till it seemed to grip me by the heart. Then,
while the flood of moonlight still fell on the marble tomb,
the storm gave further evidence of renewing, as though it

(15:03):
was returning on its track. Impelled by some sort of fascination,
I approached the sepulcher to see what it was and
why such a thing stood alone in such a place.
I walked around it and read over the Doric door.
In German, Countess Dolingen of Grat's in Sterea sought and
found death eighteen o one on the top of the tomb,

(15:27):
seemingly driven through the solid marble, for the structure was
composed of a few vast blocks of stone. Was a
great iron spike or stake. On going to the back,
I saw graven in great Russian letters, the dead travel fast.
There was something so weird and uncanny about the whole
thing that it gave me a turn and made me

(15:49):
feel quite faint. I began to wish for the first
time that I had taken Johann's advice. Here a thought
struck me, which came under almost mysterious circumstances, and with
a terrible shock. This was Valpurgus Knight. Valpurgus Knight, when,

(16:10):
according to the belief of millions of people, the devil
was abroad, when the graves were opened, and the dead
came forth and walked, when all evil things of earth
and air and water held revel this very place the
driver had specially shunned. This was the depopulated village of
centuries ago. This was where the suicide lay. And this

(16:33):
was the place where I was alone, unmanned, shivering with cold,
in a shroud of snow, with a wild storm gathering
again upon me. It took all my philosophy, all the religion.
I had been taught, all my courage not to collapse
in a paroxysm of fright. And now a perfect tornado

(16:54):
burst upon me. The ground shook as though thousands of
horses thundered across it, And this time the storm bore
on its icy wings not snow, but great hailstones, which
drove with such violence that they might have come from
the throngs of Bellairic singers. Hailstones that beat down leaf
and branch, and made the shelter of the cypresses of

(17:14):
no more avail than though their stems were standing corn.
At the first I had rushed to the nearest tree,
but I was soon fain to leave it and seek
the only spot that seemed to afford refuge, the deep
doric doorway of the marble tomb. There, crouching against the
massive bronze door, I gained a certain amount of protection

(17:35):
from the beating of the hailstones, for now they only
drove against me as they ricocheted from the ground and
the side of the marble. As I leaned against the door,
it moved slightly and opened inwards. The shelter of even
the tomb was welcome in that pitiless tempest, and I
was about to enter it when there came a flash

(17:55):
of forked lightning that lit up the whole expanse of
the heavens. In the instant as I am a living man,
I saw, as my eyes were turned into the darkness
of the tomb, a beautiful woman with rounded cheeks and
red lips, seemingly sleeping on a bear. As the thunder
broke overhead, I was grasped as by the hand of

(18:16):
a giant, and hurled out into the storm. The whole
thing was so sudden that before I could realize the
shock moral as well as physical, I found the heilstones
beating me down. At the same time, I had a strange,
dominating feeling that I was not alone. I looked towards
the tomb. Just then there came another blinding flash which

(18:39):
seemed to strike the iron stake that surmounted the tomb
and to pour through to the earth, blasting and crumbling
the marble as in a burst of flame. The dead
woman rose for a moment of agony while she was
lapped in the flame, and her bitter scream of pain
was drowned in the thunder crash. The last thing I
heard was this mingling of dreadful sound, as again I

(19:02):
was seized in the giant grasp and dragged away, while
the hailstones beat on me, and the air around seemed
reverberant with the howling of wolves. The last thing that
I remembered was a vague, white, moving mass, as if
all the graves around me had sent out the phantoms
of their sheeted dead, and that they were closing in
on me through the white cloudiness of the driving hail.

(19:26):
Gradually there came a sort of vague beginning of consciousness,
then a sense of weariness that was dreadful. For a
time I remembered nothing, but slowly my senses returned. My
feet seemed positively wracked with pain, yet I could not
move them. They seemed to be numbed. There was an
icy feeling at the back of my neck and all

(19:46):
down my spine and my ears, like my feet were
dead yet in torment. But there was in my breast
a sense of warmth which was by comparison delicious. It
was a nightmare, a physical knight, it may, if one
may use such an expression, for some heavy weight on
my chest made it difficult for me to breathe. This

(20:08):
period of semi lethargy seemed to remain a long time,
and as it faded away, I must have slept or swooned.
Then came a sort of loathing, like the first stage
of sea sickness, and a wild desire to be free
from something I knew, not what. A vast stillness enveloped me,
as though all the world were asleep or dead, only

(20:29):
broken by the low panting as of some animal close
to me. I felt a warm rasping at my throat.
Then came a consciousness of the awful truth, which chilled
me to the heart and sent the blood surging up
through my brain. Some great animal was lying on me
and now licking my throat. I feared to stir, but

(20:50):
some instinct of prudence bade me lie still. But the
brute seemed to realize that there was now some change
in me, for it raised its head. Through my eyelashes.
I saw above me the two great flaming eyes of
a gigantic wolf. Its sharp white teeth gleamed in the
gaping red mouth, and I could feel its hot breath,

(21:11):
fierce and acrid, upon me. For another spell of time,
I remembered no more. Then I became conscious of a
low growl, followed by a yelp, renewed again and again. Then,
seemingly very far away, I heard her, Halla, Halla, as
of many voices calling in unison. Cautiously, I raised my

(21:33):
head and looked in the direction whence the sound came,
but the cemetery blocked my view. The wolf still continued
to yelp in a strange way, and a red glare
began to move around the grove of cypresses, as though
following the sound. As the voices drew closer, the wolf
yelped faster and louder. I feared to make either sound

(21:54):
or motion. Nearer came the red glow over the white pall,
which stretched into the darkness around me. Then, all at once,
from beyond the trees, there came, at a trot a
troop of horsemen bearing torches. The wolf rose from my
breast and made for the cemetery. I saw one of
the horsemen, soldiers by their caps and long military cloaks,

(22:16):
raise his carbine and take aim. A companion knocked up
his arm, and I heard the ball whiz over my head.
He had evidently taken my body for that of the wolf.
Another sighted the animal as it slunk away, and a
shot followed. Then, at a gallop, the troop rode forward,
some towards me, others following the wolf as it disappeared

(22:37):
amongst the snow clad cypresses. As they drew nearer, I
tried to move, but was powerless, although I could see
and hear all that went on around me. Two or
three of the soldiers jumped from their horses and knelt
beside me. One of them raised my head and placed
his hand over my heart. Good news, comrades, he cried,

(22:58):
His heart still beats. Then some brandy was poured down
my throat. It put vigor into me, and I was
able to open my eyes fully and look around. Lights
and shadows were moving among the trees, and I heard
men call to one another. They drew together, uttering fright
and exclamations, and the lights flashed as the others came
pouring out of the cemetery, pell mell like men possessed.

(23:22):
When the further ones came close to us, those who
were around me asked them eagerly, well have you found him?
The reply rang out hurriedly, No, No, come away, quick quick,
This is no place to stay, and on this of
all nights. What is it? Was a question asked in
all manner of keys. The answer came variously and all indefinitely,

(23:44):
as though the men were moved by some common impulse
to speak, yet were restrained by some common fear from
giving their thoughts. It it indeed gibbered one whose wits
had plainly given out for the moment a wolf, and
yet not wolf. Another put in, shudderingly, no use trying
for him without the sacred bullet. A third remark, in

(24:06):
a more ordinary manner, serve us right for coming out
on this night. Truly we have earned our thousand marks.
Were the ejaculations of a fourth? There was blood on
the broken marble. Another said, after a pause, the lightning
never bought that there. And for him is he safe?
Look at his throat, see, comrades, the wolf has been
lying on him and keeping his blood warm. The officer

(24:29):
looked at my throat and replied, he is all right.
The skin is not pierced. What does it all mean?
We should never have found him but for the yelping
of the wolf. What came of it? Asked the man
who was holding up my head, and who seemed the
least panic stricken of the party, for his hands were
steady and without tremor. On his sleeve was the chevron

(24:52):
of a petty officer. It went to its home, answered
the man, whose long face was pallid, and who actually
shook with terror as he glanced around him fearfully. There
are graves enough there in which it may lie. Come, comrades,
come quickly, let us leave this cursed spot. The officer
raised me to a sitting posture as he uttered a

(25:14):
word of command. Then several men placed me upon a horse.
He sprang to the saddle behind me, took me in
his arms, gave the word to advance, and, turning our
faces away from the cypresses, we rode away in swift
military order. As yet my tongue refused its office, and
I was before silent. I must have fallen asleep, for

(25:36):
the next thing I remembered was finding myself standing up,
supported by a soldier on each side of me. It
was almost broad daylight, and to the north a red
streak of sunlight was reflected like a path of blood
over the waist of snow. The officer was telling the
men to say nothing of what they had seen, except

(25:57):
that they found an English stranger guarded by a large dog.
Dog that was no dog cut in the man who
had exhibited such fear, I think I know a wolf
when I see one, the young officer answered, calmly. I said,
dog dog, reiterated the other ironically. It was evident that

(26:17):
his courage was rising with the sun, and pointing to me,
he said, look at his throat. Is that the work
of a dog master. Instinctively I raised my hand to
my throat, and as I touched it, I cried out
in pain. The men crowded round to look, some stooping
down from their saddles, and again there came the calm
voice of the young officer, a dog, as I said,

(26:40):
If aught else was said, we should only be laughed at.
I was then mounted behind a trooper and we rode
on into the suburbs of Munich. Here we came across
a stray carriage into which I was lifted, and it
was driven off to the catrasson the young officer accompanying me,
whilst a trooper followed this horse, and the others rode

(27:01):
off to their barracks. When we arrived, her delbrook rushed
so quickly down the steps to meet me, that it
was apparent he had been watching within. Taking me by
both hands, he solicitously led me in. The officer saluted
me and was turning to withdraw when I recognized his
purpose and insisted that he should come to my rooms

(27:25):
over a glass of wine. I warmly thanked him and
his brave comrades for saving me. He replied simply that
he was more than glad, and that her Delbrook had
at first taken steps to make all the searching party please,
at which ambiguous utterance the matred' hootel smiled, while the
officer pleaded duty and withdrew. But her Delbrook, I inquired,

(27:47):
how and why was it that soldiers searched for me.
He shrugged his shoulders, as if in depreciation of his
own deed, as he replied, I was so fortunate as
to obtain leave from the commander of the regiment in
which I served to ask for volunteers. But how did
you know I was lost? I asked. The driver came
hither with the remains of his carriage, which had been

(28:10):
upset when the horses ran away. But surely you would
not send a search party of soldiers merely on his account.
Oh no, he answered, But even before the coachman arrived,
I had this telegram from the boyar whose guest you are.
And he took from his pocket a telegram which he
handed to me, and I read, Bistritz, be careful of

(28:33):
my guest. His safety is most precious to me. Should
aught happen to him, or if he be missed, spare
nothing to find him and insure his safety. He is
English and therefore adventurous. There are often dangers from snow
and wolves at night. Lose not a moment if you
suspect harm to him. I answer your zeal with my fortune, Dracula.

(28:59):
As I held the telegram in my hand, the room
seemed to whirl around me. And if the attentive Matre
d'hotel had not caught me, I think I should have fallen.
There was something so strange in all this, something so
weird and impossible to imagine, that there grew on me
a sense of my being in some way the sport
of opposite forces, the mere vague idea of which seemed

(29:21):
in a way to paralyze me. I was certainly under
some form of mysterious protection from a distant country had
come in the very nick of time, a message that
took me out of the danger of the snow sleep
and the jaws of the wolf. End of Dracula's Guest

(29:42):
Recording by Robert White,