"My friend.--Welcome to the Carpathians. I am anxiously expecting you. Sleep well tonight. At three tomorrow the diligence will start for Bukovina; a place on it is kept for you. At the Borgo Pass my carriage will await you and will bring you to me. I trust that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land.--Your friend, Dracula."
4 May--I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count, directing him to secure the best place on the coach for me; but on making inquiries as to details he seemed somewhat reticent, and pretended that he could not understand my German.
This could not be true, because up to then he had understood it perfectly; at least, he answered my questions exactly as if he did.
He and his wife, the old lady who had received me, looked at each other in a frightened sort of way. He mumbled out that the money had been sent in a letter, and that was all he knew. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife crossed themselves, and, saying that they knew nothing at all, simply refused to speak further. It was so near the time of starting that I had no time to ask anyone else, for it was all very mysterious and not by any means comforting.
Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a hysterical way: "Must you go? Oh! Young Herr, must you go?" She was in such an excited state that she seemed to have lost her grip of what German she knew, and mixed it all up with some other language which I did not know at all. I was just able to follow her by asking many questions. When I told her that I must go at once, and that I was engaged on important business, she asked again:
"Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of May. She shook her head as she said again:
"Oh, yes! I know that! I know that, but do you know what day it is?"
On my saying that I did not understand, she went on:
"It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?" She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but without effect. Finally, she went down on her knees and implored me not to go; at least to wait a day or two before starting.
It was all very ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business to be done, and I could allow nothing to interfere with it.
I tried to raise her up, and said, as gravely as I could, that I thanked her, but my duty was imperative, and that I must go.
She then rose and dried her eyes, and taking a crucifix from her neck offered it to me.
I did not know what to do, for, as an English Churchman, I have been taught to regard such things as in some measure idolatrous, and yet it seemed so ungracious to refuse an old lady meaning so well and in such a state of mind.
She saw, I suppose, the doubt in my face, for she put the rosary round my neck and said, "For your mother's sake," and went out of the room.
I am writing up this part of the diary whilst I am waiting for the coach, which is, of course, late; and the crucifix is still round my neck.
Whether it is the old lady's fear, or the many ghostly traditions of this place, or the crucifix itself, I do not know, but I am not feeling nearly as easy in my mind as usual.
~Dracula, Bram Stoker, Chapter 1
[Source]
Wow, what a change.
To go from being a natural beauty to be a butt of the joke. Tragic.
Don’t mess with Mother Nature.
Yes…I used to love to watch her when she played one of the sisters on the show ‘Charmed’. Now? She is pretty damn terrifying to look at. *sigh* Proof that once again, I do not understand the rational of celebrities and the seemingly ever present need to look like aliens from outerspace, as opposed to having a couple of wrinkles. I honestly do not get their train of thought at ALL.
What I think is … They all compete for the same roles. Their agents and handlers tell them they have to have the right look which in their deluded heads means to look similar. These actresses all look alike. I am getting confused who is who. It’s like a sf horror movie. Worst than zombies.
How many actresses, that have THIS sorta face, do you see in TV shows/movies? None. None is the answer because NO ONE wants to see anyone look like a freak of nature. Too distracting. So, if these idiots are listening to their agents/handlers to make themselves look like this? I feel no sympathy. This is what they deserve for acting like idiots, listening to someone else when all one has to do is pick up a magazine in order to know that this extent of plastic surgery NEVER works out well.
It’s true what you are saying. They all look like freaks and they don’t work. Maybe it is something else.
I don’t have explanation except they don’t have mirror and deep down they are stupid. Probably they didn’t come to understanding that we all age and lose our looks. Hollywood is one dark place.