I am anxious,and it soothes me to express myself here.

MINA MURRAY'S JOURNAL

26 July.--I am anxious,and it soothes me to express myself here. It is like whispering to one's self and listening at the same time. And there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it different from writing. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan. I had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned, but yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a letter from him. I had written asking him if he had heard, and he said the enclosed had just been received. It is only a line dated from Castle Dracula, and says that he is just starting for home. That is not like Jonathan. I do not understand it, and it makes me uneasy.

Then, too, Lucy , although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided that I am to lock the door of our room every night.

Mrs. Westenra has got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place.

Poor dear, she is naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy's father, had the same habit, that he would get up in the night and dress himself and go out, if he were not stopped.

Lucy is to be married in the autumn, and she is already planning out her dresses and how her house is to be arranged. I sympathise with her, for I do the same, only Jonathan and I will start in life in a very simple way, and shall have to try to make both ends meet.

Mr. Holmwood, he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only son of Lord Godalming, is coming up here very shortly, as soon as he can leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is counting the moments till he comes.

She wants to take him up in the seat on the churchyard cliff and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it is the waiting which disturbs her. She will be all right when he arrives.

Comments

[Most Significant]

“Then, too, Lucy, although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in her sleep.”

Even at this early stage, before the Count has even arrived in England, Mina seems to have an ongoing worry about Lucy’s health.

As for the sleepwalking, we learn that Lucy’s late father was a sleepwalker, and that she walked in her sleep as a child. So there is a genetic predisposition to it. Why has she started to sleepwalk again, after not sleepwalking for some time?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine lists a number of factors that are linked to sleepwalking. ( https://sleepeducation.org/sleep-disorders/sleepwalking/ ) Some of them may be linked to Lucy’s holiday: travel, sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings, and perhaps sleep deprivation caused by a change in routine.

Stress is another possibility: Lucy is planning her wedding to Arthur, which will be a huge change in her life. She can’t help but notice her mother’s poor health. She may have even seen or overheard something that made it clear just how serious the situation was. Having to keep her worries to herself could add even more stress.

[Bryan Alexander]

Great point. I wish I had time to dive into late Victorian thinking about sleepwalking.