"Herbert, for God's sake, please!" Moreau said, dragging him on.
They hadn't walked a block before an adolescent girl with varicolored hair cut in a geometric style and wearing high black boots, scarlet clingpanties and a see-through halter sidled up to them and propositioned Wells. Moreau grimaced and waved her off.
Wells grinned. "Well, in some respects at least, things have not changed very much at all."
"If you had accepted her proposition," Moreau said sourly, "I think you'd have found that things have changed more than you might think. Come, let us go back to the hotel. I do not wish to expose you to so much that your mind will be shocked by overstimulation. We have much to talk about."
"Please, can't we stay a little while longer?" Wells said. "Can't we walk about? There is so much to see! I have a thousand questions bursting from my brain!"
"Later, perhaps," Moreau said. "Regrettably, we cannot remain here for long. Bringing you here was a great risk and Iam still not certain that it was the right decision. However, perhaps it was for the best. Perhaps now you will possess enough perspective to fully appreciate what I have to tell you. It would take hours to even begin to answer some of those questions you have, but I needed to eliminate your doubts."
"And that you have," said Wells, glancing all around him. "To think that I have traveled hundreds of years into the future! What a world awaits us! What astonishing accomplishments! Please, Moreau, can't we stay awhile longer?"
Moreau smiled, "Very well. But keep close to me. If we were to become separated, you would become truly lost, forever. -
"I do not know that I would mind that very much, — said Wells.
"Don't even joke about it," said Moreau.
"What would happen if we did not go back?" said Wells. "Purely for the sake of argument, of course."
"There is no way of knowing exactly what would happen.” said Moreau, "but you can be certain that history would be changed. The results could be disastrous on an unimaginable scale. By the act of bringing you here, I have already altered history, but the risk is slight if we follow proper precautions. It is nothing compared to the risk we all face hack in your own time. And now that you have seen all this, perhaps you might begin to understand. Come, I will tell you about myself, about who and what I am and where I came from, and about the crowning achievement of my career, which has now turned into a nightmare that threatens all humanity. And it all began when a device known as a chronoplate was invented and man achieved the capability of traveling through time…"
"Count Dracula?"
The tall dark man in the black opera cape paused as he was about to get into his coach outside the Lyceum Theatre. "I am Dracula.” he said, turning around.
"Inspector William Grayson, Scotland Yard. Might I ask you to give me a moment of your time?"
"Certainly. Inspector. How may I help you?"
"I should like to ask you a few questions. I understand that you were one of the last people to see Miss Angeline Crewe alive. "
"Yes," said Dracula, " I suppose I must have been. I had heard about her collapse during rehearsal. Poor girl, a tragedy to die so young. But why should the police be interested? It was an illness, no?"
"We have reason to suspect that it may not have been.” said Grayson. "Why, did she seem ill to you?"
"I thought she seemed a trifle pale," said Dracula.
"You had dinner with her and another young woman from the company, a Miss Violet Anderson?"
"Yes, that is correct.”
"And there was another gentleman present, a Mr. Anthony Hesketh?"
"Yes, it was Mr. Hesketh who introduced me to Miss Crewe."
"Isee. When was the last time you saw Mr. Hesketh?"
"I believe it was that evening, when we all had dinner together."
"And you have not seen him since?"
"No, I think he said something about going abroad on business.”
"How well do you know him?"
"We occasionally take in a play together. We met here, at the Lyceum. He was kind enough to share my box with me and assist me with the language. English is not my native tongue, you know."