I could not resist the temptation of mystifying him a bit – I suppose it is some of the taste of the original apple that remains still in our mouths – so I handed him the shorthand diary.
– Bram Stoker
Dracula, Chapter 14. Mina says this as she playfully hands Professor Van Helsing her shorhand diary of her conversations with Lucy, knowing that he will not be able to read it. She takes pride in being able to do something – write and read shorthand – that the great professor cannot do. At the same time she feels a little shame, as she recalls that the sin of pride caused the Fall and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. This is a reference to the Bible story in the Book of Genesis.