Chapter Two of
When the calèche stopped, the
I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell or knocker
there was no sign; through these frowning walls and dark window openings it was
not likely that my voice could penetrate. The time I waited seemed endless, and
I felt doubts and fears crowding upon me. What sort of
Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a coming light. Then there was the sound of rattling chains and the clanking of massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud grating noise of long disuse, and the great door swung back.
Within, stood a tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white moustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of colour about him anywhere. He held in his hand an antique silver lamp, in which the flame burned without chimney or globe of any kind, throwing long quivering shadows as it flickered in the draught of the open door. The old man motioned me in with his right hand with a courtly gesture, saying in excellent English, but with a strange intonation:—
Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!
He made no motion
of stepping to meet me, but stood like a statue, as though his gesture of
welcome had fixed him into stone. The instant, however, that I had stepped over
the threshold, he moved impulsively forward, and holding out his hand grasped
mine with a strength which made me wince, an effect which was not lessened by
the fact that it seemed as cold as ice—more like the hand of a dead than a
living man. Again he said:—
Welcome to my house. Come Freely. Go safely; and
leave something of the happiness you bring!
The strength of the handshake
was so much akin to that which I had noticed in the driver, whose face I had not
seen, that for a moment I doubted if it were not the same person to whom I was
speaking; so to make sure, I said interrogatively:—
He bowed in a courtly
way as he replied:—
I am
As he was
speaking, he put the lamp on a bracket on the wall, and stepping out, took my
luggage; he had carried it in before I could forestall him. I protested but he
insisted:—
Nay, sir, you are my guest. It is late, and my people are not available. Let
me see to your comfort myself.
He insisted on carrying my traps along
the passage, and then up a great winding stair, and along another great passage,
on whose stone floor our steps rang heavily. At the end of this he threw open a
heavy door, and I rejoiced to see within a well-lit room in which a table was
spread for supper, and on whose mighty hearth a great fire of logs, freshly
replenished, flamed and flared.
You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your toilet.
I trust you will find all you wish. When you are ready, come into the other
room, where you will find your supper prepared.
The light and warmth and the
I found supper already laid out.
I pray you, be seated and sup how you please. You will, I trust, excuse me
that I do not join you; but I have dined already, and I do not sup.
I handed to him the sealed letter which
I must regret that an attack of gout, from which malady I am a constant
sufferer, forbids absolutely any travelling on my part for some time to
come; but I am happy to say I can send a sufficient substitute, one in whom
I have every possible confidence. He is a young man, full of energy and
talent in his own way, and of a very faithful disposition. He is discreet
and silent, and has grown into manhood in my service. He shall be ready to
attend on you when you will during his stay, and shall take your
instructions in all matters.
By this time I had finished my supper, and by my host’s desire had drawn up a chair by the fire and begun to smoke a cigar which he offered me, at the same time excusing himself that he did not smoke. I had now an opportunity of observing him, and found him of a very marked physiognomy.
His face was a strong—a very strong—aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.
Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees in the
firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine; but seeing them now close
to me, I could not but notice that they were rather coarse—broad, with squat
fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in the centre of the palm. The nails
were long and fine, and cut to a sharp point. As
Listen to them—the children of the night. What music they make!
Seeing, I
suppose, some expression in my face strange to him, he added:—
Ah, sir, you dwellers in the city cannot enter into the feelings of the
hunter.
Then he rose and said:—
But you must be tired. Your bedroom is all ready, and
With a courteous bow, he opened for me himself the door to the
octagonal room, and I entered my bedroom....
I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me!
I have to be absent for a while. Do not wait for me.—
I set to and enjoyed a hearty meal.
When I had done, I looked for a bell, so that I might let the servants know
I had finished; but I could not find one. There are certainly odd
deficiencies in the house, considering the extraordinary evidences of wealth
which are round me. The table service is of gold, and so beautifully wrought
that it must be of immense value. The curtains and upholstery of the chairs
and sofas and the hangings of my bed are of the costliest and most beautiful
fabrics, and must have been of fabulous value when they were made, for they
are centuries old, though in excellent order. I saw something like them in
In the library I found, to my great delight, a vast number of English books,
whole shelves full of them, and bound volumes of magazines and newspapers. A
table in the centre was littered with English magazines and newspapers,
though none of them were of very recent date. The books were of the most
varied kind—history, geography, politics, political economy, botany,
geology, law—all relating to
Whilst I was looking at the books, the door opened, and the
I am glad you found your way in here, for I am sure there is much that
will interest you. These companions
—and he laid his hand on some of
the books—“have been good friends to me, and for some years past, ever since
I had the idea of going to
But,
I said, you know
and speak English thoroughly!
He bowed gravely.
I thank you, my friend, for your all too-flattering estimate, but yet I
fear that I am but a little way on the road I would travel. True, I know
the grammar and the words, but yet I know not how to speak them.
Indeed,
I said, you speak excellently.
Not so,
he answered. Well, I know that, did I move and speak in
your
Ha, ha! a stranger!
I have been so long master
that I would be master still—or at least that none other should be
master of me. You come to me not alone as agent of my friend
Of course I said all I could about being willing, and asked if I might come
into that room when I chose. He answered: Yes, certainly,
and
added:—
You may go anywhere you wish in the
I said I was sure of this, and then
he went on:—
We are in
This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he wanted to talk,
if only for talking’s sake, I asked him many questions regarding things that
had already happened to me or come within my notice. Sometimes he sheered
off the subject, or turned the conversation by pretending not to understand;
but generally he answered all I asked most frankly. Then as time went on,
and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked him of some of the strange things of
the preceding night, as, for instance, why the coachman went to the places
where he had seen the blue flames. He then explained to me that it was
commonly believed that on a certain night of the year—last night , in fact, when all evil spirits are supposed to have
unchecked sway—a blue flame is seen over any place where treasure has been
concealed. That treasure has been hidden,
he went on, in the
region through which you came last night,
there can be but little doubt; for it was the ground fought over for
centuries by the
But how,
said I, can it have remained so long undiscovered, when
there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to
look?
Because your peasant is at heart a coward and a fool! Those flames only
appear on one night ; and on that night no
man of this land will, if he can help it, stir without his doors. And,
dear sir, even if he did he would not know what to do. Why, even the
peasant that you tell me of who marked the place of the flame would not
know where to look in daylight even for his own work. Even you would
not, I dare be sworn, be able to find these places again?
There you are right,
I said. I know no more than the dead where
even to look for them.
Then we drifted into other matters.
Come,
he said at last, tell me of
With an apology for my remissness, I went into my
own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in order I
heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room, and as I passed
through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the lamp lit, for it
was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps were also lit in the study or
library, and I found the
Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there I
shall be all alone, and my friend
We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the
At
The estate is called
When I had finished, he said:
I am glad that it is old and big. I myself am of an old family, and to
live in a new house would kill me. A house cannot be made habitable in a
day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I rejoice
also that there is a chapel of old times. We
Somehow
his words and his look did not seem to accord, or else it was that his cast
of face made his smile look malignant and saturnine.
Presently, with an excuse, he left me, asking me to put all my papers
together. He was some little time away, and I began to look at some of the
books around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened naturally at
It was the better part of an hour when Aha!
he said; still at your books?
Good! But you must not work always. Come; I am informed that your supper
is ready.
He took my arm, and we went into the next room, where I
found an excellent supper ready on the table.
Why, there is the morning
and, with a courtly bow,
he quickly left me.
I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was little to notice; my window opened into the courtyard, all I could see was the warm grey of quickening sky. So I pulled the curtains again, and have written of this day.
I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that I could not
sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass by the window, and was
just beginning to shave. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder, and heard
the Count’s voice saying to me, “Good-morning.” I started, for it amazed me
that I had not seen him, since the reflection of the glass covered the whole
room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, but did not notice it
at the moment. Having answered
Take care,
he said, take care how you cut yourself. It is more
dangerous than you think in this country.
Then seizing the shaving
glass, he went on: And this is the wretched thing that has done the
mischief. It is a foul bauble of man’s vanity. Away with it!
and
opening the heavy window with one wrench of his terrible hand, he flung out
the glass, which was shattered into a thousand pieces on the stones of the
courtyard far below. Then he withdrew without a word. It is very annoying,
for I do not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or the bottom of
the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal.
When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared; but I could not
find
But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen the view I explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and all locked and bolted. In no place save from the windows in the castle walls is there an available exit.
Come Freely,is confusing the place-myth associated with the
Emily Gerard, a major source of information used by Bram Stoker in researching Transylvania, noted that St. George’s Day was among the most important of the year, and one that had a number of occult associations. At midnight, the witches would gather for their sabbath and peasants would put up such barriers as hawthorn or garlic to protect their homes and stables against the witches. Many would sleep with their animals in an all-night vigil. Even more than All Saints Eve, St. George’s Day was thought to be the time of the most activity of the spirits of the dead.