| He reassured me by his manner as well as his... 517 |
[Jan. 27th, 2010|02:08 am] |
He reassured me by his manner as well as his words when he said, "Oh, my dear, if you only know how strange is the matter regarding which I am here, it is you who would laughI have learned not to think little of any one's belief, no matter how strange it may beI have tried to keep an open mind, and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that make one doubt if they be mad or sane
"Thank you, thank you a thousand times! You have taken a weight off my mindIf you will let me, I shall give you a paper to readIt is long, but I have typewritten it outIt will tell you my trouble and Jonathan'sIt is the copy of his journal when abroad, and all that happenedI dare not say anything of itYou will read for yourself and judgeAnd then when I see you, perhaps, you will be very kind and tell me what you think
"I promise," he said as I gave him the papers"I shall in the morning, as soon as I can, come to see you and your husband, if I may
"Jonathan will be here at half-past eleven, and you must come to lunch with us and see him thenYou could catch the quick 3:34 train, which will leave you at Paddington before eight He was surprised at my knowledge of the trains offhand, but he does not know that I have made up all the trains to and from Exeter, so that I may help Jonathan in case he is in a hurry
So he took the papers with him and went away, and I sit here thinking, thinking I don't know what
LETTER (by hand), VAN HELSING TO MRSHARKER
25 September, 6 o'clock
"Dear Madam Mina,
"I have read your husband's so wonderful diaryYou may sleep without doubtStrange and terrible as it is, it is true! I will pledge my life on itIt may be worse for others, but for him and you there is no dreadHe is a noble fellow, and let me tell you from experience of men, that one who would do as he did in going down that wall and to that room, aye, and going a second time, is not one to be injured in permanence by a shockHis brain and his heart are all right, this I swear, before I have even seen him, so be at restI shall have much to ask him of other thingsI am blessed that today I come to see you, for I have learn all at once so much that again I am dazzled, dazzled more than ever, and I must think
"Yours the most faithful,
"Abraham Van HelsingHARKER TO VAN HELSING
25 September, 6:30 PVan Helsing,
"A thousand thanks for your kind letter, which has taken a great weight off my mindAnd yet, if it be true, what terrible things there are in the world, and what an awful thing if that man, that monster, be really in London! I fear to thinkI have this moment, whilst writing, had a wire from Jonathan, saying that he leaves by the 6:25 tonight from Launceston and will be here at 10:18, so that I shall have no fear tonightWill you, therefore, instead of lunching with us, please come to breakfast at eight o'clock, if this be not too early for you? You can get away, if you are in a hurry, by the 10:30 train, which will bring you to Paddington by 2:35Do not answer this, as I shall take it that, if I do not hear, you will come to breakfast
"Believe me,
"Your faithful and grateful friend,
"Mina Harker
JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL
26 September-I thought never to write in this diary again, but the time has comeWhen I got home last night Mina had supper ready, and when we had supped she told me of Van Helsing's visit, and of her having given him the two diaries copied out, and of how anxious she has been about meShe showed me in the doctor's letter that all I wrote down was trueIt seems to have made a new man of meIt was the doubt as to the reality of the whole thing that knocked me |
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