LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

he asked if a man in England might have two solicitors

      or more. I told him he might have a dozen if he wished, but that

      it would not be wise to have more than one solicitor engaged in

      one transaction, as only one could act at a time, and that to

      change would be certain to militate against his interest. He

      seemed thoroughly to understand, and went on to ask if there

      would be any practical difficulty in having one man to attend,

      say, to banking, and another to look after shipping, in case local

      help were needed in a place far from the home of the banking

      solicitor. I asked him to explain more fully, so that I might not

      by any chance mislead him, so he said:

      «I shall illustrate. Your friend and mine, Mr. Peter Hawkins,

      from under the shadow of your beautiful cathedral at Exeter,,

      which is far from London, buys for me through your good sell

      my place at London. Good! Now here let me say frankly, lest

      you should think it strange that I have sought the services oi

      one so far off from London instead of some one resident therCj

      that my motive was that no local interest might be served save

      my wish only; and as one of London residence might, perhaps,

      have some purpose of himself or friend to serve, I went thus

      afield to seek my agent, whose labours should be only to my

      interest. Now, suppose I, who have much of affairs, wish to ship

      goods, say, to Newcastle, or Durham, or Harwich, or Dover,

      might it not be that it could with more ease be done by con-

      signing to one in these ports? "I answered that certainly it would

      be most easy, but that we solicitors had a system of agency one

      for the other, so that local work could be done locally on instruc-

      tion from any solicitor, so that the client, simply placing himself

      in the hands of one man, could have his wishes carried out by

      him without further trouble.

      «But,» said he, «I could be at liberty to direct myself. Is it

      not so?»

      «Of course,» I replied; and «such is often done by men of

      30 Dracula

      business, who do not like the whole of their affairs to be known

      by any one person.»

      «Good! "he said, and then went on to ask about the means of

      making consignments and the forms to be gone through, and of

      all sorts of difficulties which might arise, but by forethought

      could be guarded against. I explained all these things to him to

      the best of my ability, and he certainly left me under the im-

      pression that he would have made a wonderful solicitor, for there

      was nothing that he did not think of or foresee. For a man who

      was never in the country, and who did not evidently do much in

      the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were wonderful.

      When he had satisfied himself on these points of which he had

      spoken, and I had verified all as well as I could by the books

      available, he suddenly stood up and said:

      «Have you written since your first letter to our friend Mr.

      Peter Hawkins, or to any other?» It was with some bitterness

      in my heart that I answered that I had not, that as yet I had

      not seen any opportunity of sending letters to anybody.

      «Then write now, my young friend/' he said, laying a heavy

      hand on my shoulder: «write to our friend and to any other;

      and say, if it will please you, that you shall stay with me until

      a month from now.»

      «Do you wish me to stay so long?» I asked, for my heart

      grew cold at the thought.

      «I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your

      master, employer, what you will, engaged that someone should

      come on his behalf, it was understood that my needs only were

      to be consulted. I have not stinted. Is it not so?»

      What could I do but bow acceptance? It was Mr. Hawkins’s

      interest, not mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and

      besides, while Count Dracula was speaking, there was that in

      his eyes and in his bearing which made me remember that i

      was a prisoner, and that if I wished it I could have no choice.

      The Count saw his victory in my bow, and his mastery in the

      trouble of my face, for he began at once to use them, but in his

      own smooth, resistless way:

      «I pray you, my good young friend, that you will not dis-

      course of things other than business in your letters. It will doubt-

      less please your friends to know that you are well, and that you

      look forward to getting home to them. Is it not so? "As he spoke

      he handed me three sheets of note-paper and three envelopes.

      They were all of the thinnest foreign post, and looking at them,

      then at him, and noticing his quiet smile, with the sharp, canine

      Jonathan Harker’s Journal 31

      teeth lying over the red underlip, I understood as well as if he

      had spoken that I should be careful what I wrote, for he would

      be able to read it. So I determined to write only formal notes

      now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also to

      Mina, for to her I could write in shorthand, which would puzzle

      the Count, if he did see it. When I had written my two letters

      I sat quiet, reading a book whilst the Count wrote several notes,

      referring as he wrote them to some books on his table. Then he

      took up my two and placed them with his own, and put by

      his writing materials, after which, the instant the door had

      closed behind him, I leaned over and looked at the letters, which

      were face down on the table. I felt no compunction in doing so,

      for under the circumstances I felt that I should protect myself

      in every way I could.

      One of the letters was directed to Samuel F. Billingtonj

      No. 7, The Crescent, Whitby, another to Herr Leutner, Varna; the

      third was to Coutts

Скачать книгу