Dracula
by Bram Stoker
Table of Contents
Chapter 8 to Chapter 11
Chapter 8 Summary
In the middle of the night following the sea captain’s funeral, Mina awakens and sees that Lucy is not in her bed. Mina’s search for her sleepwalking friend takes her all the way to the abbey graveyard, where she sees Lucy lying upon their favorite seat with a tall, dark figure bending over her. Mina cries out and runs forward. The figure stands up, and Mina notes a pale face and red eyes. He disappears. On the bench, Lucy is unconscious and breathing raggedly. Mina wraps Lucy in a shawl, clumsily pinning it together at her neck with a large safety pin, and then wakes her up so they can walk home more easily. Concerned as much for Lucy’s reputation as her health, Mina prays that no one will see the two of them walking home. To their great relief, they reach the safety of their room without being seen, and Mina promises Lucy not to tell anyone about what has happened.
The next morning, Mina notices two small red pinpricks on Lucy’s neck and assumes she must have caught her with the safety pin. For the next few nights, Mina sleeps with the bedroom key on her wrist so that Lucy cannot sleepwalk outside the room. Although Lucy seems to be sleeping a bit more deeply, she does awaken one evening and point to a bat fluttering away from the window. During the day, she does not seem very healthy. Mina’s journal is full of anxiety for Lucy and Jonathan, from whom she has still not heard.
This chapter includes a brief solicitor’s letter ordering that the wooden boxes from the Demeter be delivered to Carfax, the English estate Count Dracula has recently purchased. The narrative returns to Mina’s diary, and she receives wonderful news. Jonathan is in a hospital in Hungary, recovering from a weeks-long bout of brain fever. A nun in charge of Jonathan’s care writes Mina with information and instructions to come to her fiancé at once.
Meanwhile, Dr. Seward’s diary reports that Renfield has been behaving more strangely than usual. Renfield escapes from...
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