Our hope now is in knowing allTell freely!" So Art went on, "He had been there, and though it could only have been for a few seconds, he made rare hay of the placeAll the manuscript had been burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashesThe cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax had helped the flames Here I interrupted"Thank God there is the other copy in the safe!" His face lit for a moment, but fell again as he went on"I ran downstairs then, but could see no sign of himI looked into Renfield's room, but there was no trace there except?" Again he paused "Go on," said Harker hoarselySo he bowed his head and moistening his lips with his tongue, added, "except that the poor fellow is deadHarker raised her head, looking from one to the other of us she said solemnly, "God's will be done!" I could not but feel that Art was keeping back somethingBut, as I took it that it was with a purpose, I said nothing Van Helsing turned to Morris and asked, "And you, friend Quincey, have you any to tell?" "A little," he answered"It may be much eventually, but at present I can't sayI thought it well to know if possible where the Count would go when he left the houseI did not see him, but I saw a bat rise from Renfield's window, and flap westwardI expected to see him in some shape go back to Carfax, but he evidently sought some other lairHe will not be back tonight, for the sky is reddening in the east, and the dawn is closeWe must work tomorrow!" He said the latter words through his shut teethFor a space of perhaps a couple of minutes there was silence, and I could fancy that I could hear the sound of our hearts beating Then Van Helsing said, placing his hand tenderly on MrsHarker's head, "And now, Madam Mina, poor dear, dear, Madam Mina, tell us exactly what happenedGod knows that I do not want that you be pained, but it is need that we know allFor now more than ever has all work to be done quick and sharp, and in deadly earnestThe day is close to us that must end all, if it may be so, and now is the chance that we may live and learn The poor dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and lower still on his breastThen she raised her head proudly, and held out one hand to Van Helsing who took it in his, and after stooping and kissing it reverently, held it fastThe other hand was locked in that of her husband, who held his other arm thrown round her protectinglyAfter a pause in which she was evidently ordering her thoughts, she began "I took the sleeping draught which you had so kindly given me, but for a long time it did not actI seemed to become more wakeful, and myriads of horrible fancies began to crowd in upon my mindAll of them connected with death, and vampires, with blood, and pain, and trouble Her husband involuntarily groaned as she turned to him and said lovingly, "Do not fret, dearYou must be brave and strong, and help me through the horrible taskIf you only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I need your helpWell, I saw I must try to help the medicine to its work with my will, if it was to do me any good, so I resolutely set myself to sleepSure enough sleep must soon have come to me, for I remember no moreJonathan coming in had not waked me, for he lay by my side when next I rememberThere was in the room the same thin white mist that I had before noticedBut I forget now if you know of shop this

That letter was for some time in the writer?s hands The author hopes she has done justice to that nobility, generosity, and humanity, which in many cases characterize individuals at the, SouthSuch instances save us from utter despair of our kindBut, she asks any person, who knows the world, are such characters common, anywhere? For many years of her life, the author avoided all reading upon or allusion to the subject of slavery, considering it as too painful to be inquired into, and one which advancing light and civlization would certainly live downBut, since the legislative act of 1850, when she heard, with perfect surprise and consternation, Christian and humane people actually recommending the remanding escaped fugitives into slavery, as a duty binding on good citizens,?when she heard, on all hands, from kind, compassionate and estimable people, in the free states of the North, deliberations and discussions as to what Christian duty could be on this head,?she could only think, These men and Christians cannot know what slavery is; if they did, such a question could never be open for discussionAnd from this arose a desire to exhibit it in a living dramatic realityShe has endeavored to show it fairly, in its best and its worst phasesIn its best aspect, she has, perhaps, been successful; but, oh! who shall say what yet remains untold in that valley and shadow of death, that lies the other side? To you, generous, noble-minded men and women, of the South,?you, whose virtue, and magnanimity and purity of character, are the greater for the severer trial it has encountered,?to you is her appealHave you not, in your own secret souls, in your own private conversings, felt that there are woes and evils, in this accursed system, far beyond what are here shadowed, or can be shadowed? Can it be otherwise? Is man ever a creature to be trusted with wholly irresponsible power? And does not the slave system, by denying the slave all legal right of testimony, make every individual owner an irresponsible despot? Can anybody fall to make the inference what the practical result will be? If there is, as we admit, a public sentiment among you, men of honor, justice and humanity, is there not also another kind of public sentiment among the ruffian, the brutal and debased? And cannot the ruffian, the brutal, the debased, by slave law, own just as many slaves as the best and purest? Are the honorable, the just, the high-minded and compassionate, the majority anywhere in this world? The slave-trade is now, by American law, considered as piracyBut a slave-trade, as systematic as ever was carried on on the coast of Africa, is an inevitable attendant and result of American slaveryAnd its heart-break and its horrors, can they be told? The writer has given only a faint shadow, a dim picture, of the anguish and despair that are, at this very moment, riving thousands of hearts, shattering thousands of families, and driving a helpless and sensitive race to frenzy and despairThere are those living who know the mothers whom this accursed traffic has driven to the murder of their children; and themselves seeking in death a shelter from woes more dreaded than deathNothing of tragedy can be written, can be spoken, can be conceived, that equals the frightful reality of scenes daily and hourly acting on our shores, beneath the shadow of American law, and the shadow of the cross of Christ And now, men and women of America, is this a thing to be trifled with, apologized for, and passed over in silence? Farmers of Massachusetts, of New Hampshire, of Vermont, of Connecticut, who read this book by the blaze of your winter-evening fire,?strong-hearted, generous sailors and ship-owners of Maine,?is this a thing for you to countenance and encourage? Brave and generous men of New York, farmers of rich and joyous Ohio, and ye of the wide prairie states,?answer, is this a thing for you to protect and countenance? And you, mothers of America,?you who have learned, by the cradles of your own children, to love and feel for all mankind,?by the sacred love you bear your child; by your joy in his beautiful, spotless infancy; by the motherly pity and tenderness with which you guide his growing years; by the anxieties of his education; by the prayers you breathe for his soul?s eternal good;?I beseech you, pity the mother who has all your affections, and not one legal right to protect, guide, or educate, the child of her bosom! By the sick hour of your child; by those dying eyes, which you can never forget; by those last cries, that wrung your heart when you could neither help nor save; by the desolation of that empty cradle, that silent nursery,?I beseech you, pity those mothers that are constantly made childless by the American slave-trade! And say, mothers of America, is this a thing to be defended, sympathized with, passed over in silence? Do you say that the people of the free state have nothing to do with it, and can do nothing? Would to God this were true! But it is not trueThe people of the free states have defended, encouraged, and participated; and are more guilty for it, before God, than the South, in that they have not the apology of education or custom If the mothers of the free states had all felt as they should, in times past, the sons of the free states would not have been the holders, and, proverbially, the hardest masters of slaves; the sons of the free states would not have connived at the extension of slavery, in our national body; the sons of the free states would not, as they do, trade the souls and bodies of men as an equivalent to money, in their mercantile dealingsThere are multitudes of slaves temporarily owned, and sold again, by merchants in northern cities; and shall the whole guilt or obloquy of slavery fall only on the South? Northern men, northern mothers, northern Christians, have something more to do than denounce their brethren at the South; they have to look to the evil among themselves But, what can any individual do? Of that, every individual can judgeThere is one thing that every individual can do,?they can see to it that they feel rightAn atmosphere of sympathetic influence encircles every human being; and the man or woman who feels strongly, healthily and justly, on the great interests of humanity, is a constant benefactor to the human raceSee, then, to your sympathies in this matter! Are they in harmony with the sympathies of Christ? or are they swayed and perverted by the sophistries of worldly policy? Christian men and women of the North! still further,?you have another power; you can pray! Do you believe in prayer? or has it become an indistinct apostolic tradition? You pray for the heathen abroad; pray also for the heathen at homeAnd pray for those distressed Christians whose whole chance of religious improvement is an accident of trade and sale; from whom any adherence to the morals of Christianity is, in many cases, an impossibility, unless they have given them, from above, the courage and grace of martyrdomOn the shores of our free states are emerging the poor, shattered, broken remnants of families,?men and women, escaped, by miraculous providences from the surges of slavery,?feeble in knowledge, and, in many cases, infirm in moral constitution, from a system which confounds and confuses every principle of Christianity and moralityThey come to seek a refuge among you; they come to seek education, knowledge, Christianity What do you owe to these poor unfortunates, oh Christians? Does not every American Christian owe to the African race some effort at reparation for the wrongs that the American nation has brought upon them? Shall the doors of churches and school-houses be shut upon them? Shall states arise and shake them out? Shall the church of Christ hear in silence the taunt that is thrown at them, and shrink away from the helpless hand that they stretch out; and, by her silence, encourage the cruelty that would chase them from our borders? If it must be so, it will be a mournful spectacleIf it must be so, the country will have reason to tremble, when it remembers that the fate of nations is in the hands of One who is very pitiful, and of tender compassion Do you say, ?We don?t want them here; let them go to Africa?? That the providence of God has provided a refuge in Africa, is, indeed, a great and noticeable fact; but that is no reason why the church of Christ should throw off that responsibility to this outcast race which her profession demands of her To fill up Liberia with an ignorant, inexperienced, half-barbarized race, just escaped from the chains of slavery, would be only to prolong, for ages, the period of struggle and conflict which attends the inception of new enterprisesLet the church of the north receive these poor sufferers in the spirit of Christ; receive them to the educating advantages of Christian republican society and schools, until they have attained to somewhat of a moral and intellectual maturity, and then assist them in their passage to those shores, where they may put in practice the lessons they have learned in America There is a body of men at the north, comparatively small, who have been doing this; and, as the result, this country has already seen examples of men, formerly slaves, who have rapidly acquired property, reputation, and educationTalent has been developed, which, considering the circumstances, is certainly remarkable; and, for moral traits of honesty, kindness, tenderness of feeling,?for heroic efforts and self-denials, endured for the ransom of brethren and friends yet in slavery,?they have been remarkable to a degree that, considering the influence under which they were born, is surprising The writer has lived, for many years, on the frontier-line of slave states, and has had great opportunities of observation among those who formerly were slavesThey have been in her family as servants; and, in default of any other school to receive them, she has, in many cases, had them instructed in a family school, with her own childrenShe has also the testimony of missionaries, among the fugitives in Canada, in coincidence with her own experience; and her deductions, with regard to the capabilities of the race, are encouraging in the highest degree The first desire of the emancipated slave, generally, is for educationThere is nothing that they are not willing to give or do to have their children instructed, and, so far as the writer has observed herself, or taken the testimony of teachers among them, they are remarkably intelligent and quick to learnThe results of schools, founded for them by benevolent individuals in Cincinnati, fully establish this The author gives the following statement of facts, on the authority of Professor CStowe, then of Lane Seminary, Ohio, with regard to emancipated slaves, now resident in Cincinnati; given to show the capability of the race, even without any very particular assistance or encouragement The initial letters alone are shop given

That letter was for some time in the writer?s hands The author hopes she has done justice to that nobility, generosity, and humanity, which in many cases characterize individuals at the, SouthSuch instances save us from utter despair of our kindBut, she asks any person, who knows the world, are such characters common, anywhere? For many years of her life, the author avoided all reading upon or allusion to the subject of slavery, considering it as too painful to be inquired into, and one which advancing light and civlization would certainly live downBut, since the legislative act of 1850, when she heard, with perfect surprise and consternation, Christian and humane people actually recommending the remanding escaped fugitives into slavery, as a duty binding on good citizens,?when she heard, on all hands, from kind, compassionate and estimable people, in the free states of the North, deliberations and discussions as to what Christian duty could be on this head,?she could only think, These men and Christians cannot know what slavery is; if they did, such a question could never be open for discussionAnd from this arose a desire to exhibit it in a living dramatic realityShe has endeavored to show it fairly, in its best and its worst phasesIn its best aspect, she has, perhaps, been successful; but, oh! who shall say what yet remains untold in that valley and shadow of death, that lies the other side? To you, generous, noble-minded men and women, of the South,?you, whose virtue, and magnanimity and purity of character, are the greater for the severer trial it has encountered,?to you is her appealHave you not, in your own secret souls, in your own private conversings, felt that there are woes and evils, in this accursed system, far beyond what are here shadowed, or can be shadowed? Can it be otherwise? Is man ever a creature to be trusted with wholly irresponsible power? And does not the slave system, by denying the slave all legal right of testimony, make every individual owner an irresponsible despot? Can anybody fall to make the inference what the practical result will be? If there is, as we admit, a public sentiment among you, men of honor, justice and humanity, is there not also another kind of public sentiment among the ruffian, the brutal and debased? And cannot the ruffian, the brutal, the debased, by slave law, own just as many slaves as the best and purest? Are the honorable, the just, the high-minded and compassionate, the majority anywhere in this world? The slave-trade is now, by American law, considered as piracyBut a slave-trade, as systematic as ever was carried on on the coast of Africa, is an inevitable attendant and result of American slaveryAnd its heart-break and its horrors, can they be told? The writer has given only a faint shadow, a dim picture, of the anguish and despair that are, at this very moment, riving thousands of hearts, shattering thousands of families, and driving a helpless and sensitive race to frenzy and despairThere are those living who know the mothers whom this accursed traffic has driven to the murder of their children; and themselves seeking in death a shelter from woes more dreaded than deathNothing of tragedy can be written, can be spoken, can be conceived, that equals the frightful reality of scenes daily and hourly acting on our shores, beneath the shadow of American law, and the shadow of the cross of Christ And now, men and women of America, is this a thing to be trifled with, apologized for, and passed over in silence? Farmers of Massachusetts, of New Hampshire, of Vermont, of Connecticut, who read this book by the blaze of your winter-evening fire,?strong-hearted, generous sailors and ship-owners of Maine,?is this a thing for you to countenance and encourage? Brave and generous men of New York, farmers of rich and joyous Ohio, and ye of the wide prairie states,?answer, is this a thing for you to protect and countenance? And you, mothers of America,?you who have learned, by the cradles of your own children, to love and feel for all mankind,?by the sacred love you bear your child; by your joy in his beautiful, spotless infancy; by the motherly pity and tenderness with which you guide his growing years; by the anxieties of his education; by the prayers you breathe for his soul?s eternal good;?I beseech you, pity the mother who has all your affections, and not one legal right to protect, guide, or educate, the child of her bosom! By the sick hour of your child; by those dying eyes, which you can never forget; by those last cries, that wrung your heart when you could neither help nor save; by the desolation of that empty cradle, that silent nursery,?I beseech you, pity those mothers that are constantly made childless by the American slave-trade! And say, mothers of America, is this a thing to be defended, sympathized with, passed over in silence? Do you say that the people of the free state have nothing to do with it, and can do nothing? Would to God this were true! But it is not trueThe people of the free states have defended, encouraged, and participated; and are more guilty for it, before God, than the South, in that they have not the apology of education or custom If the mothers of the free states had all felt as they should, in times past, the sons of the free states would not have been the holders, and, proverbially, the hardest masters of slaves; the sons of the free states would not have connived at the extension of slavery, in our national body; the sons of the free states would not, as they do, trade the souls and bodies of men as an equivalent to money, in their mercantile dealingsThere are multitudes of slaves temporarily owned, and sold again, by merchants in northern cities; and shall the whole guilt or obloquy of slavery fall only on the South? Northern men, northern mothers, northern Christians, have something more to do than denounce their brethren at the South; they have to look to the evil among themselves But, what can any individual do? Of that, every individual can judgeThere is one thing that every individual can do,?they can see to it that they feel rightAn atmosphere of sympathetic influence encircles every human being; and the man or woman who feels strongly, healthily and justly, on the great interests of humanity, is a constant benefactor to the human raceSee, then, to your sympathies in this matter! Are they in harmony with the sympathies of Christ? or are they swayed and perverted by the sophistries of worldly policy? Christian men and women of the North! still further,?you have another power; you can pray! Do you believe in prayer? or has it become an indistinct apostolic tradition? You pray for the heathen abroad; pray also for the heathen at homeAnd pray for those distressed Christians whose whole chance of religious improvement is an accident of trade and sale; from whom any adherence to the morals of Christianity is, in many cases, an impossibility, unless they have given them, from above, the courage and grace of martyrdomOn the shores of our free states are emerging the poor, shattered, broken remnants of families,?men and women, escaped, by miraculous providences from the surges of slavery,?feeble in knowledge, and, in many cases, infirm in moral constitution, from a system which confounds and confuses every principle of Christianity and moralityThey come to seek a refuge among you; they come to seek education, knowledge, Christianity What do you owe to these poor unfortunates, oh Christians? Does not every American Christian owe to the African race some effort at reparation for the wrongs that the American nation has brought upon them? Shall the doors of churches and school-houses be shut upon them? Shall states arise and shake them out? Shall the church of Christ hear in silence the taunt that is thrown at them, and shrink away from the helpless hand that they stretch out; and, by her silence, encourage the cruelty that would chase them from our borders? If it must be so, it will be a mournful spectacleIf it must be so, the country will have reason to tremble, when it remembers that the fate of nations is in the hands of One who is very pitiful, and of tender compassion Do you say, ?We don?t want them here; let them go to Africa?? That the providence of God has provided a refuge in Africa, is, indeed, a great and noticeable fact; but that is no reason why the church of Christ should throw off that responsibility to this outcast race which her profession demands of her To fill up Liberia with an ignorant, inexperienced, half-barbarized race, just escaped from the chains of slavery, would be only to prolong, for ages, the period of struggle and conflict which attends the inception of new enterprisesLet the church of the north receive these poor sufferers in the spirit of Christ; receive them to the educating advantages of Christian republican society and schools, until they have attained to somewhat of a moral and intellectual maturity, and then assist them in their passage to those shores, where they may put in practice the lessons they have learned in America There is a body of men at the north, comparatively small, who have been doing this; and, as the result, this country has already seen examples of men, formerly slaves, who have rapidly acquired property, reputation, and educationTalent has been developed, which, considering the circumstances, is certainly remarkable; and, for moral traits of honesty, kindness, tenderness of feeling,?for heroic efforts and self-denials, endured for the ransom of brethren and friends yet in slavery,?they have been remarkable to a degree that, considering the influence under which they were born, is surprising The writer has lived, for many years, on the frontier-line of slave states, and has had great opportunities of observation among those who formerly were slavesThey have been in her family as servants; and, in default of any other school to receive them, she has, in many cases, had them instructed in a family school, with her own childrenShe has also the testimony of missionaries, among the fugitives in Canada, in coincidence with her own experience; and her deductions, with regard to the capabilities of the race, are encouraging in the highest degree The first desire of the emancipated slave, generally, is for educationThere is nothing that they are not willing to give or do to have their children instructed, and, so far as the writer has observed herself, or taken the testimony of teachers among them, they are remarkably intelligent and quick to learnThe results of schools, founded for them by benevolent individuals in Cincinnati, fully establish this The author gives the following statement of facts, on the authority of Professor CStowe, then of Lane Seminary, Ohio, with regard to emancipated slaves, now resident in Cincinnati; given to show the capability of the race, even without any very particular assistance or encouragement The initial letters alone are shop given

It will take him time to arrive here, see it is twenty minutes past one, and there are yet some times before he can hither come, be he never so quickWhat we must hope for is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first About half an hour after we had received MrsHarker's telegram, there came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall doorIt was just an ordinary knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made the Professor's heart and mine beat loudlyWe looked at each other, and together moved out into the hallWe each held ready to use our various armaments, the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the rightVan Helsing pulled back the latch, and holding the door half open, stood back, having both hands ready for actionThe gladness of our hearts must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we saw Lord Godalming and Quincey MorrisThey came quickly in and closed the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the hall: "It is all rightSix boxes in each and we destroyed them all "Destroyed?" asked the Professor "For him!" We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said, "There's nothing to do but to wait hereIf, however, he doesn't turn up by five o'clock, we must start offFor it won't do to leave MrsHarker alone after sunset "He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been consulting his pocketbook"Nota bene, in Madam's telegram he went south from CarfaxThat means he went to cross the river, and he could only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one o'clockThat he went south has a meaning for usHe is as yet only suspicious, and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would suspect interference leastYou must have been at Bermondsey only a short time before himThat he is not here already shows that he went to Mile End nextThis took him some time, for he would then have to be carried over the river in some wayBelieve me, my friends, we shall not have long to wait nowWe should have ready some plan of attack, so that we may throw away no chanceHush, there is no time nowHave all your arms! Be ready!" He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a dominant spirit asserted itselfIn all our hunting parties and adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been accustomed to obey him implicitlyNow, the old habit seemed to be renewed instinctivelyWith a swift glance around the room, he at once laid out our plan of attack, and without speaking a word, with a gesture, placed us each in positionVan Helsing, Harker, and I were just behind the door, so that when it was opened the Professor could guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the doorGodalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to move in front of the windowWe waited in a suspense that made the seconds pass with nightmare slownessThe slow, careful steps came along the hallThe Count was evidently prepared for some surprise, at least he feared it Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the roomWinning a way past us before any of us could raise a hand to stay himThere was something so pantherlike in the movement, something so unhuman, that it seemed to sober us all from the shock of his shop coming

It will take him time to arrive here, see it is twenty minutes past one, and there are yet some times before he can hither come, be he never so quickWhat we must hope for is that my Lord Arthur and Quincey arrive first About half an hour after we had received MrsHarker's telegram, there came a quiet, resolute knock at the hall doorIt was just an ordinary knock, such as is given hourly by thousands of gentlemen, but it made the Professor's heart and mine beat loudlyWe looked at each other, and together moved out into the hallWe each held ready to use our various armaments, the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the rightVan Helsing pulled back the latch, and holding the door half open, stood back, having both hands ready for actionThe gladness of our hearts must have shown upon our faces when on the step, close to the door, we saw Lord Godalming and Quincey MorrisThey came quickly in and closed the door behind them, the former saying, as they moved along the hall: "It is all rightSix boxes in each and we destroyed them all "Destroyed?" asked the Professor "For him!" We were silent for a minute, and then Quincey said, "There's nothing to do but to wait hereIf, however, he doesn't turn up by five o'clock, we must start offFor it won't do to leave MrsHarker alone after sunset "He will be here before long now," said Van Helsing, who had been consulting his pocketbook"Nota bene, in Madam's telegram he went south from CarfaxThat means he went to cross the river, and he could only do so at slack of tide, which should be something before one o'clockThat he went south has a meaning for usHe is as yet only suspicious, and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would suspect interference leastYou must have been at Bermondsey only a short time before himThat he is not here already shows that he went to Mile End nextThis took him some time, for he would then have to be carried over the river in some wayBelieve me, my friends, we shall not have long to wait nowWe should have ready some plan of attack, so that we may throw away no chanceHush, there is no time nowHave all your arms! Be ready!" He held up a warning hand as he spoke, for we all could hear a key softly inserted in the lock of the hall door I could not but admire, even at such a moment, the way in which a dominant spirit asserted itselfIn all our hunting parties and adventures in different parts of the world, Quincey Morris had always been the one to arrange the plan of action, and Arthur and I had been accustomed to obey him implicitlyNow, the old habit seemed to be renewed instinctivelyWith a swift glance around the room, he at once laid out our plan of attack, and without speaking a word, with a gesture, placed us each in positionVan Helsing, Harker, and I were just behind the door, so that when it was opened the Professor could guard it whilst we two stepped between the incomer and the doorGodalming behind and Quincey in front stood just out of sight ready to move in front of the windowWe waited in a suspense that made the seconds pass with nightmare slownessThe slow, careful steps came along the hallThe Count was evidently prepared for some surprise, at least he feared it Suddenly with a single bound he leaped into the roomWinning a way past us before any of us could raise a hand to stay himThere was something so pantherlike in the movement, something so unhuman, that it seemed to sober us all from the shock of his shop coming