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

my feet with mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as
we went home no one, in case we should meet any one, should notice
my bare feet.

Fortune favoured us, and we got home without meeting a soul. Once we
saw a man, who seemed not quite sober, passing along a street in front
of us; but we hid in a door till he had disappeared up an opening such
as there are here, steep little closes, or "wynds," as they call
them in Scotland. My heart beat so loud all the time that sometimes
I thought I should faint. I was filled with anxiety about Lucy, not
only for her health, lest she should suffer from the exposure, but for
her reputation in case the story should get wind. When we got in,
and had washed our feet, and had said a prayer of thankfulness
together, I tucked her into bed. Before falling asleep she asked- even
implored- me not to say a word to any one, even her mother, about
her sleep-walking adventure. I hesitated at first to promise; but on
thinking of the state of her mother's health, and how the knowledge of
such a thing would fret her, and thinking, too, of how such a story
might become distorted- may, infallibly would- in case it should
leak out, I thought it wiser to do so. I hope I did right. I have
locked the door, and the key is tied to my wrist, so perhaps I shall
not be again disturbed. Lucy is sleeping soundly; the reflex of the
dawn is high and far over the sea...

Same day, noon.- All goes well. Lucy slept till I woke her, and
seemed not to have even changed her side. The adventure of the night
does not seem to have harmed her; on the contrary, it has benefited
her, for she looks better this morning than she has done for weeks.
I was sorry to notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her.
Indeed, it might have been serious, for the skin of her throat was
pierced. I must have pinched up a piece of loose skin and have
transfixed it, for there are two little red points like pin-pricks,
and on the band of her nightdress was a drop of blood. When I
apologised and was concerned about it, she laughed and petted me,
and said she did not even feel it. Fortunately it cannot leave a scar,
as it is so tiny.

Same day, night.- We passed a happy day. The air was clear, and
the sun bright, and there was a cool breeze. We took our lunch to
Mulgrave Woods, Mrs. Westenra driving by the road and Lucy and I
walking by the cliff-path and joining her at the gate. I felt a little
sad myself, for I could not but feel how absolutely happy it would
have been had Jonathan been with me. But there! I must only be
patient. In the evening we strolled in the Casino Terrace, and heard
some good music by Spohr and Mackenzie, and went to bed early. Lucy
seems more restful than she has been for some time, and fell asleep at
once. I shall lock the door and secure the key the same as before,
though I do not expect any trouble to-night.

12 August.- My expectations were wrong, for twice during the night I