"Brian Stoker - Dracula" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stoker Bram)

but in the main always ascending. Suddenly, I became conscious
of the fact that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses
in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black
windows came no ray of light,and whose broken battlements showed
a jagged line against the sky.





CHAPTER 2


Jonathan Harker's Journal Continued



5 May.--I must have been asleep, for certainly if I had been fully
awake I must have noticed the approach of such a remarkable place.
In the gloom the courtyard looked of considerable size,
and as several dark ways led from it under great round arches,
it perhaps seemed bigger than it really is. I have not yet been
able to see it by daylight.

When the caleche stopped, the driver jumped down and held out his hand to
assist me to alight. Again I could not but notice his prodigious strength.
His hand actually seemed like a steel vice that could have crushed
mine if he had chosen. Then he took my traps, and placed them on
the ground beside me as I stood close to a great door, old and studded
with large iron nails, and set in a projecting doorway of massive stone.
I could see even in th e dim light that the stone was massively carved,
but that the carving had been much worn by time and weather.
As I stood, the driver jumped again into his seat and shook the reins.
The horses started forward,and trap and all disappeared down one of
the dark openings.

I stood in silence where I was, for I did not know what to do.
Of bell or knocker there was no sign. Through these frowning
walls and dark window openings it was not likely that my
voice could penetrate. The time I waited seemed endless,
and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon me. What sort
of place had I come to, and among what kind of people?
What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked?
Was this a customary incident in the life of a solicitor's
clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate
to a foreigner? Solicitor's clerk! Mina would not like that.
Solicitor, for just before leaving London I got word that my
examination was successful, and I am now a full-blown solicitor!
I began to rub my eyes and pinch myself to see if I were awake.
It all seemed like a horrible nightmare to me, and I expected