From Dracula,
chapter 13
We
came back to town quietly, taking a bus to Hyde Park Corner. Jonathan thought
it would interest me to go into the Row for a while, so we sat down. But there were
very few people there, and it was sad-looking and desolate to see so many empty
chairs. It made us think of the empty chair at home. So we got up and walked
down Piccadilly. Jonathan was holding me by the arm, the way he used to in the
old days before I went to school. I felt it very improper, for you can't go on
for some years teaching etiquette and decorum to other girls without the
pedantry of it biting into yourself a bit. But it was Jonathan, and he was my
husband, and we didn't know anybody who saw us, and we didn't care if they did,
so on we walked. I was looking at a very beautiful girl, in a big cart-wheel
hat, sitting in a victoria outside Guiliano's, when I felt Jonathan clutch my arm so tight
that he hurt me, and he said under his breath, "My God!"
I am always anxious about Jonathan, for I fear that some nervous
fit may upset him again. So I turned to him quickly, and asked him what it was
that disturbed him.
He was very pale, and his eyes seemed bulging out as, half in
terror and half in amazement, he gazed at a tall, thin man, with a beaky nose
and black moustache and pointed beard, who was also observing the pretty girl.
He was looking at her so hard that he did not see either of us, and so I had a
good view of him. His face was not a good face. It was hard, and cruel, and
sensual, and big white teeth, that looked all the whiter because his lips were
so red, were pointed like an animal's. Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was
afraid he would notice. I feared he might take it ill,
he looked so fierce and nasty. I asked Jonathan why he was disturbed, and he
answered, evidently thinking that I knew as much about it as he did, "Do
you see who it is?"
"No, dear," I said. "I don't know him, who is
it?" His answer seemed to shock and thrill me,
for it was said as if he did not know that it was me, Mina, to whom he was
speaking. "It is the man himself!"
The poor dear was evidently terrified at something, very greatly
terrified. I do believe that if he had not had me to lean on and to support him
he would have sunk down. He kept staring. A man came out of the shop with a
small parcel, and gave it to the lady, who then drove off. The dark man kept
his eyes fixed on her, and when the carriage moved up Piccadilly he followed in
the same direction, and hailed a hansom. Jonathan kept looking after him, and
said, as if to himself,
"I believe it is the Count, but he has grown young. My God,
if this be so! Oh, my God! My God! If only I knew! If only I knew!" He was
distressing himself so much that I feared to keep his mind on the subject by
asking him any questions, so I remained silent. I drew away quietly, and he,
holding my arm, came easily. We walked a little further, and then went in and
sat for a while in the Green Park. It was a hot day for autumn, and there was a
comfortable seat in a shady place. After a few minutes' staring at nothing,
Jonathan's eyes closed, and he went quickly into a sleep, with his head on my
shoulder.