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1"We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many
2strange things. Nay, from what you have told me of your experiences already, you know something of what strange things
3there may be." This led to much conversation; and as it was evident that he wanted to talk, if only for talking's sake,
4I asked him many questions regarding things that had already happened to me or come within my notice. Sometimes he
5sheered off the subject, or turned the conversation by pretending not to understand; but generally he answered all I
6asked most frankly. Then as time went on, and I had got somewhat bolder, I asked him of some of the strange things of
7the preceding night, as, for instance, why the coachman went to the places where he had seen the blue flames. He then
8explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a certain night of the year--last night, in fact, when all evil
9spirits are supposed to have unchecked sway--a blue flame is seen over any place where treasure has been concealed.
10"That treasure has been hidden," he went on, "in the region through which you came last night, there can be but little
11doubt; for it was the ground fought over for centuries by the Wallachian, the Saxon, and the Turk. Why, there is hardly
12a foot of soil in all this region that has not been enriched by the blood of men, patriots or invaders. In old days
13there were stirring times, when the Austrian and the Hungarian came up in hordes, and the patriots went out to meet
14them--men and women, the aged and the children too--and waited their coming on the rocks above the passes, that they
15might sweep destruction on them with their artificial avalanches. When the invader was triumphant he found but little,
16for whatever there was had been sheltered in the friendly soil." "But how," said I, "can it have remained so long
17undiscovered, when there is a sure index to it if men will but take the trouble to look?" The Count smiled, and as his
18lips ran back over his gums, the long, sharp, canine teeth showed out strangely; he answered:-- "Because your peasant is
19at 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
20can help it, stir without his doors. And, dear sir, even if he did he would not know what to do. Why, even the peasant
21that you tell me of who marked the place of the flame would not know where to look in daylight even for his own work.
22Even you would not, I dare be sworn, be able to find these places again?" "There you are right," I said. "I know no more
23than the dead where even to look for them." Then we drifted into other matters. "Come," he said at last, "tell me of
24London and of the house which you have procured for me." With an apology for my remissness, I went into my own room to
25get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing them in order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room,
26and as I passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and the lamp lit, for it was by this time deep into the
27dark. The lamps were also lit in the study or library, and I found the Count lying on the sofa, reading, of all things
28in the world, an English Bradshaw's Guide. When I came in he cleared the books and papers from the table; and with him I
29went into plans and deeds and figures of all sorts. He was interested in everything, and asked me a myriad questions
30about the place and its surroundings. He clearly had studied beforehand all he could get on the subject of the
31neighbourhood, for he evidently at the end knew very much more than I did. When I remarked this, he answered:-- "Well,
32but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go there I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker
33Jonathan--nay, pardon me, I fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first--my friend Jonathan Harker
34will not be by my side to correct and aid me. He will be in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of the law
35with my other friend, Peter Hawkins. So!" We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate at
36Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to the necessary papers, and had written a letter with
37them ready to post to Mr. Hawkins, he began to ask me how I had come across so suitable a place. I read to him the notes
38which I had made at the time, and which I inscribe here:-- "At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place
39as seemed to be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the place was for sale. It is surrounded by
40a high wall, of ancient structure, built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large number of years. The
41closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with rust. "The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of
42the old Quatre Face, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of the compass. It contains in all
43some twenty acres, quite surrounded by the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many trees on it, which make it
44in places gloomy, and there is a deep, dark-looking pond or small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the water is
45clear and flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is very large and of all periods back, I should say, to mediæval
46times, for one part is of stone immensely thick, with only a few windows high up and heavily barred with iron. It looks
47like part of a keep, and is close to an old chapel or church. I could not enter it, as I had not the key of the door
48leading to it from the house, but I have taken with my kodak views of it from various points. The house has been added
49to, but in a very straggling way, and I can only guess at the amount of ground it covers, which must be very great.
50There are but few houses close at hand, one being a very large house only recently added to and formed into a private
51lunatic asylum. It is not, however, visible from the grounds." When I had finished, he said:-- "I am glad that it is old
52and 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
53day; and, after all, how few days go to make up a century. I rejoice also that there is a chapel of old times. We
54Transylvanian nobles love not to think that our bones may lie amongst the common dead. I seek not gaiety nor mirth, not
55the bright voluptuousness of much sunshine and sparkling waters which please the young and gay. I am no longer young;
56and my heart, through weary years of mourning over the dead, is not attuned to mirth. Moreover, the walls of my castle
57are broken; the shadows are many, and the wind breathes cold through the broken battlements and casements. I love the
58shade and the shadow, and would be alone with my thoughts when I may." Somehow his words and his look did not seem to
59accord, or else it was that his cast of face made his smile look malignant and saturnine. Presently, with an excuse, he
60left 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
61around me. One was an atlas, which I found opened naturally at England, as if that map had been much used. On looking at
62it I found in certain places little rings marked, and on examining these I noticed that one was near London on the east
63side, manifestly where his new estate was situated; the other two were Exeter, and Whitby on the Yorkshire coast.
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