Dracula

JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL-continued5 May.-I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully awake I must have noticedthe approach of such a remarkable place. In the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size, and as several dark ways led from it under great round arches, it perhaps seemed bigger than itreally is. I have not yet been able to see it by daylight.When the calèche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand to assist me toalight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious strength. His hand actually seemed like a steelvice that could have crushed mine if he had chosen. Then he took out my traps, and placed themon the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and studded with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of massive stone. I could see even in the dim light that the stonewas massively carved, but that the carving had been much worn by time and weather. As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the reins; the horses started forward, and trap andall disappeared down one of the dark openings.I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do. Of bell or knocker there was nosign; through these frowning walls and dark window openings it was not likely that my voicecould penetrate. The time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding uponme. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? What sort of grimadventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a customary incident in the life of asolicitor's clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner? Solicitor'sclerk! Mina would not like that. Solicitor-for just before leaving London I got word that myexamination was successful; and I am now a full-blown solicitor! I began to rub my eyes andpinch myself to see if I were awake. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I expectedthat I should suddenly awake, and find myself at home, with the dawn struggling in through thewindows, as I had now and again felt in the morning after a day of overwork. But my fleshanswered the pinching test, and my eyes were not to be deceived. I was indeed awake and amongthe Carpathians. All I could do now was to be patient, and to wait the coming of the morning.Just as I had come to this conclusion I heard a heavy step approaching behind the great door, and saw through the chinks the gleam of a coming light. Then there was the sound of rattlingchains and the clanking of massive bolts drawn back. A key was turned with the loud gratingnoise of long disuse, and the great door swung back.