CHAPTER VI
Mina Murray’s Journal.
27 July.—No news from Jonathan. I am getting quite uneasy about him, though why I should I do not know; but I do wish that he would write, if it were only a single line. Lucy walks more than ever, and each night I am awakened by her moving about the room. Fortunately, the weather is so hot that she cannot get cold; but still the anxiety and the perpetually being wakened is beginning to tell on me, and I am getting nervous and wakeful myself. Thank God, Lucy’s health keeps up. Mr. Holmwood has been suddenly called to Ring to see his father, who has been taken seriously ill. Lucy frets at the postponement of seeing him, but it does not touch her looks; she is a trifle stouter, and her cheeks are a lovely rose-pink. She has lost that anæmic look which she had. I pray it will all last.
Ring is evidently the name of the Godalming estate.
The commentary on Lucy’s appearance and how it changes over time is very interesting to me. This is before Dracula has arrived in England, so it cannot be caused by his feeding on her yet.
Is this Stoker establishing her baseline health, to explain why she gets so dire before anyone notices once Dracula does arrive? Or is this the supernatural influence of Dracula reaching across the sea and affecting her somehow, the same way it seems it might be causing her to sleepwalk.
I looked a bit on internet in search of superstition related to sleep walking that would explain it. If such superstition exist they are not very famous online :-/
