CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Jonathan Harker's Journal

1 October, 5 am—Before heading for the Count's home, Van Helsing gave each of us equipment for the night: a cross, a gun, a knife, a lantern, and a piece of blessed bread from the church.

At the house, we managed to enter using one of Dr Seward's skeleton keys, which could open almost any old lock. Right away, as soon as I entered the old house, I was reminded of the castle in Transylvania. The place was terribly dirty, with very thick dust covering every inch of the floor. I brought out the map of the house, which, I had found in my office at Exeter, and searched for the prayer room. This, I guessed, was where the Count would keep his boxes, just as he had done in his castle.

On the table before us was a set of keys. Van Helsing picked them up and put them in his pocket for future use. Using the map, we found our way, after walking down several long and dark hallways, to what we believed was the door of the prayer room. Van Helsing brought out the keys and tried several before we suddenly heard the lock turn.

Inside, laid the boxes, just as I had thought. We could see, almost immediately, that not all fifty of them were there. In all, there were only twenty-nine. That meant that twenty-one of them were spread somewhere around the city, or possibly even further.

"Well," began Van Helsing, "we have found what we came for. And without a single difficulty! That's very encouraging, isn't it? However, we ought to learn more about the other boxes before we do anything to these. Let's go now. There will be many more opportunities for danger in the next few nights."

Upon returning to my bedroom, I found Mina sleeping deeply. Her skin seems whiter than usual. She is probably just upset about the danger I was facing tonight. I think it would be best not to tell her anything that we discover regarding the Count. From today, I shall keep such things from her until our dealings with that man are finished.

Dr Seward's Diary

1 October—This morning, when I was just finishing with work in my office, Van Helsing entered. He had just been to visit patient Renfield and informed me that the man seemed quite different from the night before. It seems that when the professor entered his room, the patient behaved extremely rude toward him.

"You're nothing but an old fool," he said to Van Helsing and then refused to speak any further.

The professor has now gone up to see the Harkers. Quincey and Arthur are out in the city searching for the Count's missing boxes. We are all gathering together tonight to plan the next step.

Mina Harker's Journal

1 October—I woke up quite late today. It was not until noon that I felt strong enough to climb out of bed. My sweet husband was there next to me, however, he would not tell me a word about what happened last night.

I hardly remember falling asleep. I do recall hearing dogs crying outside and that poor man, Renfield, praying very loudly in his room. Then his voice just suddenly stopped after a while and I could hear the sound of men trying to hold him down. It was very upsetting for me.

After that, I began to feel tired. I remember seeing a light fog coming into the room through the window, which was very strange, for I remembered having closed the window before getting into bed. I thought of getting up again to close it, but I felt that I had no strength suddenly. As I lay there, the fog grew thicker. The last thing I can recall was seeing something like two red eyes and a horrible white face coming toward me from out of the fog. It was truly a terrible dream.

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