Cut Off the Head of the Snake?" They were told of the long and dangerous search for Dracula, of the gathering of an army of soldiers and hunters to fight the vampire. But when the children asked questions, the professor often laughed and said: "You must not ask me any more about Dracula until you are older." And the children did not ask him any more about Dracula. "But if you knew him yourself, then you might want to see him again," Alice said. The professor smiled. "Yes, it is possible that I might wish to see Dracula again," he replied. "It is very nice of you to ask me about him, but you are too young to hear the story of Dracula. I might be very sorry that you had known him." "Not if you knew him as well as you knew Uncle Jumbo!" said John. "For you are an American, Professor, and Americans know how to speak to Dracula without fear." "Why, of course," laughed the professor. "I don't need to be afraid of him. I should have nothing to fear if I knew him. But I must tell you one thing. I might not like him." "Oh, yes, you would," said John. "Aren't you brave enough to see him if you know him?" But Alice said that she did not believe that any one could see Dracula and not be afraid of him. Then Mr. Harker said that he had something to say. He knew Dracula's trap better than any one else. He knew the way he caught people in it. He knew all that a man might know of Dracula. He knew where he was to be found. And it was a pretty hard name to say. But, with all that, he had given his promise to come back from the mountains of Transylvania by September. "I could not keep my promise to my friend," he said. "What friend?" asked Alice. "You will know when you get to Europe. When you get to the old town of Blois there is a large clock in the central square," Mr. Harker said. "The dial of that clock will point to the same hour as the sun in Rome, at three o'clock in the morning, when Dracula's soul is free again. There is a strange power that can move Dracula's soul. When the clock strikes, and the shadow of a man falls on the dial, and Dracula looks out from his grave to find out what hour of the night it is, he can hear it and he cannot sleep. Then he rises, and he comes out of his grave at the hour he hears the clocks strike in the world. He comes out of his grave, and he travels to the place where his body lies." "What makes Dracula come to his body when the sun strikes the dial?" asked Mr. Harker. "You should ask my good friend, Prince Kallistos," said Mrs. Harker. "But I should like to know more about Dracula," John said. "I can tell you nothing more," said Mr. Harker. "I did not even hear much of him while I was in Transylvania. He is not mentioned by name in the story of the place. But you can ask your father. He knows more about the story of Transylvania than any other person that I know. And ask him why Dracula is called Dracula." So the children left the professor's office, each holding a story of Dracula in his hand. And as they walked home from school on the Sabbath afternoon, they talked about him, and John asked all about the professor, and Mrs. Harker's father. VII. ALICE MAKES A PROMISE "Oh, if Dracula ever gets loose again," Alice said, "I know which way he will go." "Which way?" asked Johnny, staring. "To Mr. Harker's house," said Alice. "He will find it after I have promised to become his wife." "But will you?" asked Johnny. "Yes, I am almost sure I will," Alice replied. "And he will have my sister and all of them as soon as I am married to him. My sister was with him at the church last Sunday." "But why are you going to be married to him?" Johnny asked. "Why will he be your husband?" "My father was in great trouble," Alice replied. "And Dracula came to him one night, and he made my father promise him many things. He said he would never do anything to hurt my father. He said he would take care of us all if my father would do just as he told him." "And did Dracula come to see you?" asked Johnny. "Yes, and he let me go away with him once," Alice answered. "And he let me go alone this time." "Did you go away all the way in a boat?" asked Johnny. "Did you go to Transylvania?" "No, it was not as far as that," Alice replied. "Only a little way. And Dracula found a place for us to live, with some friends of his." "But they let him be there with you?" asked Johnny. "I think they did not mind it," Alice said. "They seemed to like him because he gave them everything they wished." "Oh, I know," said Johnny. "I remember how he asked me to give him all I had, so that he could keep me. But I was naughty. I did not do it. What did Dracula do to you when you were naughty?" "He threatened to pull out my little finger," Alice answered. "And after he threatened, he would smile at me." "And what else?" Johnny asked. "And then he would tie me up with ropes and with strings," Alice answered. "He tied me up one day to a tree, and he came near to me, and I had to look up at him. And that made me cross. He laughed at me, but he did not hurt me." "And then what?" asked Johnny. "Did he really hurt you?" "I had a picture," said Alice. "And I was afraid to show it to any one." "But what did he do?" asked Johnny. "And how did you escape from him?" "He told me to bring it home with me," Alice answered. "And he said he was going to go away, and he would take care of all the bad things for us. And he said that he was sorry, but he could not say it strongly enough." "Did he tell you that when you had a good time he had a bad time?" asked Johnny. "Yes," said Alice. "He told me to come to him when I would feel sorry. And then he said he would bring me out a little present." "What did he bring you?" asked Johnny. "Oh, I cannot tell you," Alice replied. "You know the story that the priest tells the people of Constantinople when they are in trouble. That is like Dracula." "What does he tell them?" asked Johnny. "Do you think I should believe it? Do you think I should believe in Dracula?" "Yes, I do," said Alice. "I have had my troubles since then. I was almost a woman when the vampire came to me." "But what did he do to you?" asked Johnny. "Did he make you cry?" "No, but he frightened me," Alice replied. "He was a horrid little thing, but he said he was going to be kind, and that I would like him afterward. He said I would be sorry for what I did to him when I was with him." "And you were not sorry when you were with him?" asked Johnny. "No, I was not," said Alice. "I was pleased and I was happy. And I had all the things that I wanted." "And Dracula said you were going to be sorry?" asked Johnny. "And you were not sorry?" "No, I did not have any regrets," said Alice. "It was real nice with him." "But what did you do then?" asked Johnny. "Did he take you away?" "No, we were quite alone," Alice answered. "And I told him I thought I would be sorry for what I did to him, but he said he would tell me what to say. He said he knew a way to make me always do what I should want to." "How could he do that?" Johnny asked. "It is not known, not known at all," said Alice. "But that is what