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run riot with me. If it does I am lost. Let me say at once how

      I stand or seem to.

      I only slept a few hours when I went to bed, and feeling that

      I could not sleep any more, got up. I had hung my shaving glass

      by the window, and was just beginning to shave. Suddenly I

      felt a hand on my shoulder, and heard the Count’s voice saying

      to me, "Good-morning.» I started, for it amazed me that I had

      not seen him, since the reflection of the glass covered the whole

      room behind me. In starting I had cut myself slightly, – but did

      not notice it at the moment. Having answered the Count’s

      salutation, I turned to the glass again to see how I had been

      mistaken. This time there could be no error, for the man was

      close to me, and I could see him over my shoulder. But there

      was no reflection of him in the mirror! The whole room behind

      me was displayed; but there was no sign of a man in it, except

      myself. This was startling, and, coming on the top of so many

      strange things, was beginning to increase that vague feeling of

      uneasiness which I always have when the Count is near; but at

      the instant I saw that the cut had bled a little, and the blood

      was trickling over my chin. I laid down the razor, turning as I

      did so half round to look for some sticking plaster. When the

      Count saw my lacCj, Jiis eyes blazed_with a sort of demoniac

      fury, ancThe suddenly made a grab at myj^roat.,! drewaway,

      and his hand touched the.string of beads which held the crucifix.

      It made an instant change ir> Mm, for the fury passed so quickly

      that I could hardly believe that it was ever there.

      «Take care,» he said, «take care how you cut yourself. It is

      more dangerous than you think in this country.» Then seizing

      the shaving glass, he went on: «And this is the wretched thing

      that has done the mischief. It is a foul bauble of man’s vanity.

      Away with it! "and opening the heavy window with one wrench

      of his terrible hand, he flung out the glass, which was shattered

      into a thousand pieces on the stones of the courtyard far below.

      Jonathan Marker’s Journal 25

      Then he withdrew without a word. It is very annoying, for I do

      not see how I am to shave, unless in my watch-case or the bot-

      tom of the shaving-pot, which is fortunately of metal.

      When I went into the dining-room, breakfast was prepared;

      but I could not find the Count anywhere. So I breakfasted alone.

      It is strange that as yet I have not seen the Count eat or drink.

      He must be a very peculiar man! After breakfast I did a little

      exploring in the castle. I went out on the stairs, and found a room

      looking towards the South. The view was magnificent, and from

      where I stood there was every opportunity of seeing it. The

      castle is on the very edge of a terrible precipice. A stone falling

      from the window would fall a thousand feet without touching

      anything! As far as the eye can reach is a sea of green tree tops,

      with occasionally a deep rift where there is a chasm. Here and

      there are silver threads where the rivers wind in deep gorges

      through the forests.

      But I am not in heart to describe beauty, for when I had seen

      the view I explored further; doors, doors, doors everywhere, and

      all locked and bolted. In no place save from the windows in the

      castle walls is there an available exit.

      The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!

      CHAPTER III

      JONATHAN BARKER’S JOURNAL continued

      WHEN I found that I was a prisoner a sort of wild feeling came

      over me. I rushed up and down the stairs, trying every door and

      peering out of every window I could find; but after a little the

      conviction of my helplessness overpowered all other feelings.

      When I look back after a few hours I think I must have been

      mad for the time, for I behaved much as a -rat does in a trap.

      When, however, the conviction had come to me that I was help-

      less I sat down quietly as quietly as I have ever done anything

      in my life and began to think over what was best to be done.

      I am thinking still, and as yet have come to no definite conclu-

      sion. Of one thing only am I certain; that it is no use making

      my ideas known to the Count. He knows well that I am impris-

      oned; and as he has done it himself, and has doubtless his own

      motives for it, he would only deceive me if I trusted him fully

      with the facts. So far as I can see, my only plan will be to keep

      my knowledge and my fears to myself, and my eyes open. I

      am, I know, either being deceived, like a baby, by my own fears,

      or else I am in desperate straits; and if the latter be so, I need,

      and shall need, all my brains to get through.

      I had hardly come to this conclusion when I heard the great

      door below shut, and knew that the Count had returned. He

      did not come at once into the library, so I went cautiously to

      my own room and found him making the bed. This was odd, but

      only confirmed what I had all along thought that there were

      no servants in the house. When later I saw him through the chink

      of the hinges of the door laying the table in the dining-room, I

      was assured of it; for if he does himself all these menial offices,

      surely it is proof that there is no one else to do them. This gave

      me a fright, for if there is no one else in the castle, it must have

      been the Count himself who was the driver of the coach that

      brought me here. This is a terrible thought; for if so, what does

      it mean that he could control the wolves, as he did, by only hold-

      ing up his hand in silence. How was it that all the people at Bis-

      tritz and on the coach had some terrible fear for me? What

      meant the giving of the crucifix, of the garlic, of the wild rose,

      of the mountain

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