Dracula Guest

They were accompanied by a sort of far away rushing sound, through which seemed to come at intervals that mysterious cry which the driver had said came from a wolf.

Here we came across a stray carriage into which I was lifted , and it was driven off to the Quatre Saisons--the young officer accompanying me, whilst a trooper followed with his horse, and the others rode off to their barracks.

He replied simply that he was more than glad, and that Herr Delbruck had at the first taken steps to make all the searching party pleased; at which ambiguous utterance the maitre d'hotel smiled, while the officer plead duty and withdrew.

When we arrived, Herr Delbruck rushed so quickly down the steps to meet me, that it was apparent he had been watching within.

Every now and then the heavens were torn asunder by vivid lightning, and in the flashes I could see ahead of me a great mass of trees, chiefly yew and cypress all heavily coated with snow.

As I held the telegram in my hand, the room seemed to whirl around me, and if the attentive maitre d'hotel had not caught me, I think I should have fallen.

As the snow had ceased to fall, I walked out from the shelter and began to investigate more closely.

It struck me that it was considerably colder than it had been at the commencement of my walk--a sort of sighing sound seemed to be around me with, now and then, high overhead, a sort of muffled roar.

I took from the seat my oak walking stick--which I always carry on my holiday excursions--and closed the door, pointing back to Munich, and said, "Go home, Johann--Walpurgis nacht doesn't concern Englishmen."

At the same time I had a strange, dominating feeling that I was not alone.

At the same time I had a strange, dominating feeling that I was not alone.

I pitied the poor fellow, he was so deeply in earnest; but all the same I could not help laughing.

Johann answered with an emphatic, "Ja, mein Herr," and, touching his hat, drove off quickly.

A vast stillness enveloped me, as though all the world were asleep or dead--only broken by the low panting as of some animal close to me.

"Dog! That was no dog," cut in the man who had exhibited such fear.

He shrugged his shoulders, as if in depreciation of his own deed, as he replied, "I was so fortunate as to obtain leave from the commander of the regiment in which I serve, to ask for volunteers."

But I did not notice this particularly till, on turning a bend in the road, I came upon a scattered fringe of wood; then I recognized that I had been impressed unconsciously by the desolation of the region through which I had passed.

With a despairing gesture, Johann turned his horses towards Munich.

Through my eyelashes I saw above me the two great flaming eyes of a gigantic wolf.

Darker and darker grew the sky, and faster and heavier fell the snow, till the earth before and around me was a glistening white carpet the further edge of which was lost in misty vagueness.

Johann looked under his lifted hand at the horizon and said, "The storm of snow, he comes before long time."

Impelled by some sort of fascination, I approached the sepulchre to see what it was and why such a thing stood alone in such a place.

The answer came variously and all indefinitely as though the men were moved by some common impulse to speak yet were restrained by some common fear from giving their thoughts.

They were accompanied by a sort of far away rushing sound, through which seemed to come at intervals that mysterious cry which the driver had said came from a wolf.

There were signs of a coming storm in some lofty stratum of the air.

It seemed as if his imagination had got hold of him, and he ended in a perfect paroxysm of fear--white-faced, perspiring, trembling, and looking round him as if expecting that some dreadful presence would manifest itself there in the bright sunshine on the open plain.

Just as I caught sight of this, however, the drifting clouds obscured the moon, and I passed up the path in darkness.

I felt a little obstinate and did not at once get into the carriage.

There was something so strange in all this, something so weird and impossible to imagine, that there grew on me a sense of my being in some way the sport of opposite forces--the mere vague idea of which seemed in a way to paralyze me.

It seemed as if his imagination had got hold of him, and he ended in a perfect paroxysm of fear--white-faced, perspiring, trembling, and looking round him as if expecting that some dreadful presence would manifest itself there in the bright sunshin

The ground I passed over was now much more picturesque.

This somewhat piqued my curiosity, so I asked him various questions.

The road was pretty bleak, for we were traversing a sort of high windswept plateau.

He replied simply that he was more than glad, and that Herr Delbruck had at the first taken steps to make all the searching party pleased; at which ambiguous utterance the maitre d'hotel smiled, while the officer plead duty and withdrew.

Be careful of my guest--his safety is most precious to me.

The whole thing was so sudden that, before I could realize the shock, moral as well as physical, I found the hailstones beating me down.

But I did not notice this particularly till, on turning a bend in the road, I came upon a scattered fringe of wood; then I recognized that I had been impressed unconsciously by the desolation of the region through which I had passed.

At the first I had rushed to the nearest tree; but I was soon fain to leave it and seek the only spot that seemed to afford refuge, the deep Doric doorway of the marble tomb.

He shrugged his shoulders, as if in depreciation of his own deed, as he replied, "I was so fortunate as to obtain leave from the commander of the regiment in which I serve, to ask for volunteers."

The horses were now more restive than ever, and Johann was trying to hold them in, while excitedly imploring me not to do anything so foolish.

The answer came variously and all indefinitely as though the men were moved by some common impulse to speak yet were restrained by some common fear from giving their thoughts.

The answer came variously and all indefinitely as though the men were moved by some common impulse to speak yet were restrained by some common fear from giving their thoughts.

The officer saluted me and was turning to withdraw, when I recognized his purpose and insisted that he should come to my rooms.

The last thing I heard was this mingling of dreadful sound, as again I was seized in the giant grasp and dragged away, while the hailstones beat on me and the air around seemed reverberant with the howling of wolves.

There was an icy feeling at the back of my neck and all down my spine, and my ears, like my feet, were dead yet in torment; but there was in my breast a sense of warmth which was by comparison delicious.

The ground shook as though thousands of horses thundered across it; and this time the storm bore on its icy wings, not snow, but great hailstones which drove with such violence that they might have come from the thongs of Balearic slingers--hailstones that beat down leaf and branch and made the shelter of the cypresses of no more avail than though their stems were standing corn.

There were signs of a coming storm in some lofty stratum of the air.

Just then there came another blinding flash which seemed to strike the iron stake that surmounted the tomb and to pour through to the earth, blasting and crumbling the marble, as in a burst of flame.

It began to be a little tedious.

The shelter of even a tomb was welcome in that pitiless tempest and I was about to enter it when there came a flash of forked lightning that lit up the whole expanse of the heavens.

There was an icy feeling at the back of my neck and all down my spine, and my ears, like my feet, were dead yet in torment; but there was in my breast a sense of warmth which was by comparison delicious.

The road was pretty bleak, for we were traversing a sort of high windswept plateau.

They drew together, uttering frightened exclamations; and the lights flashed as the others came pouring out of the cemetery pell-mell, like men possessed.

Then some brandy was poured down my throat; it put vigor into me, and I was able to open my eyes fully and look around.