Dracula engsub

CHAPTER 15: Renfield Speaks

Jonathan was hot on the trail of the missing boes of earth. He questioned various people, starting at the company the count had hired to ship and deliver the boxes. He learned the destinations of some of the boxes in many different areas of London.

Later, Jonathan learned that several boxes had been taken to a house in Piccadilly. By pretending to be a sheriff, he was able to get the exact address. Upon going there, he knew he had reached the right place, for it looked like it had been a long time since anyone had lived in this house. A 'FOR SALE' sign listing 'MITCHELL, SONS & CANDY' as agents had only recently been taken down and was propped up against the house.

Jonathan went to the agents' office. When asked who had purchased the house, however, all would said is, "The house has been sold." When pressed, one agent said, "The affairs of our clients are absolutely confidential."

"Your clients are lucky to have such serious and loyal men at their service," he said. "My boss, Lord Godalming, will be disappointed, but he will simply have to accept this news."

"Lord Godalming?" the agent asked. Jonathan could almost see the agent's mind working as he weighed the name of such a noble and wealthy man. The agent shrugged sheepishly. "Well, perhaps an exception can be made, just this one time.The house was purchased by a foreign nobleman a Count Deville. He paid in cash. Beyond that we know nothing."

"How are we going to get into the house?" The men asked when Jonathan returned with details of the house in Piccadilly. They suspected they would find everything they were looking for there - all of the count's papers and deeds and keys.

"We can break in, just as we did in Carfax," Van Helsing said.

"I don't think so," Morris pointed out. "There, we had the night and a wall to protect us. It will be a different thing to break into a house with broad daylight, and in such a central location, on a sidewalk."

Van Helsing thought for a moment before asking, "If we were the owners of that house and we couldn't get in, what would we do?"

"We sould call the locksmith," Jonathan said, "and stand there with him while he picked the lock. It's brilliant, really. The police could walk right by but if they saw an official locksmith's truck and uniform, they wouldn't think to interfere!" The men agreed it was a perfect plan.

Meanwhile Renfield seemed to be acting stranger than usual.

"Would you like some flies?" Dr. Seward asked him, trying to analized him. "Or spiders?"

"Spiders?" Renfield scoffed. "There is nothing in them to eat or drink."

"Drink?" Dr. Seward repeated, alarmed.

Renfield looked guilty, as if he had accidentally revealed something. He did not want to talk anymore. Dr. Seward gave up but found it interesting how the patient had become so nervous at the mention of drinking.

Then Dr. Seward realized it" Renfield had moved past just wanting to feast on animals. It was the human life, and blood, that Renfield was looking for! Dr. Seward could only conclude that the count had gotten to Renfield, and that some new plan of terrror was afoot.

Later that night the doctor's worst fears were confirmed. An attendant came to tell him that something had happened to Renfield. Dr. Seward rushed into Renfield's room, only to find him lying on the floor, unconscious and horribly injured, bleeding from blows to the body, head, and face.

"Go get the Professor Van Helsing," Dr. Seward told the attendant.

Arthur, Quincey Morris, and Lord Godalming came as well. Van Helsing had the patient quickly whisked into surgery where he performed an operation to relieve the pressure on Renfield's brain. Later, the patient opened his eyes.