Dracula Chapter 17 Summary

Mina and Jonathan are on their way to Dr. Seward's house (which is basically an apartment attached to the asylum).
Van Helsing gives Dr. Seward a copy of Mina and Jonathan's journals to read before the couple arrives.
When Mina gets there, she sees Dr. Seward making a diary entry on his phonograph (which is an early recording device, like a Dictaphone).
She gets all excited and asks to hear it say something—perhaps something about how Lucy died.
But of course Dr. Seward doesn't want Mina to hear about Lucy's death, since he doesn't know that she already knows about Dracula.
And besides, he doesn't have a good way of sorting back through his phonograph tapes to find particular entries.
Mina assures him that she's trustworthy and tells him to read her diary (he hasn't had a chance to yet).
Then she offers to copy his phonograph tapes onto her typewriter.

Dr. Seward's Diary, September 29

Mina and Dr. Seward have finished reading each other's diaries, and they're both impressed.

Mina can hardly believe what she has learned from Dr. Seward's recordings about Lucy's death and her brief career as a vampire.
She copies it all down on her typewriter and offers to put all the documents they have in chronological order (like in the novel!)

After Mina and Jonathan put the documents in order, Dr. Seward realizes the connection between Renfield's outbursts and what the Count is up to.
He goes to check on Renfield, and finds him quiet and apparently sane.
He's suspicious and wonders what Dracula is up to.

Before coming to London to meet Mina and the others, Jonathan had gone to Whitby to ask about the cargo that the Count had had shipped to Carfax house in London.
The cargo amounted to fifty boxes of "common earth to be used for experimental purposes."
No one was able to tell him any more about the cargo, although everyone had something to say about the strange ship that entered the harbor during the storm with a dead guy steering it.

Next, Jonathan goes to London to make sure that all fifty boxes were, indeed, delivered to Carfax. They were.

Mina is happy to see Jonathan so determined and brave.
Quincey Morris and Arthur have arrived. Mina gives them each a copy of the documents to read over.
Arthur has a good cry on her shoulder before he reads it. After all, he's just been with the guys since Lucy died, and he likes having a female shoulder to cry on.
Mina just met Arthur, but she doesn't mind acting all motherly with him.
She offers to let Quincey have a good cry, too, but he declines. He's a manly American, after all.

READ THE BOOK: Chapter 17