Dracula: Renfield's Plea

That evening Mina asked to meet Renfield, and to Seward’s surprise, the patient spoke to her like a perfect gentleman.Before she left, he said softly, “Good-bye, my dear. I pray God I may never see your sweet face again.”Van Helsing came back from Amsterdam, and at nine o’clock everyone met around the table in Seward’s study.

“Vampires are real,” the professor began, “and this one has the strength of twenty men.”The Count, he explained, could turn into a wolf, a bat, or mist, threw no shadow, and showed no reflection in a mirror.But he also had limits: he could not enter a house unless someone invited him, and he had to rest in the earth of his homeland.

Garlic, the cross, and a branch of wild rose could all hold him back.Suddenly a shot rang out and the window glass broke; Quincey, outside, had fired at a huge bat on the windowsill.The men decided that Mina was too precious to risk and must stay out of the danger from now on, and that they would search Carfax that very night.

Just as they were leaving, Renfield sent an urgent message: he had to see Dr. Seward at once.He seemed completely sane, and he begged to be set free that same night.When Van Helsing asked for his real reason, he said only, “I am not my own master in the matter.”

Then he fell to his knees and begged, “Send me away in chains if you must, but let me out of this house!”Seward refused and told him firmly to go to bed.As Seward left, Renfield said quietly, “Remember, later on, that I did what I could to convince you tonight.”