19 May.--I am surely in the toils. Last night the Count asked me in the suavest tones to write three letters, one saying that my work here was nearly done, and that I should start for home within a few days, another that I was starting on the next morning from the time of the letter, and the third that I had left the castle and arrived at Bistritz. I would fain have rebelled, but felt that in the present state of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I am so absolutely in his power. And to refuse would be to excite his suspicion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much, and that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him. My only chance is to prolong my opportunities. Something may occur which will give me a chance to escape. I saw in his eyes something of that gathering wrath which was manifest when he hurled that fair woman from him. He explained to me that posts were few and uncertain, and that my writing now would ensure ease of mind to my friends. And he assured me with so much impressiveness that he would countermand the later letters, which would be held over at Bistritz until due time in case chance would admit of my prolonging my stay, that to oppose him would have been to create new suspicion. I therefore pretended to fall in with his views, and asked him what dates I should put on the letters.
He calculated a minute, and then said, "The first should be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June 29."
I know now the span of my life. God help me!
What is the point of these letters? Whom is Dracula trying to mislead?
Posted by: Leslie S. Klinger | May 23, 2009 at 12:04 AM
Hmmm... I assume they are intended for Mr Hawkins.
Apparently, Stoker had problems settling on dates for these three letters. This is what's recorded in his Notes (in his calendar of events). Note again that anything enclosed in was later deleted.
May 30:
June 5:
June 8:
June 12: 1st bogus letter dated
June 19: 2nd bogus letter - starting on 29th
June 26:
June 28: date of 3rd bogus letter
June 29:
All I can say is that I wouldn't want Bram looking after my Day Book! :)
Posted by: Elizabeth Miller | May 23, 2009 at 11:45 AM
OOPS! It seems that whenever I use the triangular brackets to indicate deletions, the whole line disappears!!! So what I wrote above makes little sense.
Here are the contents of the missing lines using quotation marks instead of triangular brackets to indicate what Stoker at some point deleted.
I hope this works!
May 30: "1st bogus letter saying going home soon"
June 5: "2nd bogus letter - starting tomorrow"
June 8: "3rd bogus letter - arrived at Bistritz"
June 26: "3rd bogus letter"
June 29: "3rd bogus letter dated"
Posted by: Elizabeth Miller | May 23, 2009 at 02:23 PM
Interestingly, the manuscript (typescript) has blanks for the dates, which have been inserted by hand (handwriting unidentifiable).
Posted by: Leslie S. Klinger | May 24, 2009 at 10:42 PM