Free A Christmas Homecoming by Anne Perry Page A

Stoker wrote. Since it is hisbook, and it greatly adds to the power of the drama, I wish to keep it in.” She looked for a moment at Joshua, to make sure he approved, then turned back to face Vincent.
    Joshua was amused. He tried, and failed, to hide it.
    “Then we will add it, even if it requires another scene,” he agreed. “You are quite right. It makes moral sense, and it will be good for the audience to see it. Then we will do Lucy’s death scene, as witnessed by Mina. We will dress her in white and keep the light on her to suggest that Lucy is still innocent in appearance and still beautiful.”
    Lydia smiled.
    “Then we will move to the scene of Lucy attacking the children,” Joshua continued. “We haven’t got any real children so we’ll have to have Alice create children’s voices for us offstage—high-pitched and terrified.” He looked at Alice. “You’ll have to practice that. Then Lucy appears with blood on her mouth and face, and walks through the gravestones to return to her coffin.”
    “How are we going to get gravestones on the stage?” James asked.
    Joshua looked at Caroline.
    “Eliza and I have found some very good old cabin trunks,” she replied. “They are solid and about the right size, stood up on end. We can easily cover them in paper and paint on them appropriately. We can get some stones and a little bit of earth from the kitchen staff.”
    “Very good,” Joshua said with satisfaction.
    “We may have to condense this next scene a bit for the sake of time; instead of finding the coffin empty multiple times, we’ll just have her in it, serene and lovely. Then empty, to get the point across.”
    “It will be stronger if it is shorter,” Alice agreed. “But we should see her smile a terrible smile.”
    “We will.” Joshua did not even think to argue. “We’ll see Lucy as a vampire quite clearly, and the struggle that Harker, Van Helsing, and Mina have to kill her. Then, with lights, we can make her seem to return to herself and finally be at peace in death. That is really the end of the middle act.”
    “Bravo,” Vincent said sarcastically.
    Joshua ignored him. “Then we move into the beginning of the climax, the search for Dracula. We start to see that Renfield’s behavior reflects Dracula’s beingnearby.” He looked at Vincent now. “Van Helsing will recount that, with the mimicry,” he instructed. “Including Renfield’s death, with appropriate sadness from Mina and Harker. We’ll include his reference to rats and flies. I know that’s a repeat of his previous references, but this time his manner will be different, and it should be a nice counterpoint.”
    No one interrupted, but looking around at them, Caroline saw that he had his troupe’s complete attention. Even Douglas Paterson had nothing to say, as if at last, despite himself, he was drawn into the story.
    “Then we have the series of scenes where Dracula appears and attacks Mina. The audience knows it, but Harker and Van Helsing don’t …”
    Eliza Netheridge was sitting next to Caroline. “This is getting rather exciting, isn’t it? I begin to understand why Alice cares so much.” She looked across at Alice, who was standing at the far side of the stage, her eyes on Joshua.
    “Van Helsing realizes the awful truth of Mina’s condition when he places the holy wafer on her forehead and she screams with pain. It leaves a red scar,” Joshua went on. “They corner Dracula, but he escapes.”
    Eliza shuddered.
    “Mina tells them that at sunrise and sunset Dracula loses much of his control over her.” Joshua continued the narrative. “Van Helsing hypnotizes her and she says that when Dracula calls her—and he will—then she will have no choice but to go to him, wherever he is, and whatever it costs her.” Joshua smiled. “At that point we should have the audience on the edge of their seats. Then we have the climax.” He glanced at Caroline, then away again.
    “This will call for some