Dracula - Chapter 2
Lucy was startled at first, then jumped forward to snatch the book. "Well said! Spiritual value!"
They both burst into laughter. Soon they were sitting together amicably on the floor, examining the strange book.
Lucy asked, "Darling, where did you find this book?"
"In the study; you told me to rest there for a while—this book was placed behind the other books on a shelf. I found it quite interesting."
"It's either my deceased father's or my uncle's. Those two scoundrels. Hmm, no wonder you find it amusing—look!"
Lucy pointed to another illustration. This was one Mina had secretly read while reading fashion magazines, which she had never had the chance to discover before, and now she was shocked.
“Lucy! Do you want men and women—to really do that?” It was a serious question, though the tone was light.
Lucy shook her red curly hair. "I did it—last night!"
"You're lying! You didn't!"
"Yes, I did it in my dream."
The two girls laughed again, but Mina's laughter was after a moment of hesitation, and her expression quickly turned thoughtful.
Her companion took her hand and asked in a half-joking, half-pleading tone, "Jonathan—he's a man, isn't he? Please, you can tell Lucy."
Mina's eyes were dreamlike. "We kissed, that's all, Jonathan and I. Sometimes I... leaned towards him, and he would suddenly become shy and say goodnight to me."
She smiled slightly at her sympathetic audience. "He feels he's too poor to marry me. He wants to buy me an expensive ring, but I've always wanted to tell him it doesn't matter."
Lucy temporarily forgot her mockery and was filled with genuine admiration. "Mina, you are the best girl in the world... anyone would love you."
Mina squeezed her friend's hand. "And you have all the men groveling at your feet."
"But not a single person has proposed to me. I'm almost twenty—just an old woman!"
A man cleared his throat. Professionally cautious, both girls turned around. Mina quickly closed her book, while Lucy stood up. "Hobb, what is it?"
The head servant's face was calm and composed, clearly showing no interest whatsoever in the forbidden pictures the young girls might be peeking at or the content of their conversation. One hand steadily held a silver tray upon which rested a visiting card.
Hobb announced, “Miss, a young gentleman, Mr. Harker, has come to visit Miss Murray. He is waiting in the garden.”
Mina was surprised, happy, and concerned.
"Jonathan is here?" he murmured a few times before hurrying out of the room.
From the western courtyard of Shilling Estate, a large lawn stretches down to the wide Thames River. Today, the calm waters are dotted with the sails of several small pleasure boats. Closer, a pair of peacocks strut majestically across the neatly manicured lawn. Below the balcony lies a garden maze surrounded by cypress groves, about a hundred years old, covering half an acre. Adjacent to the maze is a small but charming family cemetery.
A young man, only a few years older than Mina, dressed in fashionable clothes that seemed to indicate he was going to town for business, stood uneasily in the spacious garden, trying to catch a butterfly that had landed on his top hat with a smile, but without success. Hearing Mina's hurried footsteps approaching him, he turned around expectantly, his handsome face lighting up.
Even as she ran into his waiting arms, she asked in surprise, "Jonathan, what are you doing here?"
He greeted her with a proper kiss, but she couldn't help but feel a little hesitant.
"You've been drinking, in broad daylight?" Mina knew this wasn't her fiancé's habit.
Jonathan Hack spread his arms again, nearly losing control of his tall hat.
“You’ve had quite a bit to drink, darling, but only for success! That’s the kind of thing a fiancée would say. What you see now are future partners at the law firm of Hawking and Tonkin.” He pretended to scribble quickly on an imaginary bulletin board in mid-air: “Hawking, Tonkin, and Harker sound good, don’t you think?”
“Jonathan! The United Advisors Agency?” Mina’s red lips parted in a wide grin. “Great!”
Huck regained some of his composure. "My former boss and rival for promotion, Mr. Lanfeld, has finally lost his greed—so I was promoted to replace him."
Mina hadn't considered the potentially tragic consequences of the promotion; she was only thinking about the fact that she had been promoted, and she threw herself back into her fiancé's arms.
“Oh, Jonathan, I’m so happy for you! This means we don’t have to wait any longer. Right? Right? Cousins can get married soon—I must tell Hsin Lucy—when are we getting married? When?”
Huck put on his hat so that he could freely and lovingly embrace her arms and shoulders. "Wait for me to come back."
"Back?" Mina asked, surprised. "From where?"
"I am leaving today to go to exotic Eastern Europe to finish the business that Mr. Lamfey was unable to complete due to his illness."
Tell me everything.
Huck took Mina's arm and they began to stroll in the garden. Their feet moved somewhat mechanically along the neat path, and occasionally he would pat her small hand that rested on his forearm. A peacock cried out in alarm ahead of them.
Harker said, “There’s a nobleman living in the wilderness of Les Sovinia who has bought several properties around London, and I’ve been sent to sign the contracts. Money is no problem, and the legal fees we’ll receive will be very high, or rather, very unusual. Can you imagine the power that kind of wealth wields? Think about it, Mina!”
"Qiang, I'm thinking about our wedding."
"Just like I said, we'll get married as soon as we get back—we can have a grand and expensive wedding now, enough to make Lucy and all her aristocratic friends gossip."
Their stroll led them to the entrance of the maze surrounded by tall yellow pine trees. Mina stopped and gazed at the shady path. She said, “I really don’t care about them—whatever they say, I just want us to be happy—don’t you understand?”
Her companion gazed at her lovingly. "We will be very happy, my little nightingale—I know what is best for both of us."
"Of course." A small cloud seemed to be obscuring the sun. "We've been waiting a long time—haven't we?"
Although it was only in such a roundabout way, the mention of time made Huck let go of Mina's hand, pull his watch out of his coat pocket, and raise his eyebrows.
“I don’t know… Darling, I must run quickly. Don’t worry. I will write to you faithfully—”
"Jonathan, I love you!" Mina then gave them a passionate kiss that surprised them both.
Chapter Two
That kiss left Huck longing and yearning for it even a week later. In the seven days since leaving London, the young lawyer had been constantly changing trains, so he had traveled many miles and inhaled a lot of coal smoke along the way.
He was currently traveling on the famous Orient Express, which departed from Paris, passed through Budapest, and continued its journey towards the sunrise. The train's final destination was Vana, a Black Sea port in Bulgaria—though Hak didn't intend to travel that far.
So far, Hack has found the trip tiring, but not at all boring. The customs, language, and changes in scenery he has encountered have convinced him how far he has strayed from the familiar people and places of Western Europe.
Hacker had the foresight to prepare several maps, as well as a travel guide and train timetables; he found them all very useful. Although his maps had been folded and kept in his pocket for several days, he had already studied them carefully and could now visualize the satisfactory details of the area he wanted to enter.
His mysterious client lived in the far east of Trentovonia, a region that meant "the land beyond the forest." A travel guide Huck had read mentioned that all known superstitions of the world were concentrated in the horseshoe-shaped Carpathian Mountains, as if it were the center of some kind of imaginary vortex. Huck thought this might make his stay even more interesting and planned to ask Count Dracula about some of the more bizarre local beliefs.
On the seventh day of his journey, the train seemed to slowly traverse a country that Hacker found endlessly beautiful. Sometimes small towns appeared on steep hills, sometimes majestic castles. At other times, the train tracks closely followed different rivers, their banks lined with stone embankments, seemingly on the verge of flooding. At every station, large or small, groups of travelers gathered, dressed in a variety of attire. Some reminded Hacker of French or German farmers, including short coats, round hats, and homemade trousers; others he found dazzlingly bright. He considered the Slovaks the strangest, who, to the British visitor, appeared more rugged than other peoples, wearing wide-brimmed cowboy hats, loose-fitting, off-white trousers, white linen shirts, and leather belts nearly a foot wide, studded with brass.
The thing that most often left Huck's pocket, now held in his hands, was a clean notebook. Huck had decided to record his fascinating journey every day—sometimes even every hour. He eagerly anticipated sharing it all with Mina.
His most recent entry reads:
This region, which will be my destination, lies on the border of three provinces—Chuansovinia, Cudavia, and Bukhvina—right in the Carpathian Mountains—the wildest and most unknown place in all of Europe for an Englishman like myself.
The train could only take Huck to a town called Beatrice. The town had 12,000 inhabitants. Huck arrived in the afternoon and immediately disembarked. The town was surrounded by the ruins of ancient castles and fortresses, and the beautiful scenery made Huck feel extremely comfortable. He was also pleased to find that, according to Count Dracula's careful instructions, the Golden Crown Hotel had reserved a room for him.
When Huck checked into the Golden Crown Hotel, the waiter immediately presented him with a letter from one of his clients, written in neat English: "My friend—welcome to the Carpathians. I eagerly await your arrival. Sweet dreams tonight. Tomorrow at three o'clock, the stagecoach will depart for Youkovina; I have reserved a place there. My carriage will be waiting for you at the Bogo Pass to bring you here. I believe you will have a very pleasant journey since leaving London, and that you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land."
Your friend Bogula
Huck lay on his bed at the Golden Crown Hotel, drifting in and out of sleep, but he ate a hearty dinner. Perhaps there was more pepper and chili powder in the food than he was used to, but he was happy to accept that, along with other peculiarities, with an adventurous spirit.
The next morning for breakfast, he ate even more chili powder in his porridge made with cornmeal and eggplant. After breakfast, he leisurely jotted down notes on things that interested him to pass the time.
When it was time to board the carriage in the afternoon, Huck found it amusing that his companions included a taciturn local merchant and two Gypsy women who were clearly a mother and daughter. Huck guessed that none of the three spoke English or any other language he was somewhat familiar with.
When the three of them learned that the young foreigner was going to Bogota, they stared at him with strange looks, their expressions a mixture of pity and surprise. This attitude made Hack somewhat uneasy—just as it made him feel confused, as did the voluptuous Gypsy girl who was sitting opposite him, her knees brushing against his in the cramped carriage.
After the carriage started moving, although the speed was faster than Huck had expected, everything went smoothly. Along the way, his companions would occasionally speak in a language he couldn't understand at all, exchanging a few comments that Huck believed were about him.
The four of them had been traveling together in a carriage for several hours, swaying and rocking along the increasingly dilapidated road. As Huck gazed at a photograph of Mina in a small iron frame in the last rays of the setting sun, the gypsy woman who had been observing him for some time suddenly seemed to have made up her mind.
She leaned forward boldly, smiled reassuringly at him, and grasped Huck's right hand. He hurriedly stuffed Mina's photograph into his pocket with his left hand, and was about to tell the gypsy that he didn't want his fortune told when he realized that the woman had given him something.
He looked down, puzzled, and stared at the object the girl had slipped into his hand—a small crucifix attached to a delicate silver chain.
The mother and daughter gestured wildly, clearly eager to make Huck understand that they wanted him to wear the silver chain. Huck looked helplessly at the merchant! The merchant stroked his beard, frowned, and nodded thoughtfully, seemingly agreeing that the two women's suggestion was a good idea.
To please his companions, Huck took off his hat and looped the silver chain around his head. The mother and daughter immediately smiled with satisfaction—yes, without a doubt, this was exactly what they wanted him to do. He put his hat back on and sat up straight.
Having succumbed to this Catholic, somewhat blindly worshipful custom, Huck thought that the metal chain against his skin would usually feel slightly uncomfortable, but this time he didn't feel it at all. On the contrary, the touch of the silver cross had a comforting effect on him.
He decided that whenever he had the chance to take notes, he would write it down like this.
"Thank you." He nodded quite formally to the mother and daughter. "Thank you both."
He thought to himself that although they didn't understand English, his smile and gestures should be enough to convey his meaning. Just as he expected, the two Gypsy women seemed quite satisfied with his actions, but as Huck had anticipated, they didn't ask him to pay them in any way.
The sun had already set, its last rays turning the snow-covered mountains in the east a rosy hue. As darkness fell, the driver stopped the carriage and lit a lamp to illuminate the dark autumn night. Then he climbed back onto the high seat, and despite the steep and difficult road ahead, he once again cracked his whip through the cold air, urging the horses to continue.
According to the instructions given to him by Haq's client, the next stop was Bogo Pass.
In the darkness, the passengers could no longer see the road, but the jolting of the carriage suggested that the journey would be even more arduous. Huck felt the gloomy night would never end. The lanterns outside the carriage emitted only a faint light. The moon was intermittently obscured by clouds, occasionally illuminating only a small portion of the surrounding mountains: some wooded, some barren. Huck could not see any farmhouse lights within miles.
Then, the coachman suddenly and unexpectedly reined in the horse. Looking out the window, Huck could vaguely make out that they had arrived at an open space, actually a widened area like a fork in the road or a rest area, although there was no other way to go in front of him. He also saw a small shrine by the roadside, which in the darkness vaguely resembled a huge crucifix.
Huck was certain the driver could speak at least a little English. He cleared his throat and called out the window, “Here—I mean—is this it? I…”
Huck received no reply, but it was clear that this was where the Earl would send someone to fetch him, or at least the coachman had decided that was the place, as he had climbed onto the roof of the carriage and hastily unloaded Huck's suitcase, rudely throwing it to the ground.
This prompted the owner of the suitcase to shout angrily, "Hey, you! You should be more careful..."
But protesting seemed to be completely futile. The rickshaw driver, with a gloomy face, hurriedly opened the door as if he were in a hurry and waved for him to get off.
As soon as Huck alighted, he looked around for the carriage that would take him to the Earl. Every second he hoped a light would pierce the darkness and approach him, but nothing did. The only light came from the flickering lamplight of the carriage he had just been in. In that dim light, the horses stirring up clouds of white dust. Huck could see the dusty road winding ahead, but he couldn't see any other vehicles.
Getting out of the car allowed him at least to stretch his legs and hold his watch up to a headlight to check the time.
“We’re well ahead of time!” Hark protested, staring at the hands of the clock, blinking, and then holding it to his ear. If his watch was accurate—and still ticking away—then the carriage had brought him to Bogo Pass a full hour early.
He protested to the driver again: "Even if this is the right place, we arrived an hour early, so no one is waiting for me here. No one..."
It was no use. The merchant and the Gypsy mother and daughter looked at him with pity—while Ju seemed relieved, as if happy to be rid of him. The carriage door slammed shut, and when Huck looked at the driver again, he was already back in his seat, picking up the whip once more.
After a while, Haq stood alone on the Carpathian Mountains in the early morning night. The rumble of wheels and hooves had faded into the distance, occasionally punctuated by the crack of whips. Although they had arrived an hour earlier than planned, it was clear that neither the driver nor the passenger intended to linger in this area for even a minute longer.
What's that sound? Huck wondered, then suddenly turned his head to listen.
Was that really the howl of a wolf? In this desolate wilderness, far from the outskirts of London, he would believe it.
The distant, indistinct cries repeated themselves once more, but the next response came from right nearby. Unconsciously, Huck stepped back from the heavy luggage he had thrown to the ground, moving closer to the vaguely visible shrine or cross, as if in doing so he could cling to the closest sign of civilization, a symbol of humanity maintaining some foothold in this world.
Huck suddenly realized that the crosspost might be of some practical use—if he had indeed been dropped off in the wrong place and would have to find his way back to civilization himself after daybreak. Of course, in the pitch black, any letters or numbers would be difficult to discern, let alone the completely foreign language.
In fact, when Huck got close enough to see it clearly, he found the pillar really strange.
His first impression was clearly correct. A large cross, only strangely, upon which were carved life-sized statues of people being tortured, yet not entirely human.
He tentatively reached out and touched the legs. The wooden body was indeed human, but the head was a wolf's head.
Hack thought the strangest thing about this wooden house was its location—it seemed quite fitting.
Huck left the shrine—if you could call it that—and paced back and forth for a while, occasionally whistling or humming a tune. He tried not to think about any dangers or difficulties, but simply reviewed in his mind the deal he had come here to sign. It was quite complicated, as it involved the buying and selling of several properties.
Finally, he heard with a sigh of relief the warm sound of horses and wheels approaching, this time from the same direction he had just traveled. His eyes had adjusted considerably to the darkness, and he could see a barely noticeable fork in the road. There, on that fork, the headlights of the carriage appeared, moving swiftly forward.
Soon, the headlights were very close, so Huck could see them clearly. A completely black horse was pulling a semi-open two-wheeled carriage with a high driver's seat at the front.