{"product_id":"2940014206181","title":"DRACULA'S GUEST","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     Dracula's Guest                                  9\u003cbr\u003e     The Judge's House                               26\u003cbr\u003e     The Squaw                                       50\u003cbr\u003e     The Secret of the Growing Gold                  67\u003cbr\u003e     The Gipsy Prophecy                              84\u003cbr\u003e     The Coming of Abel Behenna                      96\u003cbr\u003e     The Burial of the Rats                         120\u003cbr\u003e     A Dream of Red Hands                           152\u003cbr\u003e     Crooken Sands                                  165\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDracula's Guest\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen we started for our drive the sun was shining brightly on Munich,\u003cbr\u003eand the air was full of the joyousness of early summer. Just as we\u003cbr\u003ewere about to depart, Herr Delbrück (the maître d'hôtel of the Quatre\u003cbr\u003eSaisons, where I was staying) came down, bareheaded, to the carriage\u003cbr\u003eand, after wishing me a pleasant drive, said to the coachman, still\u003cbr\u003eholding his hand on the handle of the carriage door:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Remember you are back by nightfall. The sky looks bright but there is\u003cbr\u003ea shiver in the north wind that says there may be a sudden storm. But\u003cbr\u003eI am sure you will not be late.' Here he smiled, and added, 'for you\u003cbr\u003eknow what night it is.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohann answered with an emphatic, 'Ja, mein Herr,' and, touching his\u003cbr\u003ehat, drove off quickly. When we had cleared the town, I said, after\u003cbr\u003esignalling to him to stop:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Tell me, Johann, what is tonight?'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe crossed himself, as he answered laconically: 'Walpurgis nacht.'\u003cbr\u003eThen he took out his watch, a great, old-fashioned German silver thing\u003cbr\u003eas big as a turnip, and looked at it, with his eyebrows gathered\u003cbr\u003etogether and a little impatient shrug of his shoulders. I realised\u003cbr\u003ethat this was his way of respectfully protesting against the\u003cbr\u003eunnecessary delay, and sank back in the carriage, merely motioning\u003cbr\u003ehim to proceed. He started off rapidly, as if to make up for lost\u003cbr\u003etime. Every now and then the horses seemed to throw up their heads and\u003cbr\u003esniffed the air suspiciously. On such occasions I often looked round\u003cbr\u003ein alarm. The road was pretty bleak, for we were traversing a sort of\u003cbr\u003ehigh, wind-swept plateau. As we drove, I saw a road that looked but\u003cbr\u003elittle used, and which seemed to dip through a little, winding valley.\u003cbr\u003eIt looked so inviting that, even at the risk of offending him, I\u003cbr\u003ecalled Johann to stop--and when he had pulled up, I told him I would\u003cbr\u003elike to drive down that road. He made all sorts of excuses, and\u003cbr\u003efrequently crossed himself as he spoke. This somewhat piqued my\u003cbr\u003ecuriosity, so I asked him various questions. He answered fencingly,\u003cbr\u003eand repeatedly looked at his watch in protest. Finally I said:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Well, Johann, I want to go down this road. I shall not ask you to\u003cbr\u003ecome unless you like; but tell me why you do not like to go, that is\u003cbr\u003eall I ask.' For answer he seemed to throw himself off the box, so\u003cbr\u003equickly did he reach the ground. Then he stretched out his hands\u003cbr\u003eappealingly to me, and implored me not to go. There was just enough of\u003cbr\u003eEnglish mixed with the German for me to understand the drift of his\u003cbr\u003etalk. He seemed always just about to tell me something--the very idea\u003cbr\u003eof which evidently frightened him; but each time he pulled himself up,\u003cbr\u003esaying, as he crossed himself: 'Walpurgis-Nacht!'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI tried to argue with him, but it was difficult to argue with a man\u003cbr\u003ewhen I did not know his language. The advantage certainly rested with\u003cbr\u003ehim, for although he began to speak in English, of a very crude and\u003cbr\u003ebroken kind, he always got excited and broke into his native\u003cbr\u003etongue--and every time he did so, he looked at his watch. Then the\u003cbr\u003ehorses became restless and sniffed the air. At this he grew very pale,\u003cbr\u003eand, looking around in a frightened way, he suddenly jumped forward,\u003cbr\u003etook them by the bridles and led them on some twenty feet. I followed,\u003cbr\u003eand asked why he had done this. For answer he crossed himself, pointed\u003cbr\u003eto the spot we had left and drew his carriage in the direction of the\u003cbr\u003eother road, indicating a cross, and said, first in German, then in\u003cbr\u003eEnglish: 'Buried him--him what killed themselves.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI remembered the old custom of burying suicides at cross-roads: 'Ah! I\u003cbr\u003esee, a suicide. How interesting!' But for the life of me I could not\u003cbr\u003emake out why the horses were frightened.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhilst we were talking, we heard a sort of sound between a yelp and a\u003cbr\u003ebark. It was far away; but the horses got very restless, and it took\u003cbr\u003eJohann all his time to quiet them. He was pale, and said, 'It sounds\u003cbr\u003elike a wolf--but yet there are no wolves here now.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'No?' I said, questioning him; 'isn't it long since the wolves were so\u003cbr\u003enear the city?'","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47080012775664,"sku":"2940014206181","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014206181_p0.jpg?v=1763612530","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014206181","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}