Fjallkonan #3 | 25 January 1901
WHILE THOMAS HARKER HOVERED BETWEEN HOPE and horror in the castle of Count Dracula, his beloved fiancée, Wilma, spent her time at the bathing resort at Whitby, on the east coast of England. Wilma was a teacher at one of the larger board schools,283 and this year she was staying with her old school friend Lucia Western during her summer holiday. It was Wilma’s habit to keep a diary, just like her fiancé, and most of what is told in the second part of this story is taken from her journal.284
Wilma’s friend Lucia was a delightful girl and everyone loved her, not least of all the members of the male sex. She had a very kind and amusing manner, but there was also a vain side to her, and she particularly wanted men to fancy her. Her mother was a widow and wealthy, but she was in poor health, suffering from a serious heart condition, which meant that she had to avoid all strong emotion and turbulence. Lucia was also of a rather frail constitution, as she had unusually sensitive feelings and, ever since she was a child, tended to walk in her sleep, which was blamed on her father being promiscuous.285
A few weeks earlier Lucia had been engaged to a young man named Arthur Holmwood, the eldest son and heir of Lord Godalming. Before this, his friends John Seward—a famous physician and director of an asylum in Parfleet, one of the suburbs of London286—and Quincey Morris, a millionaire from America,287 had also proposed to her; they were both madly in love with the girl, but she hadn’t accepted either proposal. Nevertheless they were still fond of her and remained afterwards close friends with Arthur as before.
The girls read together, worked together and walked together to entertain themselves. Most often they went to the churchyard together. It was on a hill and offered the best view of the sea, so they would often sit there around sunset to enjoy the beautiful panorama.
Wilma was, however, often anxious and agitated; she was worried about Thomas. She had received but one letter from him after his arrival at Count Dracula’s castle.288
She’d written to Thomas’s employer, Mr. Hawkins, asking him to enquire about Thomas with the Consuls in Vienna and Budapest.289