?Eva, you are an odd child,? said her mother ?Miss Ophelia has taught Topsy to read,? continued Eva ?Yes, and you see how much good it doesTopsy is the worst creature I ever saw!? ?Here?s poor Mammy!? said Eva?She does love the Bible so much, and wishes so she could read! And what will she do when I can?t read to her?? Marie was busy, turning over the contents of a drawer, as she answered, ?Well, of course, by and by, Eva, you will have other things to think of besides reading the Bible round to servantsNot but that is very proper; I?ve done it myself, when I had healthBut when you come to be dressing and going into company, you won?t have timeSee here!? she added, ?these jewels I?m going to give you when you come outI wore them to my first ballI can tell you, Eva, I made a sensation Eva took the jewel-case, and lifted from it a diamond necklaceHer large, thoughtful eyes rested on them, but it was plain her thoughts were elsewhere ?How sober you look child!? said Marie ?Are these worth a great deal of money, mamma?? ?To be sure, they areFather sent to France for themThey are worth a small fortune ?I wish I had them,? said Eva, ?to do what I pleased with!? ?What would you do with them?? ?I?d sell them, and buy a place in the free states, and take all our people there, and hire teachers, to teach them to read and write Eva was cut short by her mother?s laughing ?Set up a boarding-school! Wouldn?t you teach them to play on the piano, and paint on velvet?? ?I?d teach them to read their own Bible, and write their own letters, and read letters that are written to them,? said Eva, steadily?I know, mamma, it does come very hard on them that they can?t do these thingsTom feels it?Mammy does,?a great many of them do ?Come, come, Eva; you are only a child! You don?t know anything about these things,? said Marie; ?besides, your talking makes my head ache Marie always had a headache on hand for any conversation that did not exactly suit her Eva stole away; but after that, she assiduously gave Mammy reading lessons Chapter 23 Henrique About this time, StClare?s brother Alfred, with his eldest son, a boy of twelve, spent a day or two with the family at the lake No sight could be more singular and beautiful than that of these twin brothersNature, instead of instituting resemblances between them, had made them opposites on every point; yet a mysterious tie seemed to unite them in a closer friendship than ordinary They used to saunter, arm in arm, up and down the alleys and walks of the gardenAugustine, with his blue eyes and golden hair, his ethereally flexible form and vivacious features; and Alfred, dark-eyed, with haughty Roman profile, firmly-knit limbs, and decided bearingThey were always abusing each other?s opinions and practices, and yet never a whit the less absorbed in each other?s society; in fact, the very contrariety seemed to unite them, like the attraction between opposite poles of the magnet Henrique, the eldest son of Alfred, was a noble, dark-eyed, princely boy, full of vivacity and spirit; and, from the first moment of introduction, seemed to be perfectly fascinated by the spirituelle graces of his cousin Evangeline Eva had a little pet pony, of a snowy whitenessIt was easy as a cradle, and as gentle as its little mistress; and this pony was now brought up to the back verandah by Tom, while a little mulatto boy of about thirteen led along a small black Arabian, which had just been imported, at a great expense, for Henrique Henrique had a boy?s pride in his new possession; and, as he advanced and took the reins out of the hands of his little groom, he looked carefully over him, and his brow darkened ?What?s this, Dodo, you little lazy dog! you haven?t rubbed my horse down, this morning ?Yes, Mas?r,? said Dodo, submissively; ?he got that dust on his own self ?You rascal, shut your mouth!? said Henrique, violently raising his riding-whip?How dare you speak?? The boy was a handsome, bright-eyed mulatto, of just Henrique?s size, and his curling hair hung round a high, bold foreheadHe had white blood in his veins, as could be seen by the quick flush in his cheek, and the sparkle of his eye, as he eagerly tried to shop speak

There is no malign there, see, and so it make hard that I must kill her in her sleep This turned my blood cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I was accepting Van Helsing's theoriesBut if she were really dead, what was there of terror in the idea of killing her? He looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in my face, for he said almost joyously, "Ah, you believe now?" I answered, "Do not press me too hard all at onceI am willing to acceptHow will you do this bloody work?" "I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body It made me shudder to think of so mutilating the body of the woman whom I had lovedAnd yet the feeling was not so strong as I had expectedI was, in fact, beginning to shudder at the presence of this being, this UnDead, as Van Helsing called it, and to loathe itIs it possible that love is all subjective, or all objective? I waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he stood as if wrapped in thoughtPresently he closed the catch of his bag with a snap, and said, "I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is bestIf I did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this moment, what is to be doneBut there are other things to follow, and things that are thousand times more difficult in that them we do not knowShe have yet no life taken, though that is of time, and to act now would be to take danger from her foreverBut then we may have to want Arthur, and how shall we tell him of this? If you, who saw the wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw the wounds so similar on the child's at the hospital, if you, who saw the coffin empty last night and full today with a woman who have not change only to be more rose and more beautiful in a whole week, after she die, if you know of this and know of the white figure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, and yet of your own senses you did not believe, how then, can I expect Arthur, who know none of those things, to believe? "He doubted me when I took him from her kiss when she was dyingI know he has forgiven me because in some mistaken idea I have done things that prevent him say goodbye as he ought, and he may think that in some more mistaken idea this woman was buried alive, and that in most mistake of all we have killed herHe will then argue back that it is we, mistaken ones, that have killed her by our ideas, and so he will be much unhappy alwaysYet he never can be sure, and that is the worst of allAnd he will sometimes think that she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint his dreams with horrors of what she must have suffered, and again, he will think that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all, an UnDeadNo! I told him once, and since then I learn muchNow, since I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I know that he must pass through the bitter waters to reach the sweetHe, poor fellow, must have one hour that will make the very face of heaven grow black to him, then we can act for good all round and send him peaceYou return home for tonight to your asylum, and see that all be wellAs for me, I shall spend the night here in this churchyard in my own wayTomorrow night you will come to me to the Berkeley Hotel at ten of the clockI shall send for Arthur to come too, and also that so fine young man of America that gave his bloodLater we shall all have work to doI come with you so far as Piccadilly and there dine, for I must be back here before the sun set So we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of the churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to Piccadilly NOTE LEFT BY VAN HELSING IN HIS PORTMANTEAU, BERKELEY HOTEL DIRECTED TO JOHN SEWARD, M(Not Delivered) 27 September "Friend John, "I write this in case anything should happenI go alone to watch in that churchyardIt pleases me that the UnDead, Miss Lucy, shall not leave tonight, that so on the morrow night she may be more eagerTherefore I shall fix some things she like not, garlic and a crucifix, and so seal up the door of the tombShe is young as UnDead, and will heedMoreover, these are only to prevent her coming outThey may not prevail on her wanting to get in, for then the UnDead is desperate, and must find the line of least resistance, whatsoever it may beI shall be at hand all the night from sunset till after sunrise, and if there be aught that may be learned I shall learn itFor Miss Lucy or from her, I have no fear, but that other to whom is there that she is UnDead, he have not the power to seek her tomb and find shelterHe is cunning, as I know from MrJonathan and from the way that all along he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's life, and we lost, and in many ways the UnDead are shop strong

I was just in time to catch her as she fell forward in a faint CHAPTER 24 DRSEWARD'S PHONOGRAPH DIARY SPOKEN BY VAN HELSING This to Jonathan Harker You are to stay with your dear Madam MinaWe shall go to make our search, if I can call it so, for it is not search but knowing, and we seek confirmation onlyBut do you stay and take care of her todayThis is your best and most holiest officeThis day nothing can find him here Let me tell you that so you will know what we four know already, for I have tell themHe, our enemy, have gone awayHe have gone back to his Castle in TransylvaniaI know it so well, as if a great hand of fire wrote it on the wallHe have prepare for this in some way, and that last earth box was ready to ship somewheresFor this he took the moneyFor this he hurry at the last, lest we catch him before the sun go downIt was his last hope, save that he might hide in the tomb that he think poor Miss Lucy, being as he thought like him, keep open to himBut there was not of timeWhen that fail he make straight for his last resource, his last earth-work I might say did I wish double ententeHe is clever, oh so clever! He know that his game here was finishAnd so he decide he go back homeHe find ship going by the route he came, and he go in it We go off now to find what ship, and whither boundWhen we have discover that, we come back and tell you allThen we will comfort you and poor Madam Mina with new hopeFor it will be hope when you think it over, that all is not lostThis very creature that we pursue, he take hundreds of years to get so far as LondonAnd yet in one day, when we know of the disposal of him we drive him outHe is finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we doBut we are strong, each in our purpose, and we are all more strong togetherTake heart afresh, dear husband of Madam MinaThis battle is but begun and in the end we shall winSo sure as that God sits on high to watch over His childrenTherefore be of much comfort till we return JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL 4 October-When I read to Mina, Van Helsing's message in the phonograph, the poor girl brightened up considerablyAlready the certainty that the Count is out of the country has given her comfortAnd comfort is strength to herFor my own part, now that his horrible danger is not face to face with us, it seems almost impossible to believe in itEven my own terrible experiences in Castle Dracula seem like a long forgotten dreamHere in the crisp autumn air in the bright shop sunlight

?Yes, my feller-citizens and ladies of de other sex in general, I has principles,?I?m proud to ?oon ?em,?they ?s perquisite to dese yer times, and ter all timesI has principles, and I sticks to ?em like forty,?jest anything that I thinks is principle, I goes in to ?t;?I wouldn?t mind if dey burnt me ?live,?I?d walk right up to de stake, I would, and say, here I comes to shed my last blood fur my principles, fur my country, fur de gen?l interests of society ?Well,? said Aunt Chloe, ?one o? yer principles will have to be to get to bed some time tonight, and not be a keepin? everybody up till mornin?; now, every one of you young uns that don?t want to be cracked, had better be scase, mighty sudden ?Niggers! all on yer,? said Sam, waving his palm-leaf with benignity, ?I give yer my blessin?; go to bed now, and be good boys And, with this pathetic benediction, the assembly dispersed Chapter 9 In Which It Appears That a Senator Is But a Man The light of the cheerful fire shone on the rug and carpet of a cosey parlor, and glittered on the sides of the tea-cups and well-brightened tea-pot, as Senator Bird was drawing off his boots, preparatory to inserting his feet in a pair of new handsome slippers, which his wife had been working for him while away on his senatorial tourBird, looking the very picture of delight, was superintending the arrangements of the table, ever and anon mingling admonitory remarks to a number of frolicsome juveniles, who were effervescing in all those modes of untold gambol and mischief that have astonished mothers ever since the flood ?Tom, let the door-knob alone,?there?s a man! Mary! Mary! don?t pull the cat?s tail,?poor pussy! Jim, you mustn?t climb on that table,?no, no!?You don?t know, my dear, what a surprise it is to us all, to see you here tonight!? said she, at last, when she found a space to say something to her husband ?Yes, yes, I thought I?d just make a run down, spend the night, and have a little comfort at homeI?m tired to death, and my head aches!? MrsBird cast a glance at a camphor-bottle, which stood in the half-open closet, and appeared to meditate an approach to it, but her husband interposed ?No, no, Mary, no doctoring! a cup of your good hot tea, and some of our good home living, is what I wantIt?s a tiresome business, this legislating!? And the senator smiled, as if he rather liked the idea of considering himself a sacrifice to his country ?Well,? said his wife, after the business of the tea-table was getting rather slack, ?and what have they been doing in the Senate?? Now, it was a very unusual thing for gentle little MrsBird ever to trouble her head with what was going on in the house of the state, very wisely considering that she had enough to do to mind her ownBird, therefore, opened his eyes in surprise, and said, ?Not very much of importance ?Well; but is it true that they have been passing a law forbidding people to give meat and drink to those poor colored folks that come along? I heard they were talking of some such law, but I didn?t think any Christian legislature would pass it!? ?Why, Mary, you are getting to be a politician, all at once ?No, nonsense! I wouldn?t give a fip for all your politics, generally, but I think this is something downright cruel and unchristianI hope, my dear, no such law has been passed ?There has been a law passed forbidding people to help off the slaves that come over from Kentucky, my dear; so much of that thing has been done by these reckless Abolitionists, that our brethren in Kentucky are very strongly excited, and it seems necessary, and no more than Christian and kind, that something should be done by our state to quiet the excitement ?And what is the law? It don?t forbid us to shelter those poor creatures a night, does it, and to give ?em something comfortable to eat, and a few old clothes, and send them quietly about their business?? ?Why, yes, my dear; that would be aiding and abetting, you knowBird was a timid, blushing little woman, of about four feet in height, and with mild blue eyes, and a peach-blow complexion, and the gentlest, sweetest voice in the world;?as for courage, a moderate-sized cock-turkey had been known to put her to rout at the very first gobble, and a stout house-dog, of moderate capacity, would bring her into subjection merely by a show of his teethHer husband and children were her entire world, and in these she ruled more by entreaty and persuasion than by command or argumentThere was only one thing that was capable of arousing her, and that provocation came in on the side of her unusually gentle and sympathetic nature;?anything in the shape of cruelty would throw her into a passion, which was the more alarming and inexplicable in proportion to the general softness of her natureGenerally the most indulgent and easy to be entreated of all mothers, still her boys had a very reverent remembrance of a most vehement chastisement she once bestowed on them, because she found them leagued with several graceless boys of the neighborhood, stoning a defenceless kitten ?I?ll tell you what,? Master Bill used to say, ?I was scared that timeMother came at me so that I thought she was crazy, and I was whipped and tumbled off to bed, without any supper, before I could get over wondering what had come about; and, after that, I heard mother crying outside the door, which made me feel worse than all the restI?ll tell you what,? he?d say, ?we boys never stoned another kitten!? On the present occasion, MrsBird rose quickly, with very red cheeks, which quite improved her general appearance, and walked up to her husband, with quite a resolute air, and said, in a determined tone, ?Now, John, I want to know if you think such a law as that is right and Christian?? ?You won?t shoot me, now, Mary, if I say I do!? ?I never could have thought it of you, John; you didn?t vote for it?? ?Even so, my fair politician ?You ought to be ashamed, John! Poor, homeless, houseless creatures! It?s a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I?ll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance; and I hope I shall have a chance, I do! Things have got to a pretty pass, if a woman can?t give a warm supper and a bed to poor, starving creatures, just because they are slaves, and have been abused and oppressed all their lives, poor things!? ?But, Mary, just listen to meYour feelings are all quite right, dear, and interesting, and I love you for them; but, then, dear, we mustn?t suffer our feelings to run away with our judgment; you must consider it?s a matter of private feeling,?there are great public interests involved,?there is such a state of public agitation rising, that we must put aside our private feelings ?Now, John, I don?t know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow ?But in cases where your doing so would involve a great public evil?? ?Obeying God never brings on public evilsIt?s always safest, all round, to do as He bids us ?Now, listen to me, Mary, and I can state to you a very clear argument, to show?? ?O, nonsense, John! you can talk all night, but you wouldn?t do itI put it to you, John,?would you now turn away a poor, shivering, hungry creature from your door, because he was a runaway? Would you, now?? Now, if the truth must be told, our senator had the misfortune to be a man who had a particularly humane and accessible nature, and turning away anybody that was in trouble never had been his forte; and what was worse for him in this particular pinch of the argument was, that his wife knew it, and, of course was making an assault on rather an indefensible pointSo he had recourse to the usual means of gaining time for such cases made and provided; he said ?ahem,? and coughed several times, took out his pocket-handkerchief, and began to wipe his glassesBird, seeing the defenceless condition of the enemy?s territory, had no more conscience than to push her advantage ?I should like to see you doing that, John?I really should! Turning a woman out of doors in a snowstorm, for instance; or may be you?d take her up and put her in jail, wouldn?t you? You would make a great hand at that!? ?Of course, it would be a very painful duty,? began MrBird, in a moderate shop tone

Not an hour shall you wait in my house against your will, though sad am I at your going, and that you so suddenly desire itCome!" With a stately gravity, he, with the lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall"Hark!" Close at hand came the howling of many wolvesIt was almost as if the sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a great orchestra seems to leap under the baton of the conductorAfter a pause of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it open To my intense astonishment I saw that it was unlockedSuspiciously, I looked all round, but could see no key of any kind As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew louder and angrierTheir red jaws, with champing teeth, and their blunt-clawed feet as they leaped, came in through the opening doorI knew than that to struggle at the moment against the Count was uselessWith such allies as these at his command, I could do nothing But still the door continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body stood in the gapSuddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my doomI was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigationThere was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and as the last chance I cried out, "Shut the door! I shall wait till morning And I covered my face with my hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment With one sweep of his powerful arm, the Count threw the door shut, and the great bolts clanged and echoed through the hall as they shot back into their places In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went to my own roomThe last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand to me, with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of When I was in my room and about to lie down, I thought I heard a whispering at my doorI went to it softly and listenedUnless my ears deceived me, I heard the voice of the Count "Back! Back to your own place! Your time is not yet comeWait! Have patience! Tonight is mineTomorrow night is yours!" There was a low, sweet ripple of laughter, and in a rage I threw open the door, and saw without the three terrible women licking their lipsAs I appeared, they all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away I came back to my room and threw myself on my kneesIt is then so near the end? Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Lord, help me, and those to whom I am dear! 30 June-These may be the last words I ever write in this diaryI slept till just before the dawn, and when I woke threw myself on my knees, for I determined that if Death came he should find me ready At last I felt that subtle change in the air, and knew that the morning had comeThen came the welcome cockcrow, and I felt that I was safeWith a glad heart, I opened the door and ran down the hallI had seen that the door was unlocked, and now escape was before meWith hands that trembled with eagerness, I unhooked the chains and threw back the massive bolts But the door would not moveI pulled and pulled at the door, and shook it till, massive as it was, it rattled in its casementI could see the bolt shotIt had been locked after I left the Count Then a wild desire took me to obtain the key at any risk, and I determined then and there to scale the wall again, and gain the Count's shop room