In 1888, George becomes ill and bed-ridden. While doing research on the strange mask, Jonathan finds the dying Dario's letter and finds his symptoms are the same as George's. Using Dio's pride against him, Jonathan deduces that Dio murdered Dario and intends to do the same with George. After leaving instructions for only trusted doctors to tend to his father, Jonathan sets off to London to discover the origins of the poison. Fearing Jonathan would ruin his plans, Dio steals the Stone Mask with the intent to arrange an accidental death with it. In London's Ogre Street, Jonathan is attacked by the thug Robert E. O. Speedwagon. But Jonathan's sense of honor and desire to save his father convinces Speedwagon to assist in the search for an Oriental druggist. Meanwhile, assuming that Jonathan died in Ogre Street, Dio crosses paths with two drunkards. He slits one of them to subject the other to an activated Stone Mask. Instead of killing the second drunkard like Dio thought it would, the mask turns the victim into a powerful vampire that nearly kills Dio. The sunlight turns the vampire to dust.