CHAPTER 10.
LETTERS, ETC.- continued.
Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood.
"6 September.
"My dear Art,-
"My news to-day is not so good. Lucy this morning has gone back a
bit. There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it;
Mrs. Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted
me professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity,
and told her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist,
was coming to stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge
conjointly with myself, so now we can come and go without alarming her
unduly, for a shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in
Lucy's weak condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in
with difficulties, all of us, my poor old fellow; but, please God,
we shall come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so
that, if you do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply
waiting for news. In haste. Yours ever,
"John Seward."
Dr. Seward's Diary.
7 September.- The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met a
Liverpool street was:-
"Have you said anything to our young friend the lover of her?"
"No," I said. "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my
telegram. I wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were
coming, as Miss Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him
know if need be."
"Right, my friend," he said, "quite right! Better he not know as
yet; perhaps he shall never know. I pray so; but if it be needed, then
he shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution you. You
deal with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the other; and
inasmuch as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with God's
madmen, too- the rest of the world. You tell not your madmen what
you do nor why you do it; you tell them not what you think. So you
shall keep knowledge in its place, where it may rest- where it may
gather its kind around it and breed. You and I shall keep as yet
what we know here, and here." He touched me on the heart and on the
forehead, and then touched himself the same way. "I have for myself
thoughts at the present. Later I shall unfold to you."
"Why not now?" I asked. "It may do some good; we may arrive at
some decision." He stopped and looked at me, and said:-
"My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has ripened-
while the milk of its mother-earth is in him, and the sunshine has not
yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the ear
and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff,
and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when the
time comes.'" I did not see the application, and told him so. For
reply he reached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it
playfully, as he used long ago to do at lectures, and said: "The
good husbandman tell you so then because he knows, but not till
then. But you do not find the good husbandman dig up his planted
corn to see if he grow; that is for the children who play at
husbandry, and not for those who take it as of the work of their life.
See you now, friend John? I have sown my corn, and Nature has her work
to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, there's some
promise; and I wait till the ear begins to swell." He broke off, for
he evidently saw that I understood. Then he went on, and very
gravely:-
"You were always a careful student, and your case-book was ever more
full than the rest. You were only student then; now you are master,
and I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember, my friend, that
knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker.
Even if you have not kept the good practise, let me tell you that this
case of our dear miss is one that may be- mind, I say may be- of
such interest to us and others that all the rest may not make him kick
the beam, as your peoples say. Take then good note of it. Nothing is
too small. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and
surmises. Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you
guess. We learn from failure, not from success!"
When I described Lucy's symptoms- the same as before, but infinitely
more marked- he looked very grave, but said nothing. He took with
him a bag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the ghastly
paraphernalia of our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of
his lectures, the equipment of a professor of the healing craft.
When we were shown in, Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but
not nearly so much as I expected to find her. Nature in one of her
beneficent moods has ordained that even death has some antidote to its
own terrors. Here, in a case where any shock may prove fatal,
matters are so ordered that, from some cause or other, the things
not personal- even the terrible change in her daughter to whom she
is so attached- do not seem to reach her. It is something like the way
Dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an envelope of some
insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that which it would
otherwise harm by contact. If this be an ordered selfishness, then
we should pause before we condemn any one for the vice of egoism,
for there may be deeper roots for its causes than we have knowledge
of.
I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and laid
down a rule that she should not be present with Lucy or think of her
illness more than was absolutely required. She assented readily, so
readily that I saw again the hand of Nature fighting for life. Van
Helsing and I were shown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I
saw her yesterday, I was horrified when I saw her to-day. She was
ghastly, chalkily pale; the red seemed to have gone even from her lips
and gums, and the bones of her face stood out prominently; her
breathing was painful to see or hear. Van Helsing's face grew set as
marble, and his eyebrows converged till they almost touched over his
nose. Lucy lay motionless and did not seem to have strength to
speak, so for a while we were all silent. Then Van Helsing beckoned to
me, and we went gently out of the room. The instant we had closed
the door he stepped quickly along the passage to the next door,
which was open. Then he pulled me quickly in with him and closed the
door. "My God!" he said; "this is dreadful. There is no time to be
lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's
action as it should be. There must be transfusion of blood at once. Is
it you or me?"
"I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me."
"Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am prepared."
I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a knock
at the hall-door. When we reached the hall the maid had just opened
the door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up to me,
saying in an eager whisper:-
"Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your letter,
and have been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran down here to
see for myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing? I am so
thankful to you, sir, for coming." When first the Professor's eye
had lit upon him he had been angry at my interruption at such a
time; but now, as he took in his stalwart proportions and recognised
the strong young manhood which seemed to emanate from him, his eyes
gleamed. Without a pause he said to him gravely as he held out his
hand:-
"Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our lear miss. She
is bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that." For he
suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. "You are
to help her. You can do more than any that live, and your courage is
your best help."
"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me, and I shall do it.
My life is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body
for her." The Professor has a strongly humourous side, and I could
from old knowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer:-
"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that- not the last!"
"What shall I do?" There was fire in his eyes, and his open
nostril quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder.
"Come!" he said. "You are a man, and it is a man we want. You are
better than me, better than my friend John." Arthur looked bewildered,
and the Professor went on by explaining in a kindly way:-
"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must
have or die. My friend John and I have consulted; and we are about
to perform what we call transfusion of blood- to transfer from full
veins of one to the empty veins which pine for him. John was to give
his blood, as he is the more young and strong than me"- here Arthur
took my hand and wrung it hard in silence- "but, now you are here, you
are more good than us, old or young, who toil much in the world of
thought. Our nerves are not so calm and our blood not so bright than
yours!" Arthur turned to him and said:-
"If you only knew how gladly I would die for her you would
understand-"
He stopped, with a sort of choke in his voice.
"Good boy!" said Van Helsing. "In the not-so-far-off you will be
happy that you have done all for her you love. Come now and be silent.
You shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you must go; and
you must leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame; you know how it is
with her! There must be no shock; any knowledge of this would be
one. Come!"
We all went up to Lucy's room. Arthur by direction remained outside.
Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing. She was not
asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort. Her eyes spoke
to us; that was all. Van Helsing took some things from his bag and
laid them on a little table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic,
and coming over to the bed, said cheerily:-
"Now, little miss, here is your medicine. Drink it off, like a
good child. See, I lift you so that to swallow is easy. Yes." She
had made the effort with success.
It astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact,
marked the extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until sleep
began to flicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the narcotic
began to manifest its potency; and she fell into a deep sleep. When
the Professor was satisfied he called Arthur into the room, and bade
him strip off his coat. Then he added: 'You may take that one little
kiss whiles I bring over the table. Friend John, help to me!- So
neither of us looked whilst he bent over her.
Van Helsing turning to me, said:
"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not
defibrinate it."
Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performed
the operation. As the transfusion went on something like life seemed
to come back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through Arthur's growing
pallor the joy of his face seemed absolutely to shine. After a bit I
began to grow anxious, for the loss of blood was telling on Arthur,
strong man as he was. It gave me an idea of what a terrible strain
Lucy's system must have undergone that what weakened Arthur only
partially restored her. But the Professor's face was set, and he stood
watch in hand and with his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on
Arthur. I could hear my own heart beat. Presently he said in a soft
voice: "Do not stir an instant. It is enough. You attend him; I will
look to her." When all was over I could see how much Arthur was
weakened. I dressed the wound and took his arm to bring him away, when
Van Helsing spoke without turning round- the man seems to have eyes in
the back of his head:-
"The brave lover, I think deserve another kiss, which he shall
have presently." And as he had now finished his operation, he adjusted
the pillow to the patient's head. As he did so the narrow black velvet
band which she seems always to wear round her throat, buckled with
an old diamond buckle which her lover had given her, was dragged a
little up, and showed a red mark on her throat. Arthur did not
notice it, but I could hear the deep hiss of indrawn breath which is
one of Van Helsing's ways of betraying emotion. He said nothing at the
moment, but turned to me, saying: "Now take down our brave young
lover, give him of the port wine, and let him lie down a while. He
must then go home and rest, sleep much and eat much, that he may be
recruited of what he has so given to his love. He must not stay
here. Hold! a moment. I may take it, sir, that you are anxious of
result. Then bring it with you that in all ways the operation is
successful. You have saved her life this time, and you can go home and
rest easy in mind that all that can be is. I shall tell her all when
she is well; she shall love you none the less for what you have
done. Good-bye."
When Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping
gently, but her breathing was stronger; I could see the counterpane
move as her breast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking
at her intently. The velvet band again covered the red mark. I asked
the Professor in a whisper:-
"What do you make of that mark on her throat?"
"What do you make of it?"
"I have not examined it yet," I answered, and then and there
proceeded to loose the band. Just over the external jugular vein there
were two punctures, not large, but not wholesome-looking. There was no
sign of disease, but the edges were white and worn-looking, as if by
some trituration. It at once occurred to me that this wound, or
whatever it was, might be the means of that manifest loss of blood;
but I abandoned the idea as soon as formed, for such a thing could not
be. The whole bed would have been drenched to a scarlet with the blood
which the girl must have lost to leave such a pallor as she had before
the transfusion.
"Well?" said Van Helsing.
"Well," said I, "I can make nothing of it." The Professor stood
up. "I must go back to Amsterdam to-night," he said. "There are
books and things there which I want. You must remain here all the
night, and you must not let your sight pass from her."
"Shall I have a nurse?" I asked.
"We are the best nurses, you and I. You keep watch all night; see
that she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her. You must not
sleep all the night. Later on we can sleep, you and I. I shall be back
as soon as possible. And then we may begin."
"May begin?" I said. "What on earth do you mean?"
"We shall see!" he answered as he hurried out. He came back a moment
later and put his head inside the door and said with warning finger
held up:-
"Remember, she is your charge. If you leave her, and harm befall,
you shall not sleep easy hereafter!"
Dr. Seward's Diary- continued.
8 September.- I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked itself
off towards dusk, and she waked naturally; she looked a different
being from what she had been before the operation. Her spirits even
were good, and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I could see
evidences of the absolute prostration which she had undergone. When
I told Mrs. Westenra that Dr. Van Helsing had directed that I should
sit up with her she almost pooh-poohed the idea, pointing out her
daughter's renewed strength and excellent spirits. I was firm,
however, and made preparations for my long vigil. When her maid had
prepared her for the night I came in, having in the meantime had
supper, and took a seat by the bedside. She did not in any way make
objection, but looked at me gratefully whenever I caught her eye.
After a long spell she seemed sinking off to sleep, but with an effort
seemed to pull herself together and shook it off. This was repeated
several times, with greater effort and with shorter pauses as the time
moved on. It was apparent that she did not want to sleep, so I tackled
the subject at once:-
"You do not want to go to sleep?"
"No; I am afraid."
"Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave for."
"Ah, not if you were like me- if sleep was to you a presage of
horror!"
"A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?"
"I don't know; oh, I don't know. And that is what is so terrible.
All this weakness comes to me in sleep; until I dread the very
thought."
"But, my dear girl, you may sleep to-night. I am here watching
you, and I can promise that nothing will happen."
"Ah, I can trust you!" I seized the opportunity, and said: "I
promise you that if I see any evidence of bad dreams I will wake you
at once."
"You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I
will sleep!" And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief,
and sank back, asleep.
All night long I watched by, her. She never stirred, but slept on
and on in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, health-giving sleep. Her lips
were slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity
of a pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was evident
that no bad dreams had come to disturb her peace of mind.
In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care and
took myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I sent a
short wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the excellent
result of the operation. My own work, with its manifold arrears,
took me all day to clear off, it was dark when I was able to inquire
about my zoophagous patient. The report was good; he had been quite
quiet for the past day and night. A telegram came from Van Helsing
at Amsterdam whilst I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at
Hillingham to-night, as it might be well to be at hand, and stating
that he was leaving by the night mail and would join me early in the
morning.
9 September.- I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to
Hillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my
brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral
exhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook
hands with me she looked sharply in my face and said:-
"No sitting up to-night for you. You are worn out. I am quite well
again; indeed, I am; and if there is to be any sitting up, it is I who
will sit up with you." I would not argue the point, but went and had
my supper. Lucy came with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence,
I made an excellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than
excellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room
next her own, where a cozy fire was burning. "Now," she said, "you
must stay here. I shall leave this door open and my door too. You
can lie on the sofa for I know that nothing would induce any of you
doctors to go to bed whilst there is a patient above the horizon. If I
want anything I shall call out, and you can come to me at once." I
could not but acquiesce, for I was "dob-tired," and could not have sat
up had I tried. So, on her renewing her promise to call me if she
should want anything, I lay on the sofa, and forgot all about
everything.
Lucy Westenra's Diary.
9 September.- I feel so happy to-night. I have been so miserably
weak, that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine
after a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky. Somehow Arthur
feels very, very close to me. I seem to feel his presence warm about
me. I suppose it is that sickness and weakness are selfish things
and turn our inner eyes and sympathy on ourselves, whilst health and
strength give Love rein, and in thought and feeling he can wander
where he wills. I know where my thoughts are. If Arthur only knew!
My dear, my dear, your ears must tingle as you sleep, as mine do
waking. Oh, the blissful rest of last night! How I slept, with that
dear, good Dr. Seward watching me. And to-night I shall not fear to
sleep, since he is close at hand and within call. Thank everybody
for being so good to me! Thank God! Good-night Arthur.
Dr. Seward's Diary.
10 September.- I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my head,
and started awake all in a second. That is one of the things that we
learn in an asylum, at any rate.
"And how is our patient?"
"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me," I answered.
"Come, let us see," he said. And together we went into the room.
The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van
Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed.
As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room,
I heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its
rarity, a deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over he moved
back, and his exclamation of horror, "Gott in Himmel!" needed no
enforcement from his agonised face. He raised his hand and pointed
to the bed, and his iron face was drawn and ashen white. I felt my
knees begin to tremble.
There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more horribly
white and wan-looking than ever. Even the lips were white, and the
gums seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we sometimes
see in a corpse after a prolonged illness. Van Helsing raised his foot
to stamp in anger, but the instinct of his life and all the long years
of habit stood to him, and he put it down again softly. "Quick!" he
said. "Bring the brandy." I flew to the dining-room, and returned with
the decanter. He wetted the poor white lips with it, and together we
rubbed palm and wrist and heart. He felt her heart, and after a few
moments of agonising suspense said:-
"It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work is
undone; we must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now; I have
to call on you yourself this time, friend John." As he spoke, he was
dipping into his bag and producing the instruments for transfusion;
I had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt-sleeve. There was no
possibility of an opiate just at present, and no need of one; and
so, without a moment's delay, we began the operation. After a time- it
did not seem a short time either, for the draining away of one's
blood, no matter how willingly it be given, is a terrible feeling- Van
Helsing held up a warning finger. "Do not stir," he said, "but I
fear that with growing strength she may wake; and that would make
danger, oh, so much danger. But I shall precaution take. I shall
give hypodermic injection of morphia." He proceeded then, swiftly
and deftly, to carry out his intent. The effect on Lucy was not bad,
for the faint seemed to merge subtly into the narcotic sleep. It was
with a feeling of personal pride that I could see a faint tinge of
colour steal back into the pallid cheeks and lips. No man knows till
he experiences it, what it is to feel his own life-blood drawn away
into the veins of the woman he loves.
The Professor watched me critically. "That will do," he said.
"Already?" I remonstrated. "You took a great deal more from Art." To
which he smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied:-
"He is her lover, her fiance. You have work, much work, to do for
her and for others; and the present will suffice."
When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied
digital pressure to my own incision. I laid down, whilst I waited
his leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sick.
By-and-by he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a
glass of wine for myself. As I was leaving the room, he came after me,
and half whispered:-
"Mind, nothing must be said of this. If our young lover should
turn up unexpected, as before, no word to him. It would at once
frighten him and enjealous him, too. There must be none. So!"
When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said:-
"You are not much the worse. Go into the room, and lie on your sofa,
and rest awhile; then have much breakfast, and come here to me."
I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they
were. I had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my
strength. I felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of
the amazement at what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa,
however, wondering over and over again how Lucy had made such a
retrograde movement, and how she could have been drained of so much
blood with no sign anywhere to show for it. I think I must have
continued my wonder in my dreams, for, sleeping and waking, my
thoughts always came back to the little punctures in her throat and
the ragged, exhausted appearance of their edges- tiny though they
were.
Lucy slept well into the day and when she woke she was fairly well
and strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before. When Van
Helsing had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge,
with strict injunctions that I was not to leave her for a moment. I
could hear his voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest
telegraph office.
Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that
anything had happened. I tried to keep her amused and interested. When
her mother came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any change
whatever, but said to me gratefully:-
"We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you
really must now take care not to overwork yourself. You are looking
pale yourself. You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit; that
you do!" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only
momentarily, for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long such
an unwonted drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor
as she turned imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid my
finger on my lips; with a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows.
Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me:
"Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself strong.
I stay here to-night, and I shall sit up with little miss myself.
You and I must watch the case, and we must have none other to know.
I have grave reasons. No, do not ask them; think what you will. Do not
fear to think even the most not-probable. Good-night."
In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either
of them might not sit up with Miss Lucy. They implored me to let them;
and when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing's wish that either he or I
should sit up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the
"foreign gentleman." I was much touched by their kindness. Perhaps it
is because I am weak at present, and perhaps because it was on
Lucy's account, that their devotion was manifested; for over and
over again have I seen similar instances of woman's kindness. I got
back here in time for a late dinner; went my rounds- all well; and set
this down whilst waiting for sleep. It is coming.
11 September.- This afternoon I went over to Hillingham. Found Van
Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better. Shortly after I
had arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the Professor. He
opened it with much impressment- assumed, of course- and showed a
great bundle of white flowers.
"These are for you, Miss Lucy," he said.
"For me? Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!"
"Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with. These are medicines."
Here Lucy made a wry face. "Nay, but they are not to take in a
decoction or in nauseous form, so you need not snub that so charming
nose, or I shall point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have
to endure in seeing so much beauty that he so loves so much distort.
Aha, my pretty miss, that bring the so nice nose all straight again,
This is medicinal, but you do not know how. I put him in your
window, I make pretty wreath, and hang him round your neck, so that
you sleep well. Oh yes! they, like the lotus flower, make your trouble
forgotten. It smell so like the waters of Lethe, and of that
fountain of youth that the Conquistodores sought for in the
Floridas, and find him all too late."
Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and
smelling them. Now she threw them down. saying, with half-laughter and
half-disgust:
"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me. Why,
these flowers are only common garlic."
To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his
sterness, his iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:-
"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I
do; and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the
sake of others if not for your own." Then seeing poor Lucy scared,
as she might well be, he went on more gently: "Oh, little miss, my
dear, do not fear me. I only do for your good; but there is much
virtue to you in those so common flowers. See, I place them myself
in your room. I make myself the wreath that you are to wear. But hush!
no telling to others that make so inquisitive questions. We must obey,
and silence is a part of obedience; and obedience is to bring you
strong and well into loving arms that wait for you. Now sit still
awhile. Come with me, friend John, and you shall help me deck the room
with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem, where my friend
Vanderpool raise herb in his glass-houses all the year. I had to
telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here."
We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The Professor's
actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopoeia
that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched
them securely; next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them
all over the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air
that might get in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with
the wisp he rubbed all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at
each side, and round the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed
grotesque to me, and presently I said:-
"Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do,
but this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here,
or he would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil
spirit."
"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath
which Lucy was to wear round her neck.
We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when
she was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round
her neck. The last words he said to her were:-
"Take care you do not disturb it; and even if the room feel close,
do not to-night open the window or the door."
"I promise," said Lucy,- "and thank you both a thousand times for
all your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such
friends?"
As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing
said:-
"To-night I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want- two nights of
travel, much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day
to follow, and a night to sit up, without to wink. To-morrow in the
morning early you call for me, and we come together to see our
pretty miss, so much more strong for my 'spell' which I have work. Ho!
ho!"
He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two
nights before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague
terror. It must have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it
to my friend, but I felt it all the more, like unshed tears.
back to 'Dracula'
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