One of Harker's favorite rooms in the castle is one that he feels was probably a woman's room; romantically, he likes to imagine that in this room "ladies sat and sung and lived sweet lives whilst their gentle breasts were sad for their menfolk away in the midst of remorseless wars." It is during one moonlight night in this room that three women appear before Harker — and whether or not this is a dream, we cannot be sure. Harker's horror, however, is quite real, and that concerns us most. Two of the women are dark, and both of them have vivid, glowing red eyes; the other woman is fair. All have "brilliant white teeth," and all of them cause a burning, sexual desire within Harker. Unexplainably, Harker finds himself allowing the fair woman to bend over him until he can feel her hot breath on his neck. As two sharp teeth touch his neck, and as he closes [his] eyes "in languorous ecstasy," waiting "with beating heart," Count Dracula suddenly sweeps in and orders the women out. But before they go, Harker notices that they grab a small bag with "some living thing within it"; with horror, Harker is sure that he hears a low wail, like that "of a half-smothered child." Then he sinks into unconsciousness.
Significantly, Harker awakens in his own bed. Perhaps the women and the gruesome bag were only part of a bad dream. Thus he steels himself for others "who are — waiting to suck [his] blood." Harker waits, and while he does so, he notices gypsies who are driving wagons filled with large, square, empty boxes. Later, he hears the muffled sounds of digging, and again, he sees the Count slither down the side of the castle, lizard-fashion, wearing Harker's clothes and carrying "the terrible bag." A howling dog cries far below in the valley. The horror overcomes Harker; locked in his prison, he sits down and cries.
It is then that he hears a woman below, crying out for her child, tearing her hair, beating her breasts, and "beating her naked hands against the door." Within moments, a pack of wolves pour "like a pent-up dam" into the courtyard. Then they stream away, "licking their lips."
