Dracula. Bram StokerЧитать онлайн книгу.
in a strange land, he is no one; men know him not
and to know not is to care not for. I am content if I am like the
rest, so that no man stops if he see me, or pause in his speaking
if he hear my words, «Ha, ha! a stranger!» I have been so long
master that I would be master still or at least that none other
should be master of me. You come to me not alone as agent of
my friend Peter Hawkins, of Exeter, to tell me all about my new
2O Dracula
estate in London. You shall, I trust, rest here with me awhile, so
that by our talking I may learn the English intonation; and I
would that you tell me when I make error, even of the smallest,
in my speaking. I am sorry that I had to be away so long to-day;
but you will, I know, forgive one who has so many important
affairs in hand.»
Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if
I might come into that room when I chose. He answered: «Yes,
certainly,» and added:
«You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where
the doors are locked, where of course you will not wish to go.
There is reason that all things are as they are, and did you see
with my eyes and know with my knowledge, you would perhaps
better understand.» I said I was sure of this, and then he went
on:
«We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England.
Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many
strange things. Nay, from what you have told me of your ex-
periences already, you know something of what strange things
there may be.»
This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he
wanted to talk, if only for talking’s sake, I asked him many ques-
tions regarding things that had already happened to me or come
within my notice. Sometimes he sheered off the subject, or turned
the conversation by pretending not to understand; but generally
he answered all I asked most frankly. Then as time went on,
and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked him of some of the
strange things of the preceding night, as, for instance, why the
coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue flames.
He then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on
a certain night of the year last night, in fact, when all evil
spirits are supposed to have unchecked sway a blue flame is
seen over any place where treasure has been concealed. «That
treasure has been hidden,“ he went on, „in the region through
which you came last night, there can be but little doubt; for it
was the ground fought over for centuries by the Wallachian,
the Saxon, and the Turk. Why, there is hardly a foot of soil in
all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men,
patriots or invaders. In old days there were stirring times, when
the Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the
patriots went out to meet them men and women, the aged and
the children too and waited their coming on the rocks above
the passes, that they might sweep destruction on them with
Jonathan Marker’s Journal 21
their artificial avalanches. When the invader was triumphant he
found but little, for whatever there was had been sheltered in the
friendly soil.»
«But how,» said I, «can it have remained so long undis-
covered, when there is a sure index to it if men will but take the
trouble to look? "The Count smiled, and as his lips ran back over
his gums, the long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely;
he answered:
«Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those
flames only appear on one night; and on that night no man of
this land will, if he can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear
sir, even if he did he would not know what to do. Why, even the
peasant that you tell me of who marked the place of the flame
would not know where to look in daylight even for his own work.
Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to find these places
again?»
«There you are right,» I said. «I know no more than the dead
where even to look for them.» Then we drifted into other mat-
ters.
«Come, ' he said at last, «tell me of London and 01 the house
which you have procured for me.» With an apology for my re-
missness, I went into my own room to get the papers from my
bag. Whilst I was placing them in order I heard a rattling of
china and silver in the next room, and as I passed through, no-
ticed that the table had been, cleared and the lamp lit, for it was
by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also lit in the
study or library, and I found the Count lying on the sofa, read-
ing, of all things in the world, an English Bradshaw’s Guide.
When I came in he cleared the books and papers from the table;
and with him I went into plans and deeds and figures of all
sorts. He was interested in everything, and asked me a myriad
questions about the place and its surroundings. He clearly had
studied beforehand all he could get on the subject of the neigh-
bourhood, for he evidently at the end knew very much more than
I did. When I remarked this, he answered:
«Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When
I go there I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan
nay, pardon me, I fall into my country’s habit of putting your
patronymic first my friend Jonathan Harker will not be by
my side to correct and aid me. He will be in Exeter, miles away,
probably working at papers of the law with my other friend,
Peter Hawkins. So!»
We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the
22 Dracula
estate at Purfleet. When I had told