Jekyll awoke from a sound slumber to a rapping at his bedroom door. He rose and threw on his robe, and then opened the door. "Good morning, Erik," he said, yawning when he saw his visitor. "What's the time?"
"Quarter past noon," replied Erik calmly. "You have a meeting with Sir Danvers Carew in fifteen minutes."
Jekyll stared blankly at him. Then he clapped a hand to his mouth and rushed into the bathroom to change. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?!" he shouted, angrily.
"You wouldn't wake earlier," retorted Erik. "And anyway, I had to stay with Dracula until he promised me he wouldn't take his own life."
"Why should Dracula do a thing like that?" asked Jekyll, hurriedly throwing on a shirt.
"Because he's in irrecoverable depression over Elizabeth," retorted Erik. "He was prepared to drive a stake through his own heart, and would have, if I hadn't stopped him. Christine's with him now, trying to console him."
Jekyll emerged from the bathroom fully dressed and said, combing his hair hurriedly in front of a mirror, "I don't think she'll offer much consolation. I think only Elizabeth can do that."
"Apparently she flatly refused him last night at the opera," replied Erik. "And he's lost all will to continue living. Or living in death, or whatever he's doing."
"Well, we all have problems," said Jekyll, checking his pocket watch. "I have ten minutes to get from here to Purfleet, and I shouldn't be late, but I will be, at this rate."
He rushed from the room and down the stairs. He was met by Count Dracula coming up the stairs, followed by Christine. Dracula looked much worse from last night, and more death-like than Jekyll had ever seen him. Dracula smiled feebly at Jekyll and said, "Dr. Jekyll, if I lay down, would you be willing to plunge a giant stake into my heart as Erik was slicing off my head?"
"No," replied Jekyll, slowly. "I think that would be considered murder, Dracula. And Hyde has enough crimes on his head without me adding to them."
Dracula sighed. "It's so hard to commit suicide when you're practically immortal," he said heavily. "I've tried hanging, shooting, stabbing, and while they've all caused me a great deal of pain, none of them were successful in destroying me. You're sure you wouldn't be willing if I lay down?" he pleaded.
"No, I don't think so," said Jekyll, hastily. "I have to go now, Dracula, I'm late for an appointment."
He dashed off as Count Dracula turned to Christine and asked, "Miss Daae, if I lay down, would you be willing to plunge a giant stake through my heart…?"
Jekyll arrived in Purfleet half an hour late, due to a carriage accident which had congested the roads. He dashed up the steps to Emma's house and hurriedly knocked, breathless.
The door was opened by a maid, who studied him distastefully and admitted him with reluctance. Jekyll smoothed back his hair, brushed off his clothes, took a deep breath, and then entered the room into which the maid beckoned.
She shut the door with a bang after he entered. Jekyll saw Emma seated on the sofa, and opposite her a tall, stern-looking old man, with hard grey eyes and thin lips pressed together in a firm line.
"Dr. Jekyll, we expected you some time ago," said Emma, giving him a small smile.
"Half an hour ago, in fact," snapped the old man. "I can understand being fashionably late, but thirty minutes is a great deal of time to waste just for show. I am a very busy man, Dr. Jekyll, and cannot afford to waste time."
"I know, sir, and I'm sorry," said Dr. Jekyll, sincerely. "There was a carriage accident on my way here and I was caught right in the middle of it."
Sir Danvers Carew grunted, as if the reason were not worthy enough to be wasting his time. "Well, sit down, I suppose," he said. Jekyll started toward the sofa upon which Emma was seated, but Sir Danvers immediately held up a hand and pointed to a solitary chair by the fire.
"Over there, if you please, sir," he said, sternly. "I would prefer it if you'd keep a safe distance from my daughter until I determine your character. I am not at all sure I wish her to develop an intimacy with a man who is less than punctual."
Jekyll obeyed, sitting down in the chair and glancing at Emma. She smiled encouragingly at him, and he returned it, to her father's displeasure.
"Look at me, sir," he snapped. "I don't want you catching my daughter's eyes unless I'm sure you deserve her."
"With all due respect, sir, I love your daughter," said Jekyll, sincerely. "I think that's all that needs be decided. I love her and she loves me, and so I see no reason why you should object to our courting."
"Oh, don't you?" demanded her father, angrily. "Let me tell you something, sir, you will not be able to support a wife on love. Love is insubstantial, incorporable, and unable to be traded for currency. The world is not interested in love, only in money. What is your salary at present?"
Jekyll fumbled with his hands. "Sir, I am a scientist," he said at last. "I don't have a steady income. But I'm expecting a breakthrough very soon that should make me a rich man, rich enough to support your daughter in more the style than she is accustomed to."
"Indeed?" replied her father, scornfully. "A scientist, eh? Where do you live? You do own your own house, I suppose? And an office in someplace of importance, I presume?"
"Well I…currently I'm residing with…a friend," finished Jekyll. "And I don't have an office."
"You would expect my daughter to live with you and your friend after your marriage?" asked her father, in disbelief and contempt. "To leech off him for your money? And worse, to leave my daughter in a house with two men, the one she is not even married to? Have you any idea what could happen to a woman in a situation like that, sir?"
"Sir, it's not just the one friend who lives in the house," replied Jekyll. "We have another, and his wife, a very virtuous woman who has never strayed from her husband."
"You have a sort of commune, then?" demanded Sir Danvers. "And you expect my daughter, a woman of nobility and wealth, to live with commoners in such a situation?"
"Sir, I would buy a house before I married her," said Jekyll. "I promise Emma will never be less than comfortable. I love her, and am absolutely devoted to her, and will do anything to make her happy. I intend to give her everything she asks for, even if it means selling every last penny of my own property. If she is happy, that is all that matters to me."
"Nobly spoken, sir," sneered Sir Danvers. "But I really have little time or patience for your fanciful sentiments. Give me one reason of real, tangible proof as to why you should marry my daughter."
Jekyll shook his head. "I have none," he replied. "Only that I love her."
Emma was gazing at him in adoration. "Oh, Father!" she sighed. "Please, Father, let me marry him! He's so wonderful!"
"Emma, sit down and hold your tongue," snapped Sir Danvers. "You don't know what's good for you. This penniless beggar would fill your head and your heart with promises, and after one week as his wife he will be through with you and go off in search of other women."
"Sir, I swear I would never do that," said Jekyll, sincerely. "My heart is ready to accept the love of only one woman, and I look forward to that responsibility with great relish."
Sir Danvers was practically convinced. Then he asked the question that ruined the promise of happiness. "What are the names of these friends of yours?"
Jekyll didn't see the harm in being honest. "Christine Daae, Count Dracula, and…"
But he didn't get to finish. Sir Danvers had leapt to his feet in a fury and shouted, with blazing eyes, "Count Dracula?!"
"Yes, sir," replied Jekyll, confused.
"You are a friend of Count Dracula's?!" he shouted, furiously.
"Yes, sir," replied Jekyll, honestly.
Sir Danvers looked ready to explode. "You are a friend of that womanizing scoundrel, and you dare to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage?! Oh no, sir! If you believe for one moment that I will trust my daughter's future happiness to a man who lives with and associates with that libertine, let me assure you, sir, you are gravely mistaken! Furthermore, I forbid you from ever seeing or speaking to my daughter again! Leave my house at once and never enter it again! Good day!"
Jekyll could not argue. He quickly got to his feet and left the room, Sir Danvers slamming the door behind him. Jekyll did not feel anything until he was outside, and then felt his heart breaking. He had never felt anything so painful, nor grief so agonizing, and torture so burning. To never see Emma again! He could not bear the thought! To never gaze upon her lovely face, or hear her lovely voice, or feel instantly happy at her touch! Oh, the thought was too horrible to be conceived!
He walked slowly back to Carfax, alone in his misery. A rainstorm had blown up as he walked, so that by the time he got back, he was thoroughly soaked. The rain did not bother him, however, nothing so fragile could add to the extreme pain he felt.
"How did the interview go?" asked Erik, who met him as he entered.
"Where is Dracula?" demanded Jekyll.
"In his crypt," replied Erik. "But why…"
"Thank you," interrupted Jekyll, shoving past him. He stormed down the stairs to the crypt and threw open the door. "Dracula!" he called into the blackness. "Where the hell are you?"
Jekyll entered the crypt and lit a candle to see Dracula lying down in his coffin, holding a large stake above him. He turned to Dr. Jekyll and smiled. "Dr. Jekyll, I can manage to impale myself if you can be so kind as to slice off my head…"
Jekyll stormed over the coffin and, seizing Dracula by the collar, lifted him out of the coffin and onto his feet. "What the hell did you do to Sir Danvers Carew?" Jekyll demanded, furiously.
"To whom?" asked Dracula, puzzled.
"Sir Danvers Carew," repeated Jekyll, enunciating every syllable. "At the very mention of your name he had a fit and forbade me from seeing Emma ever again. What did you do to him?"
"Oh, good old Sir Danvers," said Dracula with a small smile and dry chuckle. "Ah yes, the old blowhard. I told him that to his face several years back, after I had that affair with his wife and he came home to find her in my arms. He had a few strong words for me after that, let me tell you, and I called him a blowhard, and an idiot, and I said it was no wonder his wife had turned to me for companionship and love, for she got little enough of it around here. And then he practically tried to seize me and throw me out, but I managed to rush out ahead of him, with him yelling curses behind me every step of the way."
"Do you realize that you have ruined the one chance for happiness I have ever had?" growled Jekyll. "Do you realize that because of you, I will never see Emma again, let alone be allowed to marry her? Do you realize that?!" he demanded, feeling his rage overpowering him.
"Are you going to kill me?" asked Dracula, excitedly. "Do. Here, I'll make it easy for you. I'll lie down and stake myself, and all you'll have to do will be to slice my head off."
"I'm not going to give you that satisfaction," snapped Jekyll. "I want you to live in torment, just as I will now that…I've lost her."
Dracula snorted. "You haven't lost her," he snapped. "Has she refused ever to see you again?"
"Well, no," admitted Jekyll.
"She's still keen on your marriage then," retorted Dracula. "It's Daddy who's the problem."
Jekyll thought for a moment. "But she didn't make any move to stop him," he replied.
"She probably couldn't," replied Dracula. "If I know Sir Danvers, and I do, he probably doesn't let her speak unless spoken to, and the consequences are serious if she does. And anyway, what good would it do? Sir Danvers had already made up his mind, and nothing you or she could say would change that."
"I hope you're right," sighed Jekyll. "I couldn't bear to lose her."
"Keep whining, Jekyll," growled Dracula.
Erik opened the crypt door and said, "Jekyll? Telegram for you."
Jekyll took the paper from Erik and read:
Henry
I love you stop Father knows nothing stop We will be married stop Meet me tomorrow stop Father is gone stop I love you stop
Emma
Jekyll's eyes filled with tears. "She loves me!" he cried, holding the telegram up triumphantly. "She loves me!"
"Congratulations," retorted Dracula, coldly. "Get out."
Jekyll and Erik left, Jekyll re-reading the note avidly. "She says it twice," he said, proudly. "And she wants to meet me tomorrow. And she loves me."
"A stunning revelation, Monsieur," retorted Erik, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, nothing can spoil my happiness ever again!" cried Jekyll, excitedly.
Again, he was about to be proven wrong.