"stoker-dracula-168" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stoker Bram)

"There you are right," I said. "I know no more than the dead where
even to look for them." Then we drifted into other matters.

"Come," he said at last, "tell me of London and of the house which
you have procured for me." With an apology for my remissness, I went
into my own room to get the papers from my bag. Whilst I was placing
them in order I heard a rattling of china and silver in the next room,
and as I passed through, noticed that the table had been cleared and
the lamp lit, for it was by this time deep into the dark. The lamps
were also lit in the study or library, and I found the Count lying
on the sofa, reading, of all things in the world, an English
Bradshaw's Guide. When I came in he cleared the books and papers
from the table; and with him I went into plans and deeds and figures
of all sorts. He was interested in everything, and asked me a myriad
questions about the place and its surroundings. He clearly had studied
beforehand all he could get on the subject of the neighborhood, for he
evidently at the end knew very much more than I did. When I remarked
this, he answered:-

"Well, but, my friend, is it not needful that I should? When I go
there I shall be all alone, and my friend Harker Jonathan- nay, pardon
me, I fall into my country's habit of putting your patronymic first-
my friend Jonathan Harker will not be by my side to correct and aid
me. He will be in Exeter, miles away, probably working at papers of
the law with my other friend, Peter Hawkins. So!"

We went thoroughly into the business of the purchase of the estate
at Purfleet. When I had told him the facts and got his signature to
the necessary papers, and had written a letter with them 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 which I had made at the time, and which
I inscribe here:-

"At Purfleet, on a by-road, I came across just such a place as
seemed to be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice
that the place was for sale. It is surrounded by a high wall, of
ancient structure, built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired
for a large number of years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and
iron, all eaten with rust.

"The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old
Quatre Face, as the house is four-sided, agreeing with the cardinal
points of the compass. It contains in all some twenty acres, quite
surrounded by the solid stone wall above mentioned. There are many
trees on it, which make it in places gloomy, and there is a deep,
dark-looking pond or small lake, evidently fed by some springs, as the
water is clear and flows away in a fair-sized stream. The house is
very large and of all periods back, I should say, to mediaeval
times, for one part is of stone immensely thick, with only a few