Dracula, The Hunters' Journals: 26 July Mina Murray's Journal

 Mina is getting increasingly worried about Jonathan.

26 July.—I am anxious, and it soothes me to express myself here; it is like whispering to one’s self and listening at the same time. And there is also something about the shorthand symbols that makes it different from writing. I am unhappy about Lucy and about Jonathan. I had not heard from Jonathan for some time, and was very concerned; but yesterday dear Mr. Hawkins, who is always so kind, sent me a letter from him. I had written asking him if he had heard, and he said the enclosed had just been received. It is only a line dated from Castle Dracula, and says that he is just starting for home. That is not like Jonathan; I do not understand it, and it makes me uneasy. Then, too, Lucy, although she is so well, has lately taken to her old habit of walking in her sleep. Her mother has spoken to me about it, and we have decided that I am to lock the door of our room every night. Mrs. Westenra has got an idea that sleep-walkers always go out on roofs of houses and along the edges of cliffs and then get suddenly wakened and fall over with a despairing cry that echoes all over the place. Poor dear, she is naturally anxious about Lucy, and she tells me that her husband, Lucy’s father, had the same habit; that he would get up in the night and dress himself and go out, if he were not stopped. Lucy is to be married in the autumn, and she is already planning out her dresses and how her house is to be arranged. I sympathise with her, for I do the same, only Jonathan and I will start in life in a very simple way, and shall have to try to make both ends meet. Mr. Holmwood—he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only son of Lord Godalming—is coming up here very shortly—as soon as he can leave town, for his father is not very well, and I think dear Lucy is counting the moments till he comes. She wants to take him up to the seat on the churchyard cliff and show him the beauty of Whitby. I daresay it is the waiting which disturbs her; she will be all right when he arrives.

Notes

Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent

So Lucy is walking in her sleep. Sleepwalking was of great interest to the Victorians both from the Spiritual and Scientific frames of mind. It was believed that the sleep walker was "between worlds" and had access to knowledge or wisdom. 

Debate goes on. Was Lucy sleepwalking because she was under Dracula's thrall already, OR was she more susceptible of Dracula because of her history of sleepwalking?  I believe it was the latter. Her father had it and Lucy represents the "Old World" of England vs. Mina's New World of England. So Lucy still has a foot in that other, older, and more spiritual world. 

This also hints at the duality of Lucy. The innocent bride to be now and later the horrifying "Bloofer Lady" to come. This too was part of Victorian pop-psychology of the time. See the "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" for a more developed example of this. 

There is a solid implication here. Lucy, in her innocence, makes her a "tasty" target for Dracula. We have seen in many movies that while Lucy is Dracula's appetizer, Mina is the meal. She is described by Van Helsing as being "remarkable" and having a "man like mind." All Victorian for Mina is smart and shrewd.  So. What sort of Vampire would Mina have been? Terrifying to be sure. I think this is a bit that Alan Moore grabbed onto in "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

We are really just getting introduced to Mina still. But she is, as I'll show, the real star and the real hero of this tale.