And they made for resignationMina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old man's hands and bent over and kissed itThen without a word we all knelt down together, and all holding hands, swore to be true to each otherWe men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way, we lovedAnd we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task which lay before usIt was then time to startSo I said farewell to Mina, a parting which neither of us shall forget to our dying day, and we set out
To one thing I have made up my mindIf we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible land aloneI suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant manyJust as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks
We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on the first occasionIt was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such fear as already we knewHad not our minds been made up, and had there not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded with our taskWe found no papers, or any sign of use in the houseAnd in the old chapel the great boxes looked just as we had seen them lastVan Helsing said to us solemnly as we stood before him, "And now, my friends, we have a duty here to doWe must sterilize this earth, so sacred of holy memories, that he has brought from a far distant land for such fell useHe has chosen this earth because it has been holyThus we defeat him with his own weapon, for we make it more holy stillIt was sanctified to such use of man, now we sanctify it to God
As he spoke he took from his bag a screwdriver and a wrench, and very soon the top of one of the cases was thrown openThe earth smelled musty and close, but we did not somehow seem to mind, for our attention was concentrated on the ProfessorTaking from his box a piece of the Sacred Wafer he laid it reverently on the earth, and then shutting down the lid began to screw it home, we aiding him as he worked
One by one we treated in the same way each of the great boxes, and left them as we had found them to all appearanceBut in each was a portion of the HostWhen we closed the door behind us, the Professor said solemnly, "So much is already doneIt may be that with all the others we can be so successful, then the sunset of this evening may shine of Madam Mina's forehead all white as ivory and with no stain!"
As we passed across the lawn on our way to the station to catch our train we could see the front of the asylumI looked eagerly, and in the window of my own room saw MinaI waved my hand to her, and nodded to tell that our work there was successfully accomplishedShe nodded in reply to show that she understoodThe last I saw, she was waving her hand in farewellIt was with a heavy heart that we sought the station and just caught the train, which was steaming in as we reached the platformI have written this in the train
Piccadilly, 12:30 o'clock-Just before we reached Fenchurch Street Lord Godalming said to me, "Quincey and I will find a locksmithYou had better not come with us in case there should be any difficultyFor under the circumstances it wouldn't seem so bad for us to break into an empty houseBut you are a solicitor and the Incorporated Law Society might tell you that you should have known better
I demurred as to my not sharing any danger even of odium, but he went on, "Besides, it will attract less attention if there are not too many of
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