Дракула / Dracula - стр. 18

20 July, 11 a.m. – The attendant said that Renfield was very sick and disgorged a whole lot of feathers. “I am sure, doctor,” he said, “that he has eaten his birds!”

26 July. – I am anxious. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan. I had not heard from Jonathan for some time; but yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a letter from him. 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.[74] Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided that I must lock the door of our room every night. Mrs. Westenra is naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy’s father, had the same habit.

27 July. – No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him. Lucy walks more than ever, and each night she moves about the room. Fortunately, the weather is so hot that she cannot get cold.

3 August. – Still no news from Jonathan, not even to Mr. Hawkins. Oh, I hope he is not ill. I look at his last letter, but somehow it does not satisfy me. I think it is not his letter writing. Lucy has not walked much in her sleep the last week, but even in her sleep she is watching me. She tries the door, and if it is locked, she goes about the room and searches for the key.

6 August. – Another three days, and no news. It is getting dreadful. Where to write? Where to go? No one has heard a word of Jonathan since that last letter. I must only pray to God for patience. Lucy is more excitable than ever.

One day the coastguard[75] came along, with his spyglass[76] under his arm. He stopped to talk with me, as he always does, but all the time he was looking at a strange ship.

“I can’t understand what ship it is,” he said. “Look there! Who is the captain? The ship changes about with every puff of wind.[77] We’ll hear more of this ship before this time tomorrow.”

9 August. Whitby. – As to the strange ship… There was a dead man steering it. The man was simply fastened by his hands, tied one over the other, to a spoke of the wheel. It is a Russian ship, and is called the Demeter.[78] There were some great wooden boxes filled with mould on it. This cargo was consigned to a Whitby solicitor, Mr. S. F. Billington,[79] of 7, The Crescent,[80] who this morning went aboard and took the boxes. There was a dog on the ship, but it ran away and nobody could find it.