"Bram Stoker - Dracula's Guest" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stoker Bram)

DRACULA'S GUEST

1914

by

Bram Stoker

NOTE: DRACULA'S GUEST was excised from the original DRACULA
MSS by his publisher because of the length of the orig-
inal book MSS. It was published as a short story in
1914, two years after Stoker's death. Enjoy!

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When we started for our drive the sun was shining brightly
on Munich, and the air was full of the joyousness of early
summer. Just as we were about to depart, Herr Delbruck (the
maitre d'hotel of the Quatre Saisons, where I was staying)
came down bareheaded to the carriage and, after wishing me a
pleasant drive, said to the coachman, still holding his hand
on the handle of the carriage door, "Remember you are back by
nightfall. The sky looks bright but there is a shiver in the
north wind that says there may be a sudden storm. But I am
sure you will not be late." Here he smiled and added,"for you
know what night it is."

Johann answered with an emphatic, "Ja, mein Herr," and,
touching his hat, drove off quickly. When we had cleared the
town, I said, after signalling to him to stop:

"Tell me, Johann, what is tonight?"

He crossed himself, as he answered laconically: "Walpurgis
nacht." Then he took out his watch, a great, old-fashioned
German silver thing as big as a turnip and looked at it, with
his eyebrows gathered together and a little impatient shrug
of his shoulders. I realized that this was his way of respect-
fully protesting against the unnecessary delay and sank back
in the carriage, merely motioning him to proceed. He started
off rapidly, as if to make up for lost time. Every now and
then the horses seemed to throw up their heads and sniff the
air suspiciously. On such occasions I often looked round in
alarm. The road was pretty bleak, for we were traversing a