4 may, Jonathan Harker's journal:
"Do you know what day it is?" I answered that it was the fourth of May. [...]
[...]
"It is the eve of St. George's Day. Do you not know that to-night, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world will have full sway? [...]
7 may, Jonathan Harker's journal:
He then explained to me that it was commonly believed that on a certain night of the year—last night, in fact, when all evil spirits are supposed to have unchecked sway— a blue flame is seen over any place where treasure has been concealed. [...]
[...]
[...] Those flames only appear on one night; and on that night no man of this land will, if he can help it, stir without his doors. [...]
Two thoughts...
Stoker is already struggling to keep his dates straight. If the night of 4th May was "last night", Jonathan and Dracula's conversation about it should take place on the night of 5th May, and Jonathan should record it in his diary on the morning of the 6th, not the 7th.
All the passengers on the coach from Bistritz to Bukovina must have had really, really good reasons for travelling that night, and not putting off their journey until the next day -- perhaps hastening to the bedsides of dying relatives? -- but they still managed to have compassion and concern for the poor, clueless stranger travelling with them.
