Dracula's Guest E-Book

Bram Stoker

• Herausgeber: Phoemixx Classics Ebooks
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 25

Beschreibung

Dracula's Guest Bram Stoker - This short story written by the author of the novel ''Dracula'' was published in 1914, two years after Stoker's death. ''Dracula's Guest'' gives readers a spooky taste of Bram Stoker's classic novel.Background to the StoryIf you have read Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula, you will probably recognize the writing style and tone of this short story, ''Dracula's Guest.'' In fact, the story is an excerpt from the novel that was deleted by Stoker's publisher in order to shorten the original manuscript.If you have read Dracula, you may also realize that, as a part of the novel as a whole, this section is easily left out without changing the plot of the novel. It does, however, give a bit of atmospheric foreshadowing of what Dracula's house is like once Jonathan (one of the novel's protagonists) arrives there.What Happens in the Short StoryIt may be interesting for you to know that this previously deleted part of the novel was published as a short story in 1914, two years after Stoker's death. As the story is told in first person and the narrator is never ...

Leseprobe

Bram Stoker

Dracula's Guest

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Quality of Life, Freedom, More time with the ones you Love.

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When we started for our drive the sun was shining brightly on Munich, and the air was full of the joyousness of early summer. Just as we were about to depart, Herr Delbruck (the maitre d'hotel of the Quatre Saisons, where I was staying) came down bareheaded to the carriage and, after wishing me a pleasant drive, said to the coachman, still holding his hand on the handle of the carriage door, "Remember you are back by nightfall. The sky looks bright but there is a shiver in the north wind that says there may be a sudden storm. But I am sure you will not be late." Here he smiled and added,"for you know what night it is."

Johann answered with an emphatic, "Ja, mein Herr," and, touching his hat, drove off quickly. When we had cleared the town, I said, after signalling to him to stop:

"Tell me, Johann, what is tonight?"

He crossed himself, as he answered laconically: "Walpurgis nacht." Then he took out his watch, a great, old-fashioned German silver thing as big as a turnip and looked at it, with his eyebrows gathered together and a little impatient shrug of his shoulders. I realized that this was his way of respectfully protesting against the unnecessary delay and sank back in the carriage, merely motioning him to proceed. He started off rapidly, as if to make up for lost time. Every now and then the horses seemed to throw up their heads and sniff the air suspiciously. On such occasions I often looked round in alarm. The road was pretty bleak, for we were traversing a sort of high windswept plateau. As we drove,I saw a road that looked but little used and which seemed to dip through a little winding valley. It looked so inviting that, even at the risk of offending him, I called Johann to stop—and when he had pulled up, I told him I would like to drive down that road. He made all sorts of excuses and frequently crossed himself as he spoke. This somewhat piqued my curiosity, so I asked him various questions. He answered fencingly and repeatedly looked at his watch in protest.

Finally I said, "Well, Johann, I want to go down this road. I shall not ask you to come unless you like; but tell me why you do not like to go, that is all I ask." For answer he seemed to throw himself off the box, so quickly did he reach the ground. Then he stretched out his hands appealingly to me and implored me not to go. There was just enough of English mixed with the German for me to understand the drift of his talk. He seemed always just about to tell me something—the very idea of which evidently frightened him; but each time he pulled himself up saying, "Walpurgis nacht!"