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

went down the stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally.
I found I could pull back the bolts easily enough and unhook the great
chains; but the door was locked, and the key was gone That key must be
in the Count's room; I must watch should his door be unlocked, so that
I may get it and escape. I went on to make a thorough examination of
the various stairs and passages, and to try the doors that opened from
them. One or two small rooms near the hall were open, but there was
nothing to see in them except old furniture, dusty with age and
moth-eaten. At last, however, I found one door at the top of the
stairway which, though it seemed to be locked, gave a little under
pressure. I tried it harder, and found that it was not really
locked, but that the resistance came from the fact that the hinges had
fallen somewhat, and the heavy door rested on the floor. Here was an
opportunity which I might not have again, so I exerted myself, and
with many efforts forced it back so that I could enter. I was now in a
wing of the castle further to the right than the rooms I knew and a
storey lower down. From the windows I could see that the suite of
rooms lay along to the south of the castle, the windows of the end
room looking out both west and south. On the latter side, as well as
to the former, there was a great precipice. The castle was built on
the corner of a great rock, so that on three sides it was quite
impregnable, and great windows were placed here where sling, or bow,
or culverin could not reach, and consequently light and comfort,
impossible to a position which had to be guarded, were secured. To the
West was a great valley, and then, rising far away, great jagged
mountain fastnesses, rising peak on peak, the sheer rock studded
with mountain ash and thorn, whose roots clung in cracks and
crevices and crannies of the stone. This was evidently the portion
of the castle occupied by the ladies in bygone days, for the furniture
had more air of comfort than any I had seen. The windows were
curtainless, and the yellow moonlight, flooding in through the diamond
panes, enabled one to see even colours, whilst it softened the
wealth of dust which lay over all and disguised in some measure the
ravages of time and the moth. My lamp seemed to be of little effect in
the brilliant moonlight, but I was glad to have it with me, for
there was a dread loneliness in the place which chilled my heart and
made my nerves tremble. Still, it was better than living alone in
the rooms which I had come to hate from the presence of the Count, and
after trying a little to school my nerves, I found a soft quietude
come over me. Here I am, sitting at a little oak table where in old
times possibly some fair lady sat to pen, with much thought and many
blushes, her ill-spelt love-letter, and writing in my diary in
shorthand all that has happened since I closed it last. It is
nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance. And yet, unless my
senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their
own which mere "modernity" cannot kill.

Later: the Morning of 16 May.- God preserve my sanity, for to this I
am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past.
Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for; that I may