28 May. There is a chance of escape, or at any rate of being
able to send word home. A band of Szgany have come to the
castle, and are encamped in the courtyard. These Szgany are
gipsies; I have notes of them in my book. They are peculiar to
this part of the world, though allied to the ordinary gipsies all
the world over. There are thousands of them in Hungary and
Transylvania, who are almost outside all law. They attach them-
selves as a rule to some great noble or boyar, and call themselves
by his name. They are fearless and without religion, save super-
stition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany
tongue.
I shall write some letters home, and shall try to get them to
have them posted. I have already spoken them through my
window to begin acquaintanceship. They took their hats off
and made obeisance and many signs, which, however, I could
not understand any more than I could their spoken language….
I have written the letters. Mina’s is in shorthand, and I simply
ask Mr. Hawkins to communicate with her. To her I have ex-
plained my situation, but without the horrors which I may only
surmise. It would shock and frighten her to death were I to ex-
pose my heart to her. Should the letters not carry, then the
Count shall not yet know my secret or the extent of my knowl-
edge….
40 Dracula
I have given the letters; I threw them through the bars o!
my window with a gold piece, and made what signs I could to
have them posted. The man who took them pressed them to his
heart and bowed, and then put them in his cap. I could do no
more. I stole back to the study, and began to read. As the Count
did not come in, I have written here….
The Count has come. He sat down beside me, and said in his
smoothest voice as he opened two letters:
«The Szgany has given me these, of which, though I know not
whence they come, I shall, of course, take care. See!» he must
have looked at it «one is from you, and to my friend Peter
Hawkins; the other» here he caught sight of the strange sym-
bols as he opened the envelope, and the dark look came into his
face, and his eyes blazed wickedly «the other is a vile thing,
an outrage upon friendship and hospitality! It is not signed.
Well! so it cannot matter to us.» And he calmly held letter and
envelope in the flame of the lamp till they were consumed.
Then he went on:
«The letter to Hawkins that I shall, of course, send on, since
it is yours. Your letters are sacred to me. Your pardon, my friend,
that unknowingly I did break the seal. Will you not cover it
again? "He held out the letter to me, and with a courteous bow
handed me a clean envelope. I could only redirect it and hand it
to him in silence. When he went out of the room I could hear the
key turn softly. A minute later I went over and tried it, and the
door was locked.
When, an hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the
room, his coming awakened me, for I had gone to sleep on the
sofa. He was very courteous and very cheery in his manner, and
seeing that I had been sleeping, he said:
«So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed. There is the surest
rest. I may not have the pleasure to talk to-night, since there are
many labours to me; but you will sleep, I pray.» I passed to my
room and went to bed, and, strange to say, slept without dream-
ing. Despair has its own calms.
31 May. This morning when I woke I thought I would pro-
vide myself with some paper and envelopes from my bag and
keep them in my pocket, so that I might write in case I should
get an opportunity, but again a surprise, again a shock!
Every scrap of paper was gone, and with it all my notes, my
memoranda, relating to railways and travel, my letter of credit,
Jonathan Harker’s Journal 41
in fact all that might be useful to me were I once outside the
castle. I sat and pondered awhile, and then some thought oc-
curred to me, and I made search of my portmanteau and in the
wardrobe where I had placed my clothes.
The suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my over-
coat and rug; I could find no trace of them anywhere. This
looked like some new scheme of villainy
17 June. This morning, as I was sitting on the edge of my
bed cudgelling my brains, I heard without a cracking of whips
and pounding and scraping of horses’ feet up the rocky path
beyond the courtyard. With joy I hurried to the window, and
saw drive into the yard two great leiter-wagons, each drawn by
eight sturdy horses, and at the head of each pair a Slovak, with
his wide hat, great nail-studded belt, dirty sheepskin, and high
boots. They had also their long staves in hand. I ran to the door,
intending to descend and try and join them through the main
hall, as I thought that way might be opened for them. Again a
shock: my door was fastened on the outside.
Then I ran to the window and cried to them. They looked
up at me stupidly and pointed, but just then the «hetman»
of the Szgany came out, and seeing them pointing to my window,
said something, at which they laughed. Henceforth no effort of
mine, no piteous cry or agonised entreaty, would make them
even look at me. They resolutely turned away. The leiter-wagons
contained great, square boxes, with handles of thick rope; these
were evidently empty by the ease with which the Slovaks handled
them, and by their resonance as they were roughly moved.
When they were all unloaded and packed in a great heap in one
corner of the yard, the Slovaks were given some money by the
Szgany, and spitting on it for luck, lazily went each to his
horse’s head. Shortly afterwards, I heard the cracking of their
whips die away in the distance.
24, June, before morning. Last night the Count left me early,
and locked himself into his own room. As soon as I dared I ran up
the winding stair, and looked out of the window, which opened
south. I thought I would watch for the Count, for there is some-
thing going on. The Szgany are quartered somewhere in the’castle
and are doing work of some kind. I know it, for now and then I
hear a far-away muffled sound as of mattock and spade, and,
whatever it is % it must be the end of some ruthless villainy.
42 Dracula
I had been at the window somewhat less than half an hour,
when I saw something coming out of the Count’s window. I
drew back and watched carefully, and saw the whole man
emerge. It was a new shock to me to find that he had on the
suit of clothes which I had worn whilst travelling here, and
slung over his shoulder the terrible bag which I had seen the
women take away. There could be no doubt as to his quest, and
’in my garb, too! This, then, is his new scheme of evil: that he
will allow others to see me, as they think, so that he may both
leave evidence that I have been seen in the towns or villages
posting my own letters, and that any wickedness which he may
do shall by the local people be attributed to me.
It makes me rage to think that this can go on, and whilst I
am shut up here, a veritable prisoner, but without that protec-
tion of the law which is even a criminal’s right and consolation.
I thought I would watch for the Count’s return, and for a
long time sat doggedly at the window. Then I began to notice
that there were some quaint little specks floating hi the rays of
the moonlight. They were like the tiniest grains of dust, and they
whirled round and gathered in clusters in a nebulous sort of way.
I watched them with a sense of soothing, and a sort of calm stole
over me. I leaned back in the embrasure in a more comfortable
position, so that I could enjoy more fully the aerial gambolling.
Something made me start up, a low, piteous howling of dogs
somewhere far below in the valley, which was hidden from my
sight. Louder it seemed to ring in my ears, and the floating motes
of dust to take new shapes to the sound as they danced in the