he find only an empty hole where his house had been. This was all done
_en regle_; and in our work we shall be _en regle_ too. We shall not go
so early that the policemen who have then little to think of, shall deem
it strange; but we shall go after ten o clock, when there are many
about, and such things would be done were we indeed owners of the
house.
I could not but see how right he was and the terrible despair of Mina s
face became relaxed a thought; there was hope in such good counsel. Van
Helsing went on:--
When once within that house we may find more clues; at any rate some of
us can remain there whilst the rest find the other places where there be
more earth-boxes--at Bermondsey and Mile End.
Lord Godalming stood up. I can be of some use here, he said. I shall
wire to my people to have horses and carriages where they will be most
convenient.
Look here, old fellow, said Morris, it is a capital idea to have all
ready in case we want to go horsebacking; but don t you think that one
of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a byway of
Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purposes?
It seems to me that we ought to take cabs when we go south or east; and
even leave them somewhere near the neighbourhood we are going to.
Friend Quincey is right! said the Professor. His head is what you
call in plane with the horizon. It is a difficult thing that we go to
do, and we do not want no peoples to watch us if so it may.
Mina took a growing interest in everything and I was rejoiced to see
that the exigency of affairs was helping her to forget for a time the
terrible experience of the night. She was very, very pale--almost
ghastly, and so thin that her lips were drawn away, showing her teeth in
somewhat of prominence. I did not mention this last, lest it should give
her needless pain; but it made my blood run cold in my veins to think of
what had occurred with poor Lucy when the Count had sucked her blood. As
yet there was no sign of the teeth growing sharper; but the time as yet
was short, and there was time for fear.
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