Gradually and imperceptibly the strange, silent, patient man, who was ready to bear every one?s burden, and sought help from none,?who stood aside for all, and came last, and took least, yet was foremost to share his little all with any who needed,?the man who, in cold nights, would give up his tattered blanket to add to the comfort of some woman who shivered with sickness, and who filled the baskets of the weaker ones in the field, at the terrible risk of coming short in his own measure,?and who, though pursued with unrelenting cruelty by their common tyrant, never joined in uttering a word of reviling or cursing,?this man, at last, began to have a strange power over them; and, when the more pressing season was past, and they were allowed again their Sundays for their own use, many would gather together to hear from him of JesusThey would gladly have met to hear, and pray, and sing, in some place, together; but Legree would not permit it, and more than once broke up such attempts, with oaths and brutal execrations,?so that the blessed news had to circulate from individual to individualYet who can speak the simple joy with which some of those poor outcasts, to whom life was a joyless journey to a dark unknown, heard of a compassionate Redeemer and a heavenly home? It is the statement of missionaries, that, of all races of the earth, none have received the Gospel with such eager docility as the AfricanThe principle of reliance and unquestioning faith, which is its foundation, is more a native element in this race than any other; and it has often been found among them, that a stray seed of truth, borne on some breeze of accident into hearts the most ignorant, has sprung up into fruit, whose abundance has shamed that of higher and more skilful culture The poor mulatto woman, whose simple faith had been well-nigh crushed and overwhelmed, by the avalanche of cruelty and wrong which had fallen upon her, felt her soul raised up by the hymns and passages of Holy Writ, which this lowly missionary breathed into her ear in intervals, as they were going to and returning from work; and even the half-crazed and wandering mind of Cassy was soothed and calmed by his simple and unobtrusive influences Stung to madness and despair by the crushing agonies of a life, Cassy had often resolved in her soul an hour of retribution, when her hand should avenge on her oppressor all the injustice and cruelty to which she had been witness, or which she had in her own person suffered One night, after all in Tom?s cabin were sunk in sleep, he was suddenly aroused by seeing her face at the hole between the logs, that served for a windowShe made a silent gesture for him to come out Tom came out the doorIt was between one and two o?clock at night,?broad, calm, still moonlightTom remarked, as the light of the moon fell upon Cassy?s large, black eyes, that there was a wild and peculiar glare in them, unlike their wonted fixed despair ?Come here, Father Tom,? she said, laying her small hand on his wrist, and drawing him forward with a force as if the hand were of steel; ?come here,?I?ve news for you ?What, Misse Cassy?? said Tom, anxiously ?Tom, wouldn?t you like your liberty?? ?I shall have it, Misse, in God?s time,? said Tom?Ay, but you may have it tonight,? said Cassy, with a flash of sudden energy ?Come!? said she, in a whisper, fixing her black eyes on him?Come along! He?s asleep?soundI put enough into his brandy to keep him soI wish I?d had more,?I shouldn?t have wanted youBut come, the back door is unlocked; there?s an axe there, I put it there,?his room door is open; I?ll show you the way I?d a done it myself, only my arms are so weakCome along!? ?Not for ten thousand worlds, Misse!? said Tom, firmly, stopping and holding her back, as she was pressing forward ?But think of all these poor creatures,? said Cassy?We might set them all free, and go somewhere in the swamps, and find an island, and live by ourselves; I?ve heard of its being doneAny life is better than this ?No!? said Tom, firmly?No! good never comes of wickednessI?d sooner chop my right hand off!? ?Then I shall do it,? said Cassy, turning ?O, Misse Cassy!? said Tom, throwing himself before her, ?for the dear Lord?s sake that died for ye, don?t sell your precious soul to the devil, that way! Nothing but evil will come of itThe Lord hasn?t called us to wrathWe must suffer, and wait his time?Haven?t I waited??waited till my head is dizzy and my heart sick? What has he made me suffer? What has he made hundreds of poor creatures suffer? Isn?t he wringing the life-blood out of you? I?m called on; they call me! His time?s come, and I?ll have his heart?s blood!? ?No, no, no!? said Tom, holding her small hands, which were clenched with spasmodic violence?No, ye poor, lost soul, that ye mustn?t doThe dear, blessed Lord never shed no blood but his own, and that he poured out for us when we was enemiesLord, help us to follow his steps, and love our enemies ?Love!? said Cassy, with a fierce glare; ?love such enemies! It isn?t in flesh and blood ?No, Misse, it isn?t,? said Tom, looking up; ?but He gives it to us, and that?s the victoryWhen we can love and pray over all and through all, the battle?s past, and the victory?s come,?glory be to God!? And, with streaming eyes and choking voice, the black man looked up to heaven And this, oh Africa! latest called of nations,?called to the crown of thorns, the scourge, the bloody sweat, the cross of agony,?this is to be thy victory; by this shalt thou reign with Christ when his kingdom shall come on earth The deep fervor of Tom?s feelings, the softness of his voice, his tears, fell like dew on the wild, unsettled spirit of the poor shop woman

"Oh, Madam Mina," he said, "dear, dear, Madam Mina, alas! That I of all who so reverence you should have said anything so forgetfulThese stupid old lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so, but you will forget it, will you not?" He bent low beside her as he spoke She took his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely, "No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I rememberAnd with it I have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all togetherNow, you must all be going soonBreakfast is ready, and we must all eat that we may be strong Breakfast was a strange meal to us allWe tried to be cheerful and encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of usWhen it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said, "Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterpriseAre we all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's lairArmed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?" We all assured himNow, Madam Mina, you are in any case quite safe here until the sunsetAnd before then we shall return? if? We shall return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attackI have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing of things of which we know, so that He may not enterNow let me guard yourselfOn your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the name of the Father, the Son, and?" There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hearAs he had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it? had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metalMy poor darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as her nerves received the pain of it, and the two so overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream But the words to her thought came quicklyThe echo of the scream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her knees on the floor in an agony of abasementPulling her beautiful hair over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out "Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgement DayI had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless grief, and putting my arms around held her tightFor a few minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away their eyes that ran tears silentlyThen Van Helsing turned and said gravelySo gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things outside himself "It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, as He most surely shall, on the Judgement Day, to redress all wrongs of the earth and of His children that He has placed thereonAnd oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we knowFor so surely as we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon usTill then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His WillIt may be that we are chosen instruments of His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through stripes and shameThrough tears and bloodThrough doubts and fear, and all that makes the difference between God and man There was hope in his words, and comfortAnd they made for resignationMina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old man's hands and bent over and kissed itThen without a word we all knelt down together, and all holding hands, swore to be true to each otherWe men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way, we lovedAnd we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task which lay before usIt was then time to shop start

These stupid old lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so, but you will forget it, will you not?" He bent low beside her as he spoke She took his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely, "No, I shall not forget, for it is well that I rememberAnd with it I have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all togetherNow, you must all be going soonBreakfast is ready, and we must all eat that we may be strong Breakfast was a strange meal to us allWe tried to be cheerful and encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful of usWhen it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said, "Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterpriseAre we all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's lairArmed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?" We all assured himNow, Madam Mina, you are in any case quite safe here until the sunsetAnd before then we shall return? if? We shall return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attackI have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing of things of which we know, so that He may not enterNow let me guard yourselfOn your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the name of the Father, the Son, and?" There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hearAs he had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it? had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metalMy poor darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as her nerves received the pain of it, and the two so overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream But the words to her thought came quicklyThe echo of the scream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her knees on the floor in an agony of abasementPulling her beautiful hair over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out "Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgement DayI had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless grief, and putting my arms around held her tightFor a few minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away their eyes that ran tears silentlyThen Van Helsing turned and said gravelySo gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things outside himself "It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, as He most surely shall, on the Judgement Day, to redress all wrongs of the earth and of His children that He has placed thereonAnd oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we knowFor so surely as we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon usTill then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His WillIt may be that we are chosen instruments of His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through stripes and shameThrough tears and bloodThrough doubts and fear, and all that makes the difference between God and man There was hope in his words, and comfortAnd they made for resignationMina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old man's hands and bent over and kissed itThen without a word we all knelt down together, and all holding hands, swore to be true to each otherWe men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way, we lovedAnd we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task which lay before usIt was then time to startSo I said farewell to Mina, a parting which neither of us shall forget to our dying day, and we set shop out

His redeeming quality is a love of animals, though, indeed, he has such curious turns in it that I sometimes imagine he is only abnormally cruelHis pets are of odd sorts Just now his hobby is catching fliesHe has at present such a quantity that I have had myself to expostulateTo my astonishment, he did not break out into a fury, as I expected, but took the matter in simple seriousnessHe thought for a moment, and then said, "May I have three days? I shall clear them away Of course, I said that would do-He has turned his mind now to spiders, and has got several very big fellows in a boxHe keeps feeding them his flies, and the number of the latter is becoming sensibly diminished, although he has used half his food in attracting more flies from outside to his room-His spiders are now becoming as great a nuisance as his flies, and today I told him that he must get rid of them He looked very sad at this, so I said that he must some of them, at all eventsHe cheerfully acquiesced in this, and I gave him the same time as before for reduction He disgusted me much while with him, for when a horrid blowfly, bloated with some carrion food, buzzed into the room, he caught it, held it exultantly for a few moments between his finger and thumb, and before I knew what he was going to do, put it in his mouth and ate it I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it was very good and very wholesome, that it was life, strong life, and gave life to himThis gave me an idea, or the rudiment of oneI must watch how he gets rid of his spiders He has evidently some deep problem in his mind, for he keeps a little notebook in which he is always jotting down somethingWhole pages of it are filled with masses of figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the totals added in batches again, as though he were focussing some account, as the auditors put it-There is a method in his madness, and the rudimentary idea in my mind is growingIt will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, unconscious cerebration, you will have to give the wall to your conscious brother I kept away from my friend for a few days, so that I might notice if there were any changeThings remain as they were except that he has parted with some of his pets and got a new one He has managed to get a sparrow, and has already partially tamed itHis means of taming is simple, for already the spiders have diminishedThose that do remain, however, are well fed, for he still brings in the flies by tempting them with his food 19 July--We are progressingMy friend has now a whole colony of sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliteratedWhen I came in he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour, a very, very great favourAnd as he spoke, he fawned on me like a dog I asked him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his voice and bearing, "A kitten, a nice, little, sleek playful kitten, that I can play with, and teach, and feed, and feed, and feed!" I was not unprepared for this request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size and vivacity, but I did not care that his pretty family of tame sparrows should be wiped out in the same manner as the flies and spidersSo I said I would see about it, and asked him if he would not rather have a cat than a kitten His eagerness betrayed him as he answered, "Oh, yes, I would like a cat! I only asked for a kitten lest you should refuse me a catNo one would refuse me a kitten, would they?" I shook my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be possible, but that I would see about itHis face fell, and I could see a warning of danger in it, for there was a sudden fierce, sidelong look which meant killingThe man is an undeveloped homicidal maniacI shall test him with his present craving and see how it will work out, then I shall know more-I have visited him again and found him sitting in a corner broodingWhen I came in he threw himself on his knees before me and implored me to let him have a cat, that his salvation depended upon it I was firm, however, and told him that he could not have it, whereupon he went without a word, and sat down, gnawing his fingers, in the corner where I had found himI shall see him in the morning shop early

I trust that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land-Your friend, Dracula 4 May--I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and pretended that he could not understand my German This could not be true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he answered my questions exactly as if he did He and his wife, the old lady who had received me, looked at each other in a frightened sort of wayHe mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter, and that was all he knewWhen I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak furtherIt was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask anyone else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means comforting Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a hysterical way: "Must you go? Oh! Young Herr, must you go?" She was in such an excited state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at allI was just able to follow her by asking many questionsWhen I told her that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, she asked again: "Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of MayShe shook her head as she said again: "Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?" On my saying that I did not understand, she went on: "It is the eve of StDo you not know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but without effectFinally, she went down on her knees and implored me not to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting It was all very ridiculous but I did not feel comfortableHowever, there was business to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it I tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I thanked her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go She then rose and dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me I did not know what to do, for, as an English Churchman, I have been taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous, and yet it seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such a state of mind She saw, I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put the rosary round my neck and said, "For your mother's sake," and went out of the room I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting for the coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still round my neck Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly traditions of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual If this book should ever reach Mina before I do, let it bring my goodbyeHere comes the coach! 5 May-The gray of the morning has passed, and the sun is high over the distant horizon, which seems jagged, whether with trees or hills I know not, for it is so far off that big things and little are mixed I am not sleepy, and, as I am not to be called till I awake, naturally I write till sleep comes There are many odd things to put down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly I dined on what they called "robber steak"--bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red pepper, and strung on sticks, and roasted over the fire, in simple style of the London cat's meat! The wine was Golden Mediasch, which produces a queer sting on the tongue, which is, however, not disagreeable I had only a couple of glasses of this, and nothing else When I got on the coach, the driver had not taken his seat, and I saw him talking to the landlady They were evidently talking of me, for every now and then they looked at me, and some of the people who were sitting on the bench outside the door--came and listened, and then looked at me, most of them pityinglyI could hear a lot of words often repeated, queer words, for there were many nationalities in the crowd, so I quietly got my polyglot dictionary from my bag and looked them out I must say they were not cheering to me, for amongst them were "Ordog"--Satan, "Pokol"--hell, "stregoica"--witch, "vrolok" and "vlkoslak"--both mean the same thing, one being Slovak and the other Servian for something that is either werewolf or vampire I must ask the Count about these superstitions When we started, the crowd round the inn door, which had by this time swelled to a considerable size, all made the sign of the cross and pointed two fingers towards me With some difficulty, I got a fellow passenger to tell me what they meantHe would not answer at first, but on learning that I was English, he explained that it was a charm or guard against the evil eye This was not very pleasant for me, just starting for an unknown place to meet an unknown manBut everyone seemed so kind-hearted, and so sorrowful, and so sympathetic that I could not but be touched I shall never forget the last glimpse which I had of the inn yard and its crowd of picturesque figures, all crossing themselves, as they stood round the wide archway, with its background of rich foliage of oleander and orange trees in green tubs clustered in the centre of the shop yard