CHAPTER IV
JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL---continued
29 June.---To-day is the date of my last letter, and the Count has taken steps to prove that it was genuine, for again I saw him leave the castle by the same window, and in my clothes. As he went down the wall, lizard fashion, I wished I had a gun or some lethal weapon, that I might destroy him; but I fear that no weapon wrought alone by man's hand would have any effect on him. I dared not wait to see him return, for I feared to see those weird sisters. I came back to the library, and read there till I fell asleep.
I was awakened by the Count, who looked at me as grimly as a man can look as he said:---
"To-morrow, my friend, we must part. You return to your beautiful England, I to some work which may have such an end that we may never meet. Your letter home has been despatched; to-morrow I shall not be here, but all shall be ready for your journey. In the morning come the Szgany, who have some labours of their own here, and also come some Slovaks. When they have gone, my carriage shall come for you, and shall bear you to the Borgo Pass to meet the diligence from Bukovina to Bistritz. But I am in hopes that I shall see more of you at Castle Dracula." I suspected him, and determined to test his sincerity. Sincerity! It seems like a profanation of the word to write it in connection with such a monster, so asked him point-blank:---
"Why may I not go to-night?"
"Because, dear sir, my coachman and horses are away on a mission."
"But I would walk with pleasure. I want to get away at once." He smiled, such a soft, smooth, diabolical smile that I knew there was some trick behind his smoothness. He said:---
"And your baggage?"
"I do not care about it. I can send for it some other time."
The Count stood up, and said, with a sweet courtesy which made me rub my eyes, it seemed so real:---
"You English have a saying which is close to my heart, for its spirit is that which rules our boyars: 'Welcome the coming; speed the parting guest.' Come with me, my dear young friend. Not an hour shall you wait in my house against your will, though sad am I at your going, and that you so suddenly desire it. Come!" With a stately gravity, he, with the lamp, preceded me down the stairs and along the hall. Suddenly he stopped.
"Hark!"
Close at hand came the howling of many wolves. It was almost as if the sound sprang up at the rising of his hand, just as the music of a great orchestra seems to leap under the bâton of the conductor. After a pause of a moment, he proceeded, in his stately way, to the door, drew back the ponderous bolts, unhooked the heavy chains, and began to draw it open.
To my intense astonishment I saw that it was unlocked. Suspiciously, I looked all round, but could see no key of any kind.
As the door began to open, the howling of the wolves without grew louder and angrier; their red jaws, with champing teeth, and their blunt-clawed feet as they leaped, came in through the opening door. I knew then that to struggle at the moment against the Count was useless. With such allies as these at his command, I could do nothing. But still the door continued slowly to open, and only the Count's body stood in the gap. Suddenly it struck me that this might be the moment and means of my doom; I was to be given to the wolves, and at my own instigation. There was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and as a last chance I cried out:---
"Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment. With one sweep of his powerful arm, the Count threw the door shut, and the great bolts clanged and echoed through the hall as they shot back into their places.
In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went to my own room. The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand to me; with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of.
When I was in my room and about to lie down, I thought I heard a whispering at my door. I went to it softly and listened. Unless my ears deceived me, I heard the voice of the Count:---
"Back, back, to your own place! Your time is not yet come. Wait! Have patience! To-night is mine. To-morrow night is yours!" There was a low, sweet ripple of laughter, and in a rage I threw open the door, and saw without the three terrible women licking their lips. As I appeared they all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away.
I came back to my room and threw myself on my knees. It is then so near the end? To-morrow! to-morrow! Lord, help me, and those to whom I am dear!
Frankly that might have been his best shot at getting away. Clearly Dracula has had enough of Harker's BS and is condemning him to something horrific. But Dracula still is acting aristocratic and indulgent. He's Lawful Evil. Kinda like a genie who will try to screw you over but is obeying norms and regulations.
So there probably is some set of utterances and actions that Harker can make, that will get him out of there unscathed. After all, Dracula doesn't just take Harker out to the woods, force him to dig his own grave, then shoot him in the back of the head. Dracula probably wouldn't let the wolves tear him to pieces in the foyer when there are much easier ways to get rid of Harker - obviously that is just meant to intimidate him. I think Harker would need to retain his nerve and call Dracula's bluff with the wolves. Then he'd have to say something to Dracula to convince him that Harker is better left alive and unharmed.
It kind of reminds me of the ending of John Grisham's The Firm.
In that story, the MC discovers that he's working for a law firm that works for The Mob. MC is contacted by the FBI, who threaten him. Then The Firm (and the mob) get suspicious of MC and everyone's about to wreck him. In the movie (not the book), MC resolves this by going to the Mob and informing them that they're being overbilled by The Firm, that he wants to hand over the overbilling info to the FBI, and that anything else he knows about their dealings is protected by attorney-client privilege as long as MC is still alive. The FBI is mad that MC doesn't turn full snitch, but they deal with the fact that they have enough to take down The Firm (and presumably to continue pursuing the Mob.) The Mob let him go bc the FBI is thus distracted by taking down The FIrm, who were screwing over the Mob.It's a much different circumstance, but the point is that this doesn't seem to be a hopeless situation. Instead of whining and daydreaming about guns, Harker oughta be seeking information, considering the implications of what he knows, and developing an appropriate strategy, and in fact the problem seems resolvable by legalistic thinking which oughta be his forte. Unfortunately Harker's kindof incompetent.
I'm not really sure what it is you want him to do. What kind of information might he be able to seek out? Who might he be able to take it to?
Dunno, I'm not very good at this sort of thing. I think he wants to convince Dracula to keep him alive and untormented. So maybe he could find some detail in the legal proceedings that require him (Harker) to present himself alive and untortured to a magistrate (or something) in London or else the Dracula deal falls through. If no such detail exists, he could put it in.
It kind of reminds me of a scene from the Daredevil TV show.
Daredevil's friend is in the ER of a hospital. A bunch of patients are in the same room. One of the patients is a gangster who is brought in with a cop who has a gun. The gangster sees a rival there and they start cursing each other, til the first gangster grabs the cop's gun and is just about to shoot his rival. Then Daredevil's friend (who is a lawyer) is like: calm down, buddy. What are you in for? Well I'm a lawyer and I can tell you that if you shoot him then no lawyer on the planet will be able to help you. But if you just drop the gun, you might get off with a couple months. And he basically convinces the gangster to drop the gun, just by thinking like a lawyer.There's also this scene is Kurasawa's movie Sanjuro.
These young samurai are plotting against a local official who is corrupt. But they've been betrayed and are surrounded. They're about to go meet certain death by fighting when the ronin drifter who happened to be nearby convinces them to sheathe their swords and hide. Through bluff and skill he convinces the surrounding people to leave without searching for the young samurai, who thus survive.Harker's trying to beat Dracula at Dracula's game, but Harker really oughta be trying to beat Dracula at Harker's game. Get inside his decision loop.
...Yeah I know, that's not the story that Stoker's telling...
Honestly, I never found Johnathan to be the best character in the book. He'd just a random guy hit hard by horrible circonstances. I like the Dr Van Helsing and the Doctor Sewards more. Later in the Nobel, they proved to be man of action while havening an interesting personal story.