Dracula. Bram Stoker
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draught of the open door. The old man motioned
me in with his right hand vith a courtly gesture, saying in excel-
lent English, but with a. strange intonation:
«Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!»*
He made no motion of stepping to meet me, but stood like a
statue, as though his gesture of welcome had fixed him into stone.
The instant, however, that I had stepped over the threshold,
he moved impulsively forward, and holding out his hand grasped
mine with a strength which made me wince,.an effect which was
not lessened by the fact. that it seemed as cold as ice more like
the hand of a dead than a living man. Again he said:
«Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave
something of the happiness you bring!» The strength of the
handshake was so much akin to that which I had noticed in the
driver, whose face I had not seen, that for a moment I doubted
if it were not the same person to whom I was speaking; so to
make sure, I said interrogatively:
«Count Dracula? "He bowed in a courtly way as he replied:
«I am Dracula; and I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker, to my
house. Come in; the night air is chill, and you must need to eat
and rest.» As he was speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on
the wall, and stepping out, took my luggage; he had carried it in
before I could forestall him. I protested but he insisted:
«Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are not
available. Let me see to your comfort myself.» He insisted on
carrying my traps along the passage, and then up a great wind-
16 Dracula
ing stair, and along another great passage, on whose stone floor
our steps rang heavily. At the end of this he threw open a heavy
door, and I rejoiced to see within a well-lit room in which a table
was spread for supper, and on whose mighty hearth a great fire
of logs, freshly replenished, flamed and flared.
The Count halted, putting down my bags, closed the door,
and crossing the room, opened another door, which led into a
small octagonal room lit by a single lamp, and seemingly with-
out a window of any sort. Passing through this, he opened an-
other door, and motioned me to enter. It was a welcome sight;
for here was a great bedroom well lighted and warmed with
another log fire, also added to but lately, for the top logs were
fresh which sent a hollow roar up the wide chimney. The Count
himself left my luggage inside and withdrew, saying, before he
closed the door:
«You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by
making your toilet. I trust you will find all you wish. When you
are ready, come into the other room, where you will find your
supper prepared.»
The light and warmth and the Count’s courteous welcome
seemed to have dissipated all my doubts and fears. Having then
reached my normal state, I discovered that I was half famished
with hunger; so making a hasty toilet, I went into the other room.
I found supper already laid out. My host, who stood on one
side of the great fireplace, leaning against the stonework, made
a graceful wave of his hand to the table, and said:
«I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I
trust, excuse me that I do not join you; but I have dined already,
and I do not sup.»
I handed to him the sealed letter which Mr. Hawkins had en-
trusted to me. He opened it and read it gravely; then, with a
charming smile, he handed it to me to read. One passage of it.
at least, gave me a thrill of pleasure.
«I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady 1
am a constant sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my
part for some time to come; but I am happy to say I can send a
sufficient substitute, one in whom I have every possible confi-
dence. He is a young man, full of energy and talent in his own
way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is discreet and silent,
and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall be ready to
attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take your
instructions in all matters.»
The Count himself came forward and took off the cover of a
Jonathan Harker’s Journal 17
dish, and I fell to at once on an excellent roast chicken. This,
with some cheese and a salad and a bottle of old Tokay, of which
I had two glasses, was my supper. During the time I was eating
it the Count asked me many questions as to my journey, and I
told him by degrees all I had experienced.
By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host’s de-
sire had drawn up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigaf
which he offered me, at the same time excusing himself that he
did not smoke. I had now an opportunity of observing him, and
found him of a very marked physiognomy.
His face was a strong a very strong aquiline, with high
Bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty
domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples
but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost
meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl
in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under
the heavy-jnDJUs^Ux^'^aj.^ecr’and ratheTTriiel-looking, with
peculiarly sharp ~^bffiL&&pEKese protnifer"over the lips,
whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a
man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops
extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the
cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of extraor-
dinary pallor.
Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on
his knees in the firelight, and they had seemed