568 lines
32 KiB
Plaintext
568 lines
32 KiB
Plaintext
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DRACULA'S GUEST
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1914
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by
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Bram Stoker
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NOTE: DRACULA'S GUEST was excised from the original DRACULA
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MSS by his publisher because of the length of the orig-
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inal book MSS. It was published as a short story in
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1914, two years after Stoker's death. Enjoy!
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NEW WAVE PUBLISHERS
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2103 N. LIBERTY STREET
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PORTLAND OR 97217-4971
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(503) 286-5577
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When we started for our drive the sun was shining brightly
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on Munich, and the air was full of the joyousness of early
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summer. Just as we were about to depart, Herr Delbruck (the
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maitre d'hotel of the Quatre Saisons, where I was staying)
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came down bareheaded to the carriage and, after wishing me a
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pleasant drive, said to the coachman, still holding his hand
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on the handle of the carriage door, "Remember you are back by
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nightfall. The sky looks bright but there is a shiver in the
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north wind that says there may be a sudden storm. But I am
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sure you will not be late." Here he smiled and added,"for you
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know what night it is."
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Johann answered with an emphatic, "Ja, mein Herr," and,
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touching his hat, drove off quickly. When we had cleared the
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town, I said, after signalling to him to stop:
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"Tell me, Johann, what is tonight?"
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He crossed himself, as he answered laconically: "Walpurgis
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nacht." Then he took out his watch, a great, old-fashioned
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German silver thing as big as a turnip and looked at it, with
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his eyebrows gathered together and a little impatient shrug
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of his shoulders. I realized that this was his way of respect-
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fully protesting against the unnecessary delay and sank back
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in the carriage, merely motioning him to proceed. He started
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off rapidly, as if to make up for lost time. Every now and
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then the horses seemed to throw up their heads and sniff the
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air suspiciously. On such occasions I often looked round in
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alarm. The road was pretty bleak, for we were traversing a
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sort of high windswept plateau. As we drove,I saw a road that
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looked but little used and which seemed to dip through a lit-
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tle winding valley. It looked so inviting that, even at the
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risk of offending him, I called Johann to stop--and when he
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had pulled up, I told him I would like to drive down that
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road. He made all sorts of excuses and frequently crossed him-
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self as he spoke. This somewhat piqued my curiosity, so I ask-
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ed him various questions. He answered fencingly and repeatedly
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looked at his watch in protest.
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Finally I said, "Well, Johann, I want to go down this road.
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I shall not ask you to come unless you like; but tell me why
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you do not like to go, that is all I ask." For answer he seem-
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ed to throw himself off the box, so quickly did he reach the
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ground. Then he stretched out his hands appealingly to me and
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implored me not to go. There was just enough of English mixed
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with the German for me to understand the drift of his talk. He
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seemed always just about to tell me something--the very idea
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of which evidently frightened him; but each time he pulled him-
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self up saying, "Walpurgis nacht!"
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I tried to argue with him, but it was difficult to argue
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with a man when I did not know his language. The advantage
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certainly rested with him, for although he began to speak in
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English, of a very crude and broken kind, he always got ex-
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cited and broke into his native tongue--and every time he did
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so, he looked at his watch. Then the horses became restless
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and sniffed the air. At this he grew very pale, and, looking
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around in a frightened way, he suddenly jumped forward, took
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them by the bridles,and led them on some twenty feet. I foll-
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owed and asked why he had done this. For an answer he crossed
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himself, pointed to the spot we had left, and drew his carr-
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iage in the direction of the other road, indicating a cross,
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and said, first in German, then in English, "Buried him--him
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what killed themselves."
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I remembered the old custom of burying suicides at cross
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roads: "Ah! I see, a suicide. How interesting!" But for the
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life of me I could not make out why the horses were frighten-
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ed.
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Whilst we were talking, we heard a sort of sound between a
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yelp and a bark.It was far away; but the horses got very rest-
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less, and it took Johann all his time to quiet them. He was
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pale and said, "It sounds like a wolf--but yet there are no
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wolves here now."
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"No?" I said, questioning him. "Isn't it long since the
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wolves were so near the city?"
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"Long, long," he answered, "in the spring and summer; but
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with the snow the wolves have been here not so long."
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Whilst he was petting the horses and trying to quiet them,
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dark clouds drifted rapidly across the sky. The sunshine pass-
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ed away, and a breath of cold wind seemed to drift over us.It
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was only a breath, however, and more of a warning than a fact,
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for the sun came out brightly again.
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Johann looked under his lifted hand at the horizon and
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said, "The storm of snow, he comes before long time." Then he
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looked at his watch again, and, straightway holding his reins
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firmly--for the horses were still pawing the ground restless-
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ly and shaking their heads--he climbed to his box as though
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the time had come for proceeding on our journey.
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I felt a little obstinate and did not at once get into the
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carriage.
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"Tell me," I said, "about this place where the road leads,"
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and I pointed down.
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Again he crossed himself and mumbled a prayer before he an-
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swered, "It is unholy."
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"What is unholy?" I enquired.
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"The village."
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"Then there is a village?"
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"No, no. No one lives there hundreds of years."
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My curiosity was piqued, "But you said there was a village."
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"There was."
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"Where is it now?"
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Whereupon he burst out into a long story in German and Eng-
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lish, so mixed up that I could not quite understand exactly
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what he said. Roughly I gathered that long ago, hundreds of
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years, men had died there and been buried in their graves;
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but sounds were heard under the clay, and when the graves
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were opened,men and women were found rosy with life and their
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mouths red with blood. And so, in haste to save their lives
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(aye, and their souls!--and here he crossed himself)those who
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were left fled away to other places, where the living lived
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and the dead were dead and not--not something. He was evident-
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ly afraid to speak the last words. As he proceeded with his
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narration, he grew more and more excited. It seemed as if his
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imagination had got hold of him, and he ended in a perfect
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paroxysm of fear--white-faced, perspiring, trembling, and
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looking round him as if expecting that some dreadful presence
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would manifest itself there in the bright sunshine on the
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open plain.
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Finally, in an agony of desperation, he cried, "Walpurgis
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nacht!" and pointed to the carriage for me to get in.
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All my English blood rose at this,and standing back I said,
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"You are afraid, Johann--you are afraid. Go home, I shall re-
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turn alone, the walk will do me good." The carriage door was
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open. I took from the seat my oak walking stick--which I al-
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ways carry on my holiday excursions--and closed the door,
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pointing back to Munich, and said, "Go home,Johann--Walpurgis
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nacht doesn't concern Englishmen."
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The horses were now more restive than ever, and Johann was
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trying to hold them in, while excitedly imploring me not to
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do anything so foolish. I pitied the poor fellow, he was so
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deeply in earnest; but all the same I could not help laughing.
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His English was quite gone now. In his anxiety he had forgot-
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ten that his only means of making me understand was to talk
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my language, so he jabbered away in his native German. It be-
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gan to be a little tedious. After giving the direction, "Home!"
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I turned to go down the cross road into the valley.
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With a despairing gesture,Johann turned his horses towards
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Munich. I leaned on my stick and looked after him. He went
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slowly along the road for a while, then there came over the
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crest of the hill a man tall and thin. I could see so much in
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the distance. When he drew near the horses,they began to jump
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and kick about, then to scream with terror. Johann could not
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hold them in; they bolted down the road, running away madly.
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I watched them out of sight, then looked for the stranger;
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but I found that he, too, was gone.
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With a light heart I turned down the side road through the
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deepening valley to which Johann had objected. There was not
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the slightest reason,that I could see, for his objection; and
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I daresay I tramped for a couple of hours without thinking of
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time or distance and certainly without seeing a person or a
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house. So far as the place was concerned, it was desolation
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itself. But I did not notice this particularly till, on turn-
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ing a bend in the road,I came upon a scattered fringe of wood;
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then I recognized that I had been impressed unconsciously by
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the desolation of the region through which I had passed.
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I sat down to rest myself and began to look around. It
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struck me that it was considerably colder than it had been at
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the commencement of my walk--a sort of sighing sound seemed
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to be around me with, now and then, high overhead, a sort of
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muffled roar. Looking upwards I noticed that great thick
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clouds were drafting rapidly across the sky from north to
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south at a great height.There were signs of a coming storm in
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some lofty stratum of the air. I was a little chilly, and,
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thinking that it was the sitting still after the exercise of
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walking, I resumed my journey.
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The ground I passed over was now much more picturesque.
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There were no striking objects that the eye might single out,
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but in all there was a charm of beauty.I took little heed of
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time, and it was only when the deepening twilight forced it-
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self upon me that I began to think of how I should find my
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way home. The air was cold, and the drifting of clouds high
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overhead was more marked. They were accompanied by a sort of
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far away rushing sound, through which seemed to come at inter-
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vals that mysterious cry which the driver had said came from
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a wolf. For a while I hesitated. I had said I would see the
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deserted village, so on I went and presently came on a wide
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stretch of open country, shut in by hills all around. Their
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sides were covered with trees which spread down to the plain,
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dotting in clumps the gentler slopes and hollows which showed
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here and there.I followed with my eye the winding of the road
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and saw that it curved close to one of the densest of these
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clumps and was lost behind it.
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As I looked there came a cold shiver in the air, and the
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snow began to fall. I thought of the miles and miles of bleak
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country I had passed, and then hurried on to seek shelter of
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the wood in front. Darker and darker grew the sky, and faster
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and heavier fell the snow, till the earth before and around
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me was a glistening white carpet the further edge of which
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was lost in misty vagueness. The road was here but crude, and
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when on the level its boundaries were not so marked as when
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it passed through the cuttings; and in a little while I found
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that I must have strayed from it, for I missed underfoot the
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hard surface, and my feet sank deeper in the grass and moss.
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Then the wind grew stronger and blew with ever increasing
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force, till I was fain to run before it. The air became icy-
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cold, and in spite of my exercise I began to suffer. The snow
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was now falling so thickly and whirling around me in such rap-
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id eddies that I could hardly keep my eyes open. Every now
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and then the heavens were torn asunder by vivid lightning,
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and in the flashes I could see ahead of me a great mass of
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trees, chiefly yew and cypress all heavily coated with snow.
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I was soon amongst the shelter of the trees, and there in
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comparative silence I could hear the rush of the wind high
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overhead. Presently the blackness of the storm had become mer-
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ged in the darkness of the night. By-and-by the storm seemed
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to be passing away,it now only came in fierce puffs or blasts.
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At such moments the weird sound of the wolf appeared to be
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echoed by many similar sounds around me.
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Now and again, through the black mass of drifting cloud,
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came a straggling ray of moonlight which lit up the expanse
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and showed me that I was at the edge of a dense mass of cyp-
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ress and yew trees. As the snow had ceased to fall, I walked
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out from the shelter and began to investigate more closely.
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It appeared to me that, amongst so many old foundations as I
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had passed, there might be still standing a house in which,
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though in ruins,I could find some sort of shelter for a while.
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As I skirted the edge of the copse, I found that a low wall
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encircled it, and following this I presently found an opening.
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Here the cypresses formed an alley leading up to a square
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mass of some kind of building. Just as I caught sight of this,
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however, the drifting clouds obscured the moon, and I passed
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up the path in darkness. The wind must have grown colder, for
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I felt myself shiver as I walked; but there was hope of shel-
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ter, and I groped my way blindly on.
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I stopped, for there was a sudden stillness. The storm had
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passed; and, perhaps in sympathy with nature's silence, my
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heart seemed to cease to beat. But this was only momentarily;
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for suddenly the moonlight broke through the clouds showing
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me that I was in a graveyard and that the square object before
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me was a great massive tomb of marble, as white as the snow
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that lay on and all around it. With the moonlight there came
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a fierce sigh of the storm which appeared to resume its
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course with a long, low howl, as of many dogs or wolves.I was
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awed and shocked, and I felt the cold perceptibly grow upon
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me till it seemed to grip me by the heart. Then while the
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flood of moonlight still fell on the marble tomb, the storm
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gave further evidence of renewing, as though it were return-
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ing on its track. Impelled by some sort of fascination, I app-
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roached the sepulchre to see what it was and why such a thing
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stood alone in such a place.I walked around it and read, over
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the Doric door, in German--
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COUNTESS DOLINGEN OF GRATZ
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IN STYRIA
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SOUGHT AND FOUND DEATH
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1801
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On the top of the tomb, seemingly driven through the solid
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marble--for the structure was composed of a few vast blocks
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of stone--was a great iron spike or stake. On going to the
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back I saw, graven in great Russian letters: "The dead travel
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fast."
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There was something so weird and uncanny about the whole
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thing that it gave me a turn and made me feel quite faint. I
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began to wish, for the first time, that I had taken Johann's
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advice. Here a thought struck me, which came under almost mys-
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sterious circumstances and with a terrible shock. This was Wal-
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purgis Night!
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Walpurgis Night was when, according to the belief of mill-
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ions of people, the devil was abroad--when the graves were op-
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ened and the dead came forth and walked. When all evil things
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of earth and air and water held revel. This very place the
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driver had specially shunned. This was the depopulated vill-
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age of centuries ago.This was where the suicide lay; and this
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was the place where I was alone--unmanned, shivering with
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cold in a shroud of snow with a wild storm gathering again up-
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on me! It took all my philosophy, all the religion I had been
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taught,all my courage,not to collapse in a paroxysm of fright.
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And now a perfect tornado burst upon me. The ground shook
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as though thousands of horses thundered across it; and this
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time the storm bore on its icy wings, not snow, but great
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hailstones which drove with such violence that they might
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have come from the thongs of Balearic slingers--hailstones
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that beat down leaf and branch and made the shelter of the
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cypresses of no more avail than though their stems were stand-
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ing corn. At the first I had rushed to the nearest tree;but I
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was soon fain to leave it and seek the only spot that seemed
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to afford refuge, the deep Doric doorway of the marble tomb.
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There, crouching against the massive bronze door, I gained a
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certain amount of protection from the beating of the hail-
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stones, for now they only drove against me as they ricochett-
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ed from the ground and the side of the marble.
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As I leaned against the door, it moved slightly and opened
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inwards. The shelter of even a tomb was welcome in that piti-
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less tempest and I was about to enter it when there came a
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flash of forked lightning that lit up the whole expanse of
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the heavens. In the instant, as I am a living man, I saw, as
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my my eyes turned into the darkness of the tomb, a beautiful
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woman with rounded cheeks and red lips, seemingly sleeping on
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a bier. As the thunder broke overhead, I was grasped as by
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the hand of a giant and hurled out into the storm. The whole
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thing was so sudden that, before I could realize the shock,
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moral as well as physical, I found the hailstones beating me
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down. At the same time I had a strange, dominating feeling
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that I was not alone. I looked towards the tomb. Just then
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there came another blinding flash which seemed to strike the
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iron stake that surmounted the tomb and to pour through to
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the earth, blasting and crumbling the marble, as in a burst
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of flame. The dead woman rose for a moment of agony while she
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was lapped in the flame, and her bitter scream of pain was
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drowned in the thundercrash. The last thing I heard was this
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mingling of dreadful sound,as again I was seized in the giant
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grasp and dragged away, while the hailstones beat on me and
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the air around seemed reverberant with the howling of wolves.
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The last sight that I remembered was a vague, white, moving
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mass,as if all the graves around me had sent out the phantoms
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of their sheeted dead, and that they were closing in on me
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through the white cloudiness of the driving hail.
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Gradually there came a sort of vague beginning of cons-
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ciousness, then a sense of weariness that was dreadful. For
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a time I remembered nothing, but slowly my senses returned.
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My feet seemed positively racked with pain, yet I could not
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move them. They seemed to be numbed. There was an icy feeling
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at the back of my neck and all down my spine, and my ears,
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like my feet, were dead yet in torment; but there was in my
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breast a sense of warmth which was by comparison delicious.It
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was as a nightmare--a physical nightmare, if one may use such
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an expression; for some heavy weight on my chest made it diff-
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icult for me to breathe.
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This period of semilethargy seemed to remain a long time,
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and as it faded away I must have slept or swooned. Then came
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a sort of loathing, like the first stage of seasickness, and
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a wild desire to be free of something--I knew not what.A vast
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stillness enveloped me, as though all the world were asleep
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or dead--only broken by the low panting as of some animal
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close to me. I felt a warm rasping at my throat, then came a
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consciousness of the awful truth which chilled me to the heart
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and sent the blood surging up through my brain. Some great an-
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imal was lying on me and now licking my throat. I feared to
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stir, for some instinct of prudence bade me lie still; but
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the brute seemed to realize that there was now some change in
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me, for it raised its head. Through my eyelashes I saw above
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me the two great flaming eyes of a gigantic wolf. Its sharp
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white teeth gleamed in the gaping red mouth, and I could feel
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its hot breath fierce and acrid upon me.
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For another spell of time I remembered no more. Then I be-
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came conscious of a low growl, followed by a yelp, renewed
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again and again. Then seemingly very far away, I heard a "Hol-
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loa! holloa!" as of many voices calling in unison. Cautiously
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I raised my head and looked in the direction whence the sound
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came, but the cemetery blocked my view. The wolf still contin-
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ued to yelp in a strange way, and a red glare began to move
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round the grove of cypresses, as though following the sound.
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As the voices drew closer, the wolf yelped faster and louder.
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I feared to make either sound or motion. Nearer came the red
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glow over the white pall which stretched into the darkness a-
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round me. Then all at once from beyond the trees there came
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at a trot a troop of horsemen bearing torches. The wolf rose
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from my breast and made for the cemetery. I saw one of the
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horsemen (soldiers by their caps and their long military
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cloaks) raise his carbine and take aim. A companion knocked
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up his arm,and I heard the ball whiz over my head. He had ev-
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idently taken my body for that of the wolf. Another sighted
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the animal as it slunk away, and a shot followed. Then, at a
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gallop, the troop rode forward--some towards me, others foll-
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owing the wolf as it disappeared amongst the snow-clad cypress-
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es.
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As they drew nearer I tried to move but was powerless, al-
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though I could see and hear all that went on around me. Two
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or three of the soldiers jumped from their horses and knelt
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beside me. One of them raised my head and placed his hand ov-
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er my heart.
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"Good news, comrades!" he cried. "His heart still beats!"
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Then some brandy was poured down my throat; it put vigor
|
|
into me, and I was able to open my eyes fully and look around.
|
|
Lights and shadows were moving among the trees, and I heard
|
|
men call to one another. They drew together, uttering fright-
|
|
ened exclamations; and the lights flashed as the others came
|
|
pouring out of the cemetery pell-mell, like men possessed.
|
|
When the further ones came close to us, those who were around
|
|
me asked them eagerly, "Well, have you found him?"
|
|
|
|
The reply rang out hurriedly, "No! no! Come away quick--
|
|
quick! This is no place to stay, and on this of all nights!"
|
|
|
|
"What was it?" was the question, asked in all manner of
|
|
keys.The answer came variously and all indefinitely as though
|
|
the men were moved by some common impulse to speak yet were
|
|
restrained by some common fear from giving their thoughts.
|
|
|
|
"It--it--indeed!" gibbered one, whose wits had plainly giv-
|
|
en out for the moment.
|
|
|
|
"A wolf--and yet not a wolf!" another put in shudderingly.
|
|
|
|
"No use trying for him without the sacred bullet," a third
|
|
remarked in a more ordinary manner.
|
|
|
|
"Serve us right for coming out on this night!Truly we have
|
|
earned our thousand marks!" were the ejaculations of a fourth.
|
|
|
|
"There was blood on the broken marble," another said after
|
|
a pause, "the lightning never brought that there. And for him-
|
|
-is he safe? Look at his throat! See comrades, the wolf has
|
|
been lying on him and keeping his blood warm."
|
|
|
|
The officer looked at my throat and replied, "He is all
|
|
right, the skin is not pierced. What does it all mean? We
|
|
should never have found him but for the yelping of the wolf."
|
|
|
|
"What became of it?" asked the man who was holding up my
|
|
head and who seemed the least panic-stricken of the party,
|
|
for his hands were steady and without tremor. On his sleeve
|
|
was the chevron of a petty officer.
|
|
|
|
"It went home," answered the man, whose long face was pall-
|
|
id and who actually shook with terror as he glanced around
|
|
him fearfully. "There are graves enough there in which it may
|
|
lie. Come, comrades--come quickly! Let us leave this cursed
|
|
spot."
|
|
|
|
The officer raised me to a sitting posture, as he uttered
|
|
a word of command; then several men placed me upon a horse.He
|
|
sprang to the saddle behind me, took me in his arms, gave the
|
|
word to advance; and, turning our faces away from the cypress-
|
|
es, we rode away in swift military order.
|
|
|
|
As yet my tongue refused its office, and I was perforce
|
|
silent. I must have fallen asleep; for the next thing I remem-
|
|
bered was finding myself standing up, supported by a soldier
|
|
on each side of me. It was almost broad daylight, and to the
|
|
north a red streak of sunlight was reflected like a path of
|
|
blood over the waste of snow. The officer was telling the men
|
|
to say nothing of what they had seen, except that they found
|
|
an English stranger, guarded by a large dog.
|
|
|
|
"Dog! that was no dog," cut in the man who had exhibited
|
|
such fear. "I think I know a wolf when I see one."
|
|
|
|
The young officer answered calmly, "I said a dog."
|
|
|
|
"Dog!" reiterated the other ironically.It was evident that
|
|
his courage was rising with the sun; and, pointing to me, he
|
|
said, "Look at his throat. Is that the work of a dog, master?"
|
|
|
|
Instinctively I raised my hand to my throat, and as I touch-
|
|
ed it I cried out in pain. The men crowded round to look, some
|
|
stooping down from their saddles;and again there came the calm
|
|
voice of the young officer, "A dog, as I said. If aught else
|
|
were said we should only be laughed at."
|
|
|
|
I was then mounted behind a trooper, and we rode on into
|
|
the suburbs of Munich. Here we came across a stray carriage
|
|
into which I was lifted , and it was driven off to the Quatre
|
|
Saisons--the young officer accompanying me, whilst a trooper
|
|
followed with his horse, and the others rode off to their
|
|
barracks.
|
|
|
|
When we arrived, Herr Delbruck rushed so quickly down the
|
|
steps to meet me, that it was apparent he had been watching
|
|
within. Taking me by both hands he solicitously led me in.The
|
|
officer saluted me and was turning to withdraw, when I recog-
|
|
nized his purpose and insisted that he should come to my
|
|
rooms. Over a glass of wine I warmly thanked him and his brave
|
|
comrades for saving me. He replied simply that he was more
|
|
than glad, and that Herr Delbruck had at the first taken steps
|
|
to make all the searching party pleased; at which ambiguous
|
|
utterance the maitre d'hotel smiled, while the officer plead-
|
|
duty and withdrew.
|
|
|
|
"But Herr Delbruck," I enquired, "how and why was it that
|
|
the soldiers searched for me?"
|
|
|
|
He shrugged his shoulders, as if in depreciation of his own
|
|
deed, as he replied, "I was so fortunate as to obtain leave
|
|
from the commander of the regiment in which I serve, to ask
|
|
for volunteers."
|
|
|
|
"But how did you know I was lost?" I asked.
|
|
|
|
"The driver came hither with the remains of his carriage,
|
|
which had been upset when the horses ran away."
|
|
|
|
"But surely you would not send a search party of soldiers
|
|
merely on this account?"
|
|
|
|
"Oh, no!" he answered, "but even before the coachman arriv-
|
|
ed, I had this telegram from the Boyar whose guest you are,"
|
|
and he took from his pocket a telegram which he handed to me,
|
|
and I read:
|
|
|
|
Bistritz.
|
|
Be careful of my guest--his safety is most precious to
|
|
me. Should aught happen to him, or if he be missed, spare
|
|
nothing to find him and ensure his safety. He is English
|
|
and therefore adventurous. There are often dangers from
|
|
snow and wolves and night. Lose not a moment if you sus-
|
|
pect harm to him. I answer your zeal with my fortune.
|
|
--Dracula.
|
|
|
|
As I held the telegram in my hand,the room seemed to whirl
|
|
around me,and if the attentive maitre d'hotel had not caught
|
|
me,I think I should have fallen. There was something so str-
|
|
ange in all this, something so weird and impossible to imag-
|
|
ine, that there grew on me a sense of my being in some way
|
|
the sport of opposite forces--the mere vague idea of which
|
|
seemed in a way to paralyze me. I was certainly under some
|
|
form of mysterious protection. From a distant country had come,
|
|
in the very nick of time, a message that took me out of the
|
|
danger of the snow sleep and the jaws of the wolf.
|
|
|
|
***
|
|
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|
END OF FILE
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