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them that made me uneasy, some longing and at thej

      same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burn-

      ing desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. It is not

      good to note this down, lest some day it should meet Mina’s eyes

      dnd cause her pain; but it is the truth jThey whispered together,

      and then they all three laughed such a silvery, musical laugh,

      but as hard.,as though the sound never could have come through

      36 Dracula

      the softness of human lips. It was like the intolerable, tinglii _

      sweetness of water-glasses when played on by a cunning hand.

      The fair girl shook her head coquettishly, and the other two

      urged her on. One said:

      «Go on! You are first, and we shall follow; yours is the right

      to begin.» The other added:

      /’jHe is^.young_and steragjJtkCTeareJuaaesJoj^jjsaJi^I lay

      quietTlooking out under my eyelashes in an agony of~delightf ul

      anticipation. The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I

      could feel the movement of her breath upon me. Sweet it was

      in one sense, honey-sweet, and sent the same tingling through

      the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter underlying the sweet,

      a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood.

      I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw per-

      fectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent

      over me, simply gloating. There was a deliberate voluptuousness

      which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her

      neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see

      in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on

      the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth. Lower and

      lower went her head as the lips went below the range of my

      mouth and chin and seemed about to fasten on my throat.

      Then she paused, and I could hear the churning sound of her

      tongue as it licked her teeth and lips, and could feel the hot

      breath on my neck. (Then the skin of my throat began to tingle

      as one’s flesh does when the hand that is to tickle it approaches

      nearer nearer, ft could feel the soft, shivering touch of the lips

      on the super-sensitive skin of my throat, and the hard dents

      of two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there. I closed

      my eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited waited with beat-

      ing heartj

      JtJut aTthat instant, another sensation swept through me as

      quick as lightning. I was conscious of the presence of the Count.,

      and of his being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes

      opened involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slendef

      neck of the fair woman and with giant’s power draw it back,

      the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing

      with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion. But the

      Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to the

      demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red

      light in them was lurid, as if the flames of heft-fire blazed behind

      them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard

      like drawn wires; the thick eyebrows that met over the nose

      Jonathan Marker’s Journal 37

      now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal. With a fierce

      sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman from him, and then

      motioned to the others, as though he were beating them back;

      it was the same imperious gesture that I had seen used to the

      wolves. In a voice which, though low and almost in a whisper

      seemed to cut through the air and then ring round the room

      he said:

      «How dare you touch him, any of you? How dare you cast

      eyes on him when I had forbidden it? Back, I tell you all! This

      man belongs to me! Beware how you meddle with him, or you’ll

      have to deal with me.» The fair girl, with a laugh of ribald

      coquetry, turned to answer him:

      «You yourself never loved; you never love!» On this the

      other women joined, and such a mirthless, hard, soulless laugh-

      ter rang through the room that it almost made me faint to hear;

      it seemed like the pleasure of fiends. Then the Count turned,

      after looking at my face attentively, and said in a soft whisper:

      «Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past.

      Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I am done

      with him you shall kiss him at your will. Now go! go! I must

      awaken him, for there is work to be done.»

      «Are we to have nothing to-night?» said one of them, with a

      low laugh, as she pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon

      the floor, and which moved as though there were some living

      thing within it. For answer he nodded his head. One of the wo-

      men jumped forward and opened it. If my ears did not deceive

      me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a half -smothered child.

      The women closed round, whilst I was aghast with horror; but

      as I looked they disappeared, and with them the dreadful bag.

      There was no door near them, and they could not have passed

      me without my noticing. They simply seemed to fade into the

      rays of the moonlight and pass out through the window, for I

      could see outside the dim, shadowy forms for a moment before

      they entirely faded away.

      Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious.

      CHAPTER IV

      JONATHAN BARKER’S JOURNAL continued

      I AWOKE in my own bed. If it be that I had not dreamt, the

      Count must have carried me here. I tried to satisfy myself on

      the subject, but could not arrive at any unquestionable result.

      To be sure, there were certain small evidences, such as that my

      clothes were folded and laid by in a manner which was not

      my habit. My watch was still unwound, and I am rigorously

      accustomed to wind it the last thing before going to bed, and

      many

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