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1As to the disposal of forces, it was suggested by the Professor that, after our visit to Carfax, we should all enter the
2house in Piccadilly; that the two doctors and I should remain there, whilst Lord Godalming and Quincey found the lairs
3at Walworth and Mile End and destroyed them. It was possible, if not likely, the Professor urged, that the Count might
4appear in Piccadilly during the day, and that if so we might be able to cope with him then and there. At any rate, we
5might be able to follow him in force. To this plan I strenuously objected, and so far as my going was concerned, for I
6said that I intended to stay and protect Mina, I thought that my mind was made up on the subject; but Mina would not
7listen to my objection. She said that there might be some law matter in which I could be useful; that amongst the
8Count's papers might be some clue which I could understand out of my experience in Transylvania; and that, as it was,
9all the strength we could muster was required to cope with the Count's extraordinary power. I had to give in, for Mina's
10resolution was fixed; she said that it was the last hope for her that we should all work together. "As for me," she
11said, "I have no fear. Things have been as bad as they can be; and whatever may happen must have in it some element of
12hope or comfort. Go, my husband! God can, if He wishes it, guard me as well alone as with any one present." So I started
13up crying out: "Then in God's name let us come at once, for we are losing time. The Count may come to Piccadilly earlier
14than we think." "Not so!" said Van Helsing, holding up his hand. "But why?" I asked. "Do you forget," he said, with
15actually a smile, "that last night he banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?" Did I forget! shall I ever--can I ever!
16Can any of us ever forget that terrible scene! Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance; but the pain
17overmastered her and she put her hands before her face, and shuddered whilst she moaned. Van Helsing had not intended to
18recall her frightful experience. He had simply lost sight of her and her part in the affair in his intellectual effort.
19When it struck him what he said, he was horrified at his thoughtlessness and tried to comfort her. "Oh, Madam Mina," he
20said, "dear, dear Madam Mina, alas! that I of all who so reverence you should have said anything so forgetful. These
21stupid old lips of mine and this stupid old head do not deserve so; but you will forget it, will you not?" He bent low
22beside her as he spoke; she took his hand, and looking at him through her tears, said hoarsely:-- "No, I shall not
23forget, for it is well that I remember; and with it I have so much in memory of you that is sweet, that I take it all
24together. Now, you must all be going soon. Breakfast is ready, and we must all eat that we may be strong." Breakfast was
25a strange meal to us all. We tried to be cheerful and encourage each other, and Mina was the brightest and most cheerful
26of us. When it was over, Van Helsing stood up and said:-- "Now, my dear friends, we go forth to our terrible enterprise.
27Are we all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's lair; armed against ghostly as well as
28carnal attack?" We all assured him. "Then it is well. Now, Madam Mina, you are in any case quite safe here until the
29sunset; and before then we shall return--if---- We shall return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal
30attack. I have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing of things of which we know, so that He
31may not enter. Now let me guard yourself. On your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the name of the Father,
32the Son, and----" There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hear. As he had placed the Wafer on Mina's
33forehead, it had seared it--had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metal. My poor
34darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as her nerves received the pain of it; and the two
35so overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream. But the words to her thought came
36quickly; the echo of the scream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her
37knees on the floor in an agony of abasement. Pulling her beautiful hair over her face, as the leper of old his mantle,
38she wailed out:-- "Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must bear this mark of shame upon my
39forehead until the Judgment Day." They all paused. I had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless grief, and
40putting my arms around held her tight. For a few minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around
41us turned away their eyes that ran tears silently. Then Van Helsing turned and said gravely; so gravely that I could not
42help feeling that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things outside himself:-- "It may be that you may have to
43bear that mark till God himself see fit, as He most surely shall, on the Judgment Day, to redress all wrongs of the
44earth and of His children that He has placed thereon. And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there
45to see, when that red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, and leave your forehead as
46pure as the heart we know. For so surely as we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the burden
47that is hard upon us. Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His Will. It may be that we are chosen
48instruments of His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through stripes and shame; through
49tears and blood; through doubts and fears, and all that makes the difference between God and man." There was hope in his
50words, and comfort; and they made for resignation. Mina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the
51old man's hands and bent over and kissed it. Then without a word we all knelt down together, and, all holding hands,
52swore to be true to each other. We men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in
53his own way, we loved; and we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task which lay before us. It was then time to
54start. So I said farewell to Mina, a parting which neither of us shall forget to our dying day; and we set out. To one
55thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that
56unknown and terrible land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant many; just as their hideous
57bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks. We
58entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on the first occasion. It was hard to believe that
59amongst so prosaic surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such fear as already we knew. Had
60not our minds been made up, and had there not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded with
61our task. We found no papers, or any sign of use in the house; and in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we
62had seen them last. Dr. Van Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before them:--
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