{"id":34,"date":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/dracula-10\/"},"modified":"2019-02-26T01:19:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T01:19:20","slug":"dracula-10","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/dracula-10\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 10 Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood","rendered":"Chapter 10 Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood"},"content":{"raw":"\r\n
\r\n\r\n6 September\r\n\r\n\"My dear Art,\r\n\r\n\"My news today is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a\r\nbit. There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it.\r\nMrs. Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has\r\nconsulted me professionally about her. I took advantage of the\r\nopportunity, and told her that my old master, Van Helsing, the\r\ngreat specialist, was coming to stay with me, and that I would put\r\nher in his charge conjointly with myself. So now we can come and go\r\nwithout alarming her unduly, for a shock to her would mean sudden\r\ndeath, and this, in Lucy's weak condition, might be disastrous to\r\nher. We are hedged in with difficulties, all of us, my poor fellow,\r\nbut, please God, we shall come through them all right. If any need\r\nI shall write, so that, if you do not hear from me, take it for\r\ngranted that I am simply waiting for news, In haste,\r\n\r\n\"Yours ever,\"\r\n\r\nJohn Seward\r\n\r\nDR. SEWARD'S DIARY\r\n\r\n7 September.\u2014The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met\r\nat Liverpool Street was, \"Have you said anything to our young\r\nfriend, to lover of her?\"\r\n\r\n\"No,\" I said. \"I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my\r\ntelegram. I wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were\r\ncoming, as Miss Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him\r\nknow if need be.\"\r\n\r\n\"Right, my friend,\" he said. \"Quite right! Better he not know as\r\nyet. Perhaps he will never know. I pray so, but if it be needed,\r\nthen he shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution\r\nyou. You deal with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the\r\nother, and inasmuch as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so\r\ndeal with God's madmen too, the rest of the world. You tell not\r\nyour madmen what you do nor why you do it. You tell them not what\r\nyou think. So you shall keep knowledge in its place, where it may\r\nrest, where it may gather its kind around it and breed. You and I\r\nshall keep as yet what we know here, and here.\" He touched me on\r\nthe heart and on the forehead, and then touched himself the same\r\nway. \"I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shall\r\nunfold to you.\"\r\n\r\n\"Why not now?\" I asked. \"It may do some good. We may arrive at\r\nsome decision.\"He looked at me and said,\"My friend John, when the\r\ncorn is grown, even before it has ripened, while the milk of its\r\nmother earth is in him, and the sunshine has not yet begun to paint\r\nhim with his gold, the husbandman he pull the ear and rub him\r\nbetween his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, and say to\r\nyou, 'Look! He's good corn, he will make a good crop when the time\r\ncomes.' \"\r\n\r\nI did not see the application and told him so. For reply he\r\nreached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully,\r\nas he used long ago to do at lectures, and said, \"The good\r\nhusbandman tell you so then because he knows, but not till then.\r\nBut you do not find the good husbandman dig up his planted corn to\r\nsee if he grow. That is for the children who play at husbandry, and\r\nnot for those who take it as of the work of their life. See you\r\nnow, friend John? I have sown my corn, and Nature has her work to\r\ndo in making it sprout, if he sprout at all, there's some promise,\r\nand I wait till the ear begins to swell.\" He broke off, for he\r\nevidently saw that I understood. Then he went on gravely, \"You were\r\nalways a careful student, and your case book was ever more full\r\nthan the rest. And I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember,\r\nmy friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should\r\nnot trust the weaker. Even if you have not kept the good practice,\r\nlet me tell you that this case of our dear miss is one that may be,\r\nmind, I say may be, of such interest to us and others that all the\r\nrest may not make him kick the beam, as your people say. Take then\r\ngood note of it. Nothing is too small. I counsel you, put down in\r\nrecord even your doubts and surmises. Hereafter it may be of\r\ninterest to you to see how true you guess. We learn from failure,\r\nnot from success!\"\r\n\r\nWhen I described Lucy's symptoms, the same as before, but\r\ninfinitely more marked, he looked very grave, but said nothing. He\r\ntook with him a bag in which were many instruments and drugs, \"the\r\nghastly paraphernalia of our beneficial trade,\" as he once called,\r\nin one of his lectures, the equipment of a professor of the healing\r\ncraft.\r\n\r\nWhen we were shown in, Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed,\r\nbut not nearly so much as I expected to find her. Nature in one of\r\nher beneficient moods has ordained that even death has some\r\nantidote to its own terrors. Here, in a case where any shock may\r\nprove fatal, matters are so ordered that, from some cause or other,\r\nthe things not personal, even the terrible change in her daughter\r\nto whom she is so attached, do not seem to reach her. It is\r\nsomething like the way dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an\r\nenvelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil\r\nthat which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an\r\nordered selfishness, then we should pause before we condemn any one\r\nfor the vice of egoism, for there may be deeper root for its causes\r\nthan we have knowledge of.\r\n\r\nI used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and\r\nset down a rule that she should not be present with Lucy, or think\r\nof her illness more than was absolutely required. She assented\r\nreadily, so readily that I saw again the hand of Nature fighting\r\nfor life. Van Helsing and I were shown up to Lucy's room. If I was\r\nshocked when I saw her yesterday, I was horrified when I saw her\r\ntoday.\r\n\r\nShe was ghastly, chalkily pale. The red seemed to have gone even\r\nfrom her lips and gums, and the bones of her face stood out\r\nprominently. Her breathing was painful to see or hear. Van\r\nHelsing's face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows converged till\r\nthey almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not\r\nseem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent.\r\nThen Van Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of the\r\nroom. The instant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along\r\nthe passage to the next door, which was open. Then he pulled me\r\nquickly in with him and closed the door. \"My god!\" he said. \"This\r\nis dreadful. There is not time to be lost. She will die for sheer\r\nwant of blood to keep the heart's action as it should be. There\r\nmust be a transfusion of blood at once. Is it you or me?\"\r\n\r\n\"I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me.\"\r\n\r\n\"Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am\r\nprepared.\"\r\n\r\nI went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a\r\nknock at the hall door. When we reached the hall, the maid had just\r\nopened the door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up\r\nto me, saying in an eager whisper,\r\n\r\n\"Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your\r\nletter, and have been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran\r\ndown here to see for myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing?\r\nI am so thankful to you, sir, for coming.\"\r\n\r\nWhen first the Professor's eye had lit upon him, he had been\r\nangry at his interruption at such a time, but now, as he took in\r\nhis stalwart proportions and recognized the strong young manhood\r\nwhich seemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a pause\r\nhe said to him as he held out his hand,\r\n\r\n\"Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our dear miss.\r\nShe is bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that.\"For\r\nhe suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. \"You\r\nare to help her. You can do more than any that live, and your\r\ncourage is your best help.\"\r\n\r\n\"What can I do?\" asked Arthur hoarsely. \"Tell me, and I shall do\r\nit. My life is hers' and I would give the last drop of blood in my\r\nbody for her.\"\r\n\r\nThe Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old\r\nknowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer.\r\n\r\n\"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that, not the last!\"\r\n\r\n\"What shall I do?\" There was fire in his eyes, and his open\r\nnostrils quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the\r\nshoulder.\r\n\r\n\"Come!\" he said. \"You are a man, and it is a man we want. You\r\nare better than me, better than my friend John.\" Arthur looked\r\nbewildered, and the Professor went on by explaining in a kindly\r\nway.\r\n\r\n\"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she\r\nmust have or die. My friend John and I have consulted, and we are\r\nabout to perform what we call transfusion of blood, to transfer\r\nfrom full veins of one to the empty veins which pine for him. John\r\nwas to give his blood, as he is the more young and strong than\r\nme.\"\u2014Here Arthur took my hand and wrung it hard in silence.\u2014\"But\r\nnow you are here, you are more good than us, old or young, who toil\r\nmuch in the world of thought. Our nerves are not so calm and our\r\nblood so bright than yours!\"\r\n\r\nArthur turned to him and said, \"If you only knew how gladly I\r\nwould die for her you would understand\u00a0\u2026 \" He stopped with a\r\nsort of choke in his voice.\r\n\r\n\"Good boy!\" said Van Helsing. \"In the not-so-far-off you will be\r\nhappy that you have done all for her you love. Come now and be\r\nsilent. You shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you\r\nmust go, and you must leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame. You\r\nknow how it is with her. There must be no shock, any knowledge of\r\nthis would be one. Come!\"\r\n\r\nWe all went up to Lucy's room. Arthur by direction remained\r\noutside. Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing.\r\nShe was not asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort.\r\nHer eyes spoke to us, that was all.\r\n\r\nVan Helsing took some things from his bag and laid them on a\r\nlittle table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic, and coming\r\nover to the bed, said cheerily, \"Now, little miss, here is your\r\nmedicine. Drink it off, like a good child. See, I lift you so that\r\nto swallow is easy. Yes.\" She had made the effort with success.\r\n\r\nIt astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact,\r\nmarked the extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until\r\nsleep began to flicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the\r\nnarcotic began to manifest its potency, and she fell into a deep\r\nsleep. When the Professor was satisfied, he called Arthur into the\r\nroom, and bade him strip off his coat. Then he added, \"You may take\r\nthat one little kiss whiles I bring over the table. Friend John,\r\nhelp to me!\" So neither of us looked whilst he bent over her.\r\n\r\nVan Helsing, turning to me, said, \"He is so young and strong,\r\nand of blood so pure that we need not defibrinate it.\"\r\n\r\nThen with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing\r\nperformed the operation. As the transfusion went on, something like\r\nlife seemed to come back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through\r\nArthur's growing pallor the joy of his face seemed absolutely to\r\nshine. After a bit I began to grow anxious, for the loss of blood\r\nwas telling on Arthur, strong man as he was. It gave me an idea of\r\nwhat a terrible strain Lucy's system must have undergone that what\r\nweakened Arthur only partially restored her.\r\n\r\nBut the Professor's face was set, and he stood watch in hand,\r\nand with his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur. I\r\ncould hear my own heart beat. Presently, he said in a soft voice,\r\n\"Do not stir an instant. It is enough. You attend him. I will look\r\nto her.\"\r\n\r\nWhen all was over, I could see how much Arthur was weakened. I\r\ndressed the wound and took his arm to bring him away, when Van\r\nHelsing spoke without turning round, the man seems to have eyes in\r\nthe back of his head,\"The brave lover, I think, deserve another\r\nkiss, which he shall have presently.\" And as he had now finished\r\nhis operation, he adjusted the pillow to the patient's head. As he\r\ndid so the narrow black velvet band which she seems always to wear\r\nround her throat, buckled with an old diamond buckle which her\r\nlover had given her, was dragged a little up, and showed a red mark\r\non her throat.\r\n\r\nArthur did not notice it, but I could hear the deep hiss of\r\nindrawn breath which is one of Van Helsing's ways of betraying\r\nemotion. He said nothing at the moment, but turned to me, saying,\r\n\"Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the port wine,\r\nand let him lie down a while. He must then go home and rest, sleep\r\nmuch and eat much, that he may be recruited of what he has so given\r\nto his love. He must not stay here. Hold a moment! I may take it,\r\nsir, that you are anxious of result. Then bring it with you, that\r\nin all ways the operation is successful. You have saved her life\r\nthis time, and you can go home and rest easy in mind that all that\r\ncan be is. I shall tell her all when she is well. She shall love\r\nyou none the less for what you have done. Goodbye.\"\r\n\r\nWhen Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping\r\ngently, but her breathing was stronger. I could see the counterpane\r\nmove as her breast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking\r\nat her intently. The velvet band again covered the red mark. I\r\nasked the Professor in a whisper, \"What do you make of that mark on\r\nher throat?\"\r\n\r\n\"What do you make of it?\"\r\n\r\n\"I have not examined it yet,\" I answered, and then and there\r\nproceeded to loose the band. Just over the external jugular vein\r\nthere were two punctures, not large, but not wholesome looking.\r\nThere was no sign of disease, but the edges were white and worn\r\nlooking, as if by some trituration. It at once occurred to me that\r\nthat this wound, or whatever it was, might be the means of that\r\nmanifest loss of blood. But I abandoned the idea as soon as it\r\nformed, for such a thing could not be. The whole bed would have\r\nbeen drenched to a scarlet with the blood which the girl must have\r\nlost to leave such a pallor as she had before the transfusion.\r\n\r\n\"Well?\" said Van Helsing.\r\n\r\n\"Well,\" said I. \"I can make nothing of it.\"\r\n\r\nThe Professor stood up. \"I must go back to Amsterdam tonight,\"\r\nhe said \"There are books and things there which I want. You must\r\nremain here all night, and you must not let your sight pass from\r\nher.\"\r\n\r\n\"Shall I have a nurse?\" I asked.\r\n\r\n\"We are the best nurses, you and I. You keep watch all night.\r\nSee that she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her. You must\r\nnot sleep all the night.Later on we can sleep, you and I. I shall\r\nbe back as soon as possible. And then we may begin.\"\r\n\r\n\"May begin?\" I said. \"What on earth do you mean?\"\r\n\r\n\"We shall see!\" he answered, as he hurried out. He came back a\r\nmoment later and put his head inside the door and said with a\r\nwarning finger held up, \"Remember, she is your charge. If you leave\r\nher, and harm befall, you shall not sleep easy hereafter!\"\r\n\r\nDR. SEWARD'S DIARY\u2014CONTINUED\r\n\r\n8 September.\u2014I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked\r\nitself off towards dusk, and she waked naturally. She looked a\r\ndifferent being from what she had been before the operation. Her\r\nspirits even were good, and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I\r\ncould see evidences of the absolute prostration which she had\r\nundergone. When I told Mrs. Westenra that Dr. Van Helsing had\r\ndirected that I should sit up with her, she almost pooh-poohed the\r\nidea, pointing out her daughter's renewed strength and excellent\r\nspirits. I was firm, however, and made preparations for my long\r\nvigil. When her maid had prepared her for the night I came in,\r\nhaving in the meantime had supper, and took a seat by the\r\nbedside.\r\n\r\nShe did not in any way make objection, but looked at me\r\ngratefully whenever I caught her eye. After a long spell she seemed\r\nsinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself\r\ntogether and shook it off. It was apparent that she did not want to\r\nsleep, so I tackled the subject at once.\r\n\r\n\"You do not want to sleep?\"\r\n\r\n\"No. I am afraid.\"\r\n\r\n\"Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave\r\nfor.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah, not if you were like me, if sleep was to you a presage of\r\nhorror!\"\r\n\r\n\"A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?\"\r\n\r\n\"I don't know. Oh, I don't know. And that is what is so\r\nterrible. All this weakness comes to me in sleep, until I dread the\r\nvery thought.\"\r\n\r\n\"But, my dear girl, you may sleep tonight. I am here watching\r\nyou, and I can promise that nothing will happen.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah, I can trust you!\" she said.\r\n\r\nI seized the opportunity, and said, \"I promise that if I see any\r\nevidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once.\"\r\n\r\n\"You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I\r\nwill sleep!\" And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief,\r\nand sank back, asleep.\r\n\r\nAll night long I watched by her. She never stirred, but slept on\r\nand on in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, healthgiving sleep. Her\r\nlips were slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the\r\nregularity of a pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was\r\nevident that no bad dreams had come to disturb her peace of\r\nmind.\r\n\r\nIn the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care\r\nand took myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I\r\nsent a short wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the\r\nexcellent result of the operation. My own work, with its manifold\r\narrears, took me all day to clear off. It was dark when I was able\r\nto inquire about my zoophagous patient. The report was good. He had\r\nbeen quite quiet for the past day and night. A telegram came from\r\nVan Helsing at Amsterdam whilst I was at dinner, suggesting that I\r\nshould be at Hillingham tonight, as it might be well to be at hand,\r\nand stating that he was leaving by the night mail and would join me\r\nearly in the morning.\r\n\r\n9 September.\u2014I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to\r\nHillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my\r\nbrain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral\r\nexhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook\r\nhands with me she looked sharply in my face and said,\r\n\r\n\"No sitting up tonight for you. You are worn out. I am quite\r\nwell again. Indeed, I am, and if there is to be any sitting up, it\r\nis I who will sit up with you.\"\r\n\r\nI would not argue the point, but went and had my supper. Lucy\r\ncame with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I made an\r\nexcellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than\r\nexcellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room\r\nnext her own, where a cozy fire was burning.\r\n\r\n\"Now,\" she said. \"You must stay here. I shall leave this door\r\nopen and my door too. You can lie on the sofa for I know that\r\nnothing would induce any of you doctors to go to bed whilst there\r\nis a patient above the horizon. If I want anything I shall call\r\nout, and you can come to me at once.\"\r\n\r\nI could not but acquiesce, for I was dog tired, and could not\r\nhave sat up had I tried. So, on her renewing her promise to call me\r\nif she should want anything, I lay on the sofa, and forgot all\r\nabout everything.\r\n\r\nLUCY WESTENRA'S DIARY\r\n\r\n9 September.\u2014I feel so happy tonight. I have been so miserably\r\nweak, that to be able to think and move about is like feeling\r\nsunshine after a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky.\r\nSomehow Arthur feels very, very close to me. I seem to feel his\r\npresence warm about me. I suppose it is that sickness and weakness\r\nare selfish things and turn our inner eyes and sympathy on\r\nourselves, whilst health and strength give love rein, and in\r\nthought and feeling he can wander where he wills. I know where my\r\nthoughts are. If only Arthur knew! My dear, my dear, your ears must\r\ntingle as you sleep, as mine do waking. Oh, the blissful rest of\r\nlast night! How I slept, with that dear, good Dr. Seward watching\r\nme. And tonight I shall not fear to sleep, since he is close at\r\nhand and within call. Thank everybody for being so good to me.\r\nThank God! Goodnight Arthur.\r\n\r\nDR. SEWARD'S DIARY\r\n\r\n10 September.\u2014I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my\r\nhead, and started awake all in a second. That is one of the things\r\nthat we learn in an asylum, at any rate.\r\n\r\n\"And how is our patient?\"\r\n\r\n\"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me,\" I\r\nanswered.\r\n\r\n\"Come, let us see,\" he said. And together we went into the\r\nroom.\r\n\r\nThe blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst\r\nVan Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the\r\nbed.\r\n\r\nAs I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the\r\nroom, I heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing\r\nits rarity, a deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over\r\nhe moved back, and his exclamation of horror, \"Gott in Himmel!\"\r\nneeded no enforcement from his agonized face. He raised his hand\r\nand pointed to the bed, and his iron face was drawn and ashen\r\nwhite. I felt my knees begin to tremble.\r\n\r\nThere on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more\r\nhorribly white and wan-looking than ever. Even the lips were white,\r\nand the gums seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we\r\nsometimes see in a corpse after a prolonged illness.\r\n\r\nVan Helsing raised his foot to stamp in anger, but the instinct\r\nof his life and all the long years of habit stood to him, and he\r\nput it down again softly.\r\n\r\n\"Quick!\" he said. \"Bring the brandy.\"\r\n\r\nI flew to the dining room, and returned with the decanter. He\r\nwetted the poor white lips with it, and together we rubbed palm and\r\nwrist and heart. He felt her heart, and after a few moments of\r\nagonizing suspense said,\r\n\r\n\"It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work\r\nis undone. We must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now.\r\nI have to call on you yourself this time, friend John.\" As he\r\nspoke, he was dipping into his bag, and producing the instruments\r\nof transfusion. I had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt\r\nsleeve. There was no possibility of an opiate just at present, and\r\nno need of one. and so, without a moment's delay, we began the\r\noperation.\r\n\r\nAfter a time, it did not seem a short time either, for the\r\ndraining away of one's blood, no matter how willingly it be given,\r\nis a terrible feeling, Van Helsing held up a warning finger. \"Do\r\nnot stir,\" he said. \"But I fear that with growing strength she may\r\nwake, and that would make danger, oh, so much danger. But I shall\r\nprecaution take. I shall give hypodermic injection of morphia.\" He\r\nproceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his intent.\r\n\r\nThe effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge\r\nsubtly into the narcotic sleep. It was with a feeling of personal\r\npride that I could see a faint tinge of color steal back into the\r\npallid cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what\r\nit is to feel his own lifeblood drawn away into the veins of the\r\nwoman he loves.\r\n\r\nThe Professor watched me critically. \"That will do,\" he said.\r\n\"Already?\" I remonstrated. \"You took a great deal more from Art.\"\r\nTo which he smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied,\r\n\r\n\"He is her lover, her fiance. You have work, much work to do for\r\nher and for others, and the present will suffice.\r\n\r\nWhen we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I\r\napplied digital pressure to my own incision. I laid down, while I\r\nwaited his leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little\r\nsick. By and by he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get\r\na glass of wine for myself. As I was leaving the room, he came\r\nafter me, and half whispered.\r\n\r\n\"Mind, nothing must be said of this. If our young lover should\r\nturn up unexpected, as before, no word to him. It would at once\r\nfrighten him and enjealous him, too. There must be none. So!\"\r\n\r\nWhen I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said, \"You\r\nare not much the worse. Go into the room, and lie on your sofa, and\r\nrest awhile, then have much breakfast and come here to me.\"\r\n\r\nI followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they\r\nwere. I had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my\r\nstrength. I felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of\r\nthe amazement at what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa,\r\nhowever, wondering over and over again how Lucy had made such a\r\nretrograde movement, and how she could have been drained of so much\r\nblood with no sign any where to show for it. I think I must have\r\ncontinued my wonder in my dreams, for, sleeping and waking my\r\nthoughts always came back to the little punctures in her throat and\r\nthe ragged, exhausted appearance of their edges, tiny though they\r\nwere.\r\n\r\nLucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly\r\nwell and strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before.\r\nWhen Van Helsing had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me\r\nin charge, with strict injunctions that I was not to leave her for\r\na moment. I could hear his voice in the hall, asking the way to the\r\nnearest telegraph office.\r\n\r\nLucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that\r\nanything had happened. I tried to keep her amused and interested.\r\nWhen her mother came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any\r\nchange whatever, but said to me gratefully,\r\n\r\n\"We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you\r\nreally must now take care not to overwork yourself. You are looking\r\npale yourself. You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit,\r\nthat you do!\" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only\r\nmomentarily, for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long an\r\nunwonted drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor\r\nas she turned imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid\r\nmy finger on my lips. With a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows.\r\nVan Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to\r\nme. \"Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself\r\nstrong. I stay here tonight, and I shall sit up with little miss\r\nmyself. You and I must watch the case, and we must have none other\r\nto know. I have grave reasons. No, do not ask the. Think what you\r\nwill. Do not fear to think even the most not-improbable.\r\nGoodnight.\"\r\n\r\nIn the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or\r\neither of them might not sit up with Miss Lucy. They implored me to\r\nlet them, and when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing's wish that either\r\nhe or I should sit up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede\r\nwith the`foreign gentleman'. I was much touched by their kindness.\r\nPerhaps it is because I am weak at present, and perhaps because it\r\nwas on Lucy's account, that their devotion was manifested. For over\r\nand over again have I seen similar instances of woman's kindness. I\r\ngot back here in time for a late dinner, went my rounds, all well,\r\nand set this down whilst waiting for sleep. It is coming.\r\n\r\n11 September.\u2014This afternoon I went over to Hillingham. Found\r\nVan Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better. Shortly\r\nafter I had arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the\r\nProfessor. He opened it with much impressment, assumed, of course,\r\nand showed a great bundle of white flowers.\r\n\r\n\"These are for you, Miss Lucy,\" he said.\r\n\r\n\"For me? Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!\"\r\n\r\n\"Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with. These are\r\nmedicines.\" Here Lucy made a wry face. \"Nay, but they are not to\r\ntake in a decoction or in nauseous form, so you need not snub that\r\nso charming nose, or I shall point out to my friend Arthur what\r\nwoes he may have to endure in seeing so much beauty that he so\r\nloves so much distort. Aha, my pretty miss, that bring the so nice\r\nnose all straight again. This is medicinal, but you do not know\r\nhow. I put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and hang him\r\nround your neck, so you sleep well. Oh, yes! They, like the lotus\r\nflower, make your trouble forgotten. It smell so like the waters of\r\nLethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought\r\nfor in the Floridas, and find him all too late.\"\r\n\r\nWhilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and\r\nsmelling them. Now she threw them down saying, with half laughter,\r\nand half disgust,\r\n\r\n\"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me.\r\nWhy, these flowers are only common garlic.\"\r\n\r\nTo my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his\r\nsternness, his iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting,\r\n\r\n\"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in\r\nwhat I do, and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for\r\nthe sake of others if not for your own.\" Then seeing poor Lucy\r\nscared, as she might well be, he went on more gently, \"Oh, little\r\nmiss, my dear, do not fear me. I only do for your good, but there\r\nis much virtue to you in those so common flowers. See, I place them\r\nmyself in your room. I make myself the wreath that you are to wear.\r\nBut hush! No telling to others that make so inquisitive questions.\r\nWe must obey, and silence is a part of obedience, and obedience is\r\nto bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait for you.\r\nNow sit still a while. Come with me, friend John, and you shall\r\nhelp me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the war from\r\nHaarlem, where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass houses\r\nall the year. I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have\r\nbeen here.\"\r\n\r\nWe went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The\r\nProfessor's actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any\r\npharmacopeia that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows\r\nand latched them securely. Next, taking a handful of the flowers,\r\nhe rubbed them all over the sashes, as though to ensure that every\r\nwhiff of air that might get in would be laden with the garlic\r\nsmell. Then with the wisp he rubbed all over the jamb of the door,\r\nabove, below, and at each side, and round the fireplace in the same\r\nway. It all seemed grotesque to me, and presently I said, \"Well,\r\nProfessor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but\r\nthis certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or\r\nhe would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil\r\nspirit.\"\r\n\r\n\"Perhaps I am!\" He answered quietly as he began to make the\r\nwreath which Lucy was to wear round her neck.\r\n\r\nWe then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and\r\nwhen she was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic\r\nround her neck. The last words he said to her were,\r\n\r\n\"Take care you do not disturb it, and even if the room feel\r\nclose, do not tonight open the window or the door.\"\r\n\r\n\"I promise,\" said Lucy. \"And thank you both a thousand times for\r\nall your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with\r\nsuch friends?\"\r\n\r\nAs we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing\r\nsaid,\"Tonight I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want, two nights of\r\ntravel, much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the\r\nday to follow, and a night to sit up, without to wink. Tomorrow in\r\nthe morning early you call for me, and we come together to see our\r\npretty miss, so much more strong for my `spell' which I have work.\r\nHo, ho!\"\r\n\r\nHe seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two\r\nnights before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague\r\nterror. It must have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell\r\nit to my friend, but I felt it all the more, like unshed tears.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n","rendered":"
\n

6 September<\/p>\n

“My dear Art,<\/p>\n

“My news today is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a
\nbit. There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it.
\nMrs. Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has
\nconsulted me professionally about her. I took advantage of the
\nopportunity, and told her that my old master, Van Helsing, the
\ngreat specialist, was coming to stay with me, and that I would put
\nher in his charge conjointly with myself. So now we can come and go
\nwithout alarming her unduly, for a shock to her would mean sudden
\ndeath, and this, in Lucy’s weak condition, might be disastrous to
\nher. We are hedged in with difficulties, all of us, my poor fellow,
\nbut, please God, we shall come through them all right. If any need
\nI shall write, so that, if you do not hear from me, take it for
\ngranted that I am simply waiting for news, In haste,<\/p>\n

“Yours ever,”<\/p>\n

John Seward<\/p>\n

DR. SEWARD’S DIARY<\/p>\n

7 September.\u2014The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met
\nat Liverpool Street was, “Have you said anything to our young
\nfriend, to lover of her?”<\/p>\n

“No,” I said. “I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my
\ntelegram. I wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were
\ncoming, as Miss Westenra was not so well, and that I should let him
\nknow if need be.”<\/p>\n

“Right, my friend,” he said. “Quite right! Better he not know as
\nyet. Perhaps he will never know. I pray so, but if it be needed,
\nthen he shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution
\nyou. You deal with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the
\nother, and inasmuch as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so
\ndeal with God’s madmen too, the rest of the world. You tell not
\nyour madmen what you do nor why you do it. You tell them not what
\nyou think. So you shall keep knowledge in its place, where it may
\nrest, where it may gather its kind around it and breed. You and I
\nshall keep as yet what we know here, and here.” He touched me on
\nthe heart and on the forehead, and then touched himself the same
\nway. “I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shall
\nunfold to you.”<\/p>\n

“Why not now?” I asked. “It may do some good. We may arrive at
\nsome decision.”He looked at me and said,”My friend John, when the
\ncorn is grown, even before it has ripened, while the milk of its
\nmother earth is in him, and the sunshine has not yet begun to paint
\nhim with his gold, the husbandman he pull the ear and rub him
\nbetween his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, and say to
\nyou, ‘Look! He’s good corn, he will make a good crop when the time
\ncomes.’ ”<\/p>\n

I did not see the application and told him so. For reply he
\nreached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully,
\nas he used long ago to do at lectures, and said, “The good
\nhusbandman tell you so then because he knows, but not till then.
\nBut you do not find the good husbandman dig up his planted corn to
\nsee if he grow. That is for the children who play at husbandry, and
\nnot for those who take it as of the work of their life. See you
\nnow, friend John? I have sown my corn, and Nature has her work to
\ndo in making it sprout, if he sprout at all, there’s some promise,
\nand I wait till the ear begins to swell.” He broke off, for he
\nevidently saw that I understood. Then he went on gravely, “You were
\nalways a careful student, and your case book was ever more full
\nthan the rest. And I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember,
\nmy friend, that knowledge is stronger than memory, and we should
\nnot trust the weaker. Even if you have not kept the good practice,
\nlet me tell you that this case of our dear miss is one that may be,
\nmind, I say may be, of such interest to us and others that all the
\nrest may not make him kick the beam, as your people say. Take then
\ngood note of it. Nothing is too small. I counsel you, put down in
\nrecord even your doubts and surmises. Hereafter it may be of
\ninterest to you to see how true you guess. We learn from failure,
\nnot from success!”<\/p>\n

When I described Lucy’s symptoms, the same as before, but
\ninfinitely more marked, he looked very grave, but said nothing. He
\ntook with him a bag in which were many instruments and drugs, “the
\nghastly paraphernalia of our beneficial trade,” as he once called,
\nin one of his lectures, the equipment of a professor of the healing
\ncraft.<\/p>\n

When we were shown in, Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed,
\nbut not nearly so much as I expected to find her. Nature in one of
\nher beneficient moods has ordained that even death has some
\nantidote to its own terrors. Here, in a case where any shock may
\nprove fatal, matters are so ordered that, from some cause or other,
\nthe things not personal, even the terrible change in her daughter
\nto whom she is so attached, do not seem to reach her. It is
\nsomething like the way dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an
\nenvelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil
\nthat which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an
\nordered selfishness, then we should pause before we condemn any one
\nfor the vice of egoism, for there may be deeper root for its causes
\nthan we have knowledge of.<\/p>\n

I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and
\nset down a rule that she should not be present with Lucy, or think
\nof her illness more than was absolutely required. She assented
\nreadily, so readily that I saw again the hand of Nature fighting
\nfor life. Van Helsing and I were shown up to Lucy’s room. If I was
\nshocked when I saw her yesterday, I was horrified when I saw her
\ntoday.<\/p>\n

She was ghastly, chalkily pale. The red seemed to have gone even
\nfrom her lips and gums, and the bones of her face stood out
\nprominently. Her breathing was painful to see or hear. Van
\nHelsing’s face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows converged till
\nthey almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not
\nseem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent.
\nThen Van Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of the
\nroom. The instant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along
\nthe passage to the next door, which was open. Then he pulled me
\nquickly in with him and closed the door. “My god!” he said. “This
\nis dreadful. There is not time to be lost. She will die for sheer
\nwant of blood to keep the heart’s action as it should be. There
\nmust be a transfusion of blood at once. Is it you or me?”<\/p>\n

“I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me.”<\/p>\n

“Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am
\nprepared.”<\/p>\n

I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a
\nknock at the hall door. When we reached the hall, the maid had just
\nopened the door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up
\nto me, saying in an eager whisper,<\/p>\n

“Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your
\nletter, and have been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran
\ndown here to see for myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing?
\nI am so thankful to you, sir, for coming.”<\/p>\n

When first the Professor’s eye had lit upon him, he had been
\nangry at his interruption at such a time, but now, as he took in
\nhis stalwart proportions and recognized the strong young manhood
\nwhich seemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a pause
\nhe said to him as he held out his hand,<\/p>\n

“Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our dear miss.
\nShe is bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that.”For
\nhe suddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. “You
\nare to help her. You can do more than any that live, and your
\ncourage is your best help.”<\/p>\n

“What can I do?” asked Arthur hoarsely. “Tell me, and I shall do
\nit. My life is hers’ and I would give the last drop of blood in my
\nbody for her.”<\/p>\n

The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from old
\nknowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer.<\/p>\n

“My young sir, I do not ask so much as that, not the last!”<\/p>\n

“What shall I do?” There was fire in his eyes, and his open
\nnostrils quivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the
\nshoulder.<\/p>\n

“Come!” he said. “You are a man, and it is a man we want. You
\nare better than me, better than my friend John.” Arthur looked
\nbewildered, and the Professor went on by explaining in a kindly
\nway.<\/p>\n

“Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she
\nmust have or die. My friend John and I have consulted, and we are
\nabout to perform what we call transfusion of blood, to transfer
\nfrom full veins of one to the empty veins which pine for him. John
\nwas to give his blood, as he is the more young and strong than
\nme.”\u2014Here Arthur took my hand and wrung it hard in silence.\u2014”But
\nnow you are here, you are more good than us, old or young, who toil
\nmuch in the world of thought. Our nerves are not so calm and our
\nblood so bright than yours!”<\/p>\n

Arthur turned to him and said, “If you only knew how gladly I
\nwould die for her you would understand\u00a0\u2026 ” He stopped with a
\nsort of choke in his voice.<\/p>\n

“Good boy!” said Van Helsing. “In the not-so-far-off you will be
\nhappy that you have done all for her you love. Come now and be
\nsilent. You shall kiss her once before it is done, but then you
\nmust go, and you must leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame. You
\nknow how it is with her. There must be no shock, any knowledge of
\nthis would be one. Come!”<\/p>\n

We all went up to Lucy’s room. Arthur by direction remained
\noutside. Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing.
\nShe was not asleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort.
\nHer eyes spoke to us, that was all.<\/p>\n

Van Helsing took some things from his bag and laid them on a
\nlittle table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic, and coming
\nover to the bed, said cheerily, “Now, little miss, here is your
\nmedicine. Drink it off, like a good child. See, I lift you so that
\nto swallow is easy. Yes.” She had made the effort with success.<\/p>\n

It astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact,
\nmarked the extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until
\nsleep began to flicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the
\nnarcotic began to manifest its potency, and she fell into a deep
\nsleep. When the Professor was satisfied, he called Arthur into the
\nroom, and bade him strip off his coat. Then he added, “You may take
\nthat one little kiss whiles I bring over the table. Friend John,
\nhelp to me!” So neither of us looked whilst he bent over her.<\/p>\n

Van Helsing, turning to me, said, “He is so young and strong,
\nand of blood so pure that we need not defibrinate it.”<\/p>\n

Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing
\nperformed the operation. As the transfusion went on, something like
\nlife seemed to come back to poor Lucy’s cheeks, and through
\nArthur’s growing pallor the joy of his face seemed absolutely to
\nshine. After a bit I began to grow anxious, for the loss of blood
\nwas telling on Arthur, strong man as he was. It gave me an idea of
\nwhat a terrible strain Lucy’s system must have undergone that what
\nweakened Arthur only partially restored her.<\/p>\n

But the Professor’s face was set, and he stood watch in hand,
\nand with his eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur. I
\ncould hear my own heart beat. Presently, he said in a soft voice,
\n“Do not stir an instant. It is enough. You attend him. I will look
\nto her.”<\/p>\n

When all was over, I could see how much Arthur was weakened. I
\ndressed the wound and took his arm to bring him away, when Van
\nHelsing spoke without turning round, the man seems to have eyes in
\nthe back of his head,”The brave lover, I think, deserve another
\nkiss, which he shall have presently.” And as he had now finished
\nhis operation, he adjusted the pillow to the patient’s head. As he
\ndid so the narrow black velvet band which she seems always to wear
\nround her throat, buckled with an old diamond buckle which her
\nlover had given her, was dragged a little up, and showed a red mark
\non her throat.<\/p>\n

Arthur did not notice it, but I could hear the deep hiss of
\nindrawn breath which is one of Van Helsing’s ways of betraying
\nemotion. He said nothing at the moment, but turned to me, saying,
\n“Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the port wine,
\nand let him lie down a while. He must then go home and rest, sleep
\nmuch and eat much, that he may be recruited of what he has so given
\nto his love. He must not stay here. Hold a moment! I may take it,
\nsir, that you are anxious of result. Then bring it with you, that
\nin all ways the operation is successful. You have saved her life
\nthis time, and you can go home and rest easy in mind that all that
\ncan be is. I shall tell her all when she is well. She shall love
\nyou none the less for what you have done. Goodbye.”<\/p>\n

When Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping
\ngently, but her breathing was stronger. I could see the counterpane
\nmove as her breast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking
\nat her intently. The velvet band again covered the red mark. I
\nasked the Professor in a whisper, “What do you make of that mark on
\nher throat?”<\/p>\n

“What do you make of it?”<\/p>\n

“I have not examined it yet,” I answered, and then and there
\nproceeded to loose the band. Just over the external jugular vein
\nthere were two punctures, not large, but not wholesome looking.
\nThere was no sign of disease, but the edges were white and worn
\nlooking, as if by some trituration. It at once occurred to me that
\nthat this wound, or whatever it was, might be the means of that
\nmanifest loss of blood. But I abandoned the idea as soon as it
\nformed, for such a thing could not be. The whole bed would have
\nbeen drenched to a scarlet with the blood which the girl must have
\nlost to leave such a pallor as she had before the transfusion.<\/p>\n

“Well?” said Van Helsing.<\/p>\n

“Well,” said I. “I can make nothing of it.”<\/p>\n

The Professor stood up. “I must go back to Amsterdam tonight,”
\nhe said “There are books and things there which I want. You must
\nremain here all night, and you must not let your sight pass from
\nher.”<\/p>\n

“Shall I have a nurse?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“We are the best nurses, you and I. You keep watch all night.
\nSee that she is well fed, and that nothing disturbs her. You must
\nnot sleep all the night.Later on we can sleep, you and I. I shall
\nbe back as soon as possible. And then we may begin.”<\/p>\n

“May begin?” I said. “What on earth do you mean?”<\/p>\n

“We shall see!” he answered, as he hurried out. He came back a
\nmoment later and put his head inside the door and said with a
\nwarning finger held up, “Remember, she is your charge. If you leave
\nher, and harm befall, you shall not sleep easy hereafter!”<\/p>\n

DR. SEWARD’S DIARY\u2014CONTINUED<\/p>\n

8 September.\u2014I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked
\nitself off towards dusk, and she waked naturally. She looked a
\ndifferent being from what she had been before the operation. Her
\nspirits even were good, and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I
\ncould see evidences of the absolute prostration which she had
\nundergone. When I told Mrs. Westenra that Dr. Van Helsing had
\ndirected that I should sit up with her, she almost pooh-poohed the
\nidea, pointing out her daughter’s renewed strength and excellent
\nspirits. I was firm, however, and made preparations for my long
\nvigil. When her maid had prepared her for the night I came in,
\nhaving in the meantime had supper, and took a seat by the
\nbedside.<\/p>\n

She did not in any way make objection, but looked at me
\ngratefully whenever I caught her eye. After a long spell she seemed
\nsinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself
\ntogether and shook it off. It was apparent that she did not want to
\nsleep, so I tackled the subject at once.<\/p>\n

“You do not want to sleep?”<\/p>\n

“No. I am afraid.”<\/p>\n

“Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave
\nfor.”<\/p>\n

“Ah, not if you were like me, if sleep was to you a presage of
\nhorror!”<\/p>\n

“A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?”<\/p>\n

“I don’t know. Oh, I don’t know. And that is what is so
\nterrible. All this weakness comes to me in sleep, until I dread the
\nvery thought.”<\/p>\n

“But, my dear girl, you may sleep tonight. I am here watching
\nyou, and I can promise that nothing will happen.”<\/p>\n

“Ah, I can trust you!” she said.<\/p>\n

I seized the opportunity, and said, “I promise that if I see any
\nevidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once.”<\/p>\n

“You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I
\nwill sleep!” And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief,
\nand sank back, asleep.<\/p>\n

All night long I watched by her. She never stirred, but slept on
\nand on in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, healthgiving sleep. Her
\nlips were slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the
\nregularity of a pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was
\nevident that no bad dreams had come to disturb her peace of
\nmind.<\/p>\n

In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care
\nand took myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I
\nsent a short wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the
\nexcellent result of the operation. My own work, with its manifold
\narrears, took me all day to clear off. It was dark when I was able
\nto inquire about my zoophagous patient. The report was good. He had
\nbeen quite quiet for the past day and night. A telegram came from
\nVan Helsing at Amsterdam whilst I was at dinner, suggesting that I
\nshould be at Hillingham tonight, as it might be well to be at hand,
\nand stating that he was leaving by the night mail and would join me
\nearly in the morning.<\/p>\n

9 September.\u2014I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to
\nHillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my
\nbrain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral
\nexhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook
\nhands with me she looked sharply in my face and said,<\/p>\n

“No sitting up tonight for you. You are worn out. I am quite
\nwell again. Indeed, I am, and if there is to be any sitting up, it
\nis I who will sit up with you.”<\/p>\n

I would not argue the point, but went and had my supper. Lucy
\ncame with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I made an
\nexcellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than
\nexcellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room
\nnext her own, where a cozy fire was burning.<\/p>\n

“Now,” she said. “You must stay here. I shall leave this door
\nopen and my door too. You can lie on the sofa for I know that
\nnothing would induce any of you doctors to go to bed whilst there
\nis a patient above the horizon. If I want anything I shall call
\nout, and you can come to me at once.”<\/p>\n

I could not but acquiesce, for I was dog tired, and could not
\nhave sat up had I tried. So, on her renewing her promise to call me
\nif she should want anything, I lay on the sofa, and forgot all
\nabout everything.<\/p>\n

LUCY WESTENRA’S DIARY<\/p>\n

9 September.\u2014I feel so happy tonight. I have been so miserably
\nweak, that to be able to think and move about is like feeling
\nsunshine after a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky.
\nSomehow Arthur feels very, very close to me. I seem to feel his
\npresence warm about me. I suppose it is that sickness and weakness
\nare selfish things and turn our inner eyes and sympathy on
\nourselves, whilst health and strength give love rein, and in
\nthought and feeling he can wander where he wills. I know where my
\nthoughts are. If only Arthur knew! My dear, my dear, your ears must
\ntingle as you sleep, as mine do waking. Oh, the blissful rest of
\nlast night! How I slept, with that dear, good Dr. Seward watching
\nme. And tonight I shall not fear to sleep, since he is close at
\nhand and within call. Thank everybody for being so good to me.
\nThank God! Goodnight Arthur.<\/p>\n

DR. SEWARD’S DIARY<\/p>\n

10 September.\u2014I was conscious of the Professor’s hand on my
\nhead, and started awake all in a second. That is one of the things
\nthat we learn in an asylum, at any rate.<\/p>\n

“And how is our patient?”<\/p>\n

“Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me,” I
\nanswered.<\/p>\n

“Come, let us see,” he said. And together we went into the
\nroom.<\/p>\n

The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst
\nVan Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the
\nbed.<\/p>\n

As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the
\nroom, I heard the Professor’s low hiss of inspiration, and knowing
\nits rarity, a deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over
\nhe moved back, and his exclamation of horror, “Gott in Himmel!”
\nneeded no enforcement from his agonized face. He raised his hand
\nand pointed to the bed, and his iron face was drawn and ashen
\nwhite. I felt my knees begin to tremble.<\/p>\n

There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy, more
\nhorribly white and wan-looking than ever. Even the lips were white,
\nand the gums seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we
\nsometimes see in a corpse after a prolonged illness.<\/p>\n

Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp in anger, but the instinct
\nof his life and all the long years of habit stood to him, and he
\nput it down again softly.<\/p>\n

“Quick!” he said. “Bring the brandy.”<\/p>\n

I flew to the dining room, and returned with the decanter. He
\nwetted the poor white lips with it, and together we rubbed palm and
\nwrist and heart. He felt her heart, and after a few moments of
\nagonizing suspense said,<\/p>\n

“It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly. All our work
\nis undone. We must begin again. There is no young Arthur here now.
\nI have to call on you yourself this time, friend John.” As he
\nspoke, he was dipping into his bag, and producing the instruments
\nof transfusion. I had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt
\nsleeve. There was no possibility of an opiate just at present, and
\nno need of one. and so, without a moment’s delay, we began the
\noperation.<\/p>\n

After a time, it did not seem a short time either, for the
\ndraining away of one’s blood, no matter how willingly it be given,
\nis a terrible feeling, Van Helsing held up a warning finger. “Do
\nnot stir,” he said. “But I fear that with growing strength she may
\nwake, and that would make danger, oh, so much danger. But I shall
\nprecaution take. I shall give hypodermic injection of morphia.” He
\nproceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his intent.<\/p>\n

The effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge
\nsubtly into the narcotic sleep. It was with a feeling of personal
\npride that I could see a faint tinge of color steal back into the
\npallid cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what
\nit is to feel his own lifeblood drawn away into the veins of the
\nwoman he loves.<\/p>\n

The Professor watched me critically. “That will do,” he said.
\n“Already?” I remonstrated. “You took a great deal more from Art.”
\nTo which he smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied,<\/p>\n

“He is her lover, her fiance. You have work, much work to do for
\nher and for others, and the present will suffice.<\/p>\n

When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I
\napplied digital pressure to my own incision. I laid down, while I
\nwaited his leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little
\nsick. By and by he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get
\na glass of wine for myself. As I was leaving the room, he came
\nafter me, and half whispered.<\/p>\n

“Mind, nothing must be said of this. If our young lover should
\nturn up unexpected, as before, no word to him. It would at once
\nfrighten him and enjealous him, too. There must be none. So!”<\/p>\n

When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said, “You
\nare not much the worse. Go into the room, and lie on your sofa, and
\nrest awhile, then have much breakfast and come here to me.”<\/p>\n

I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they
\nwere. I had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my
\nstrength. I felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of
\nthe amazement at what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa,
\nhowever, wondering over and over again how Lucy had made such a
\nretrograde movement, and how she could have been drained of so much
\nblood with no sign any where to show for it. I think I must have
\ncontinued my wonder in my dreams, for, sleeping and waking my
\nthoughts always came back to the little punctures in her throat and
\nthe ragged, exhausted appearance of their edges, tiny though they
\nwere.<\/p>\n

Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly
\nwell and strong, though not nearly so much so as the day before.
\nWhen Van Helsing had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me
\nin charge, with strict injunctions that I was not to leave her for
\na moment. I could hear his voice in the hall, asking the way to the
\nnearest telegraph office.<\/p>\n

Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that
\nanything had happened. I tried to keep her amused and interested.
\nWhen her mother came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any
\nchange whatever, but said to me gratefully,<\/p>\n

“We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done, but you
\nreally must now take care not to overwork yourself. You are looking
\npale yourself. You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit,
\nthat you do!” As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only
\nmomentarily, for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long an
\nunwonted drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor
\nas she turned imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid
\nmy finger on my lips. With a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows.
\nVan Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to
\nme. “Now you go home, and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself
\nstrong. I stay here tonight, and I shall sit up with little miss
\nmyself. You and I must watch the case, and we must have none other
\nto know. I have grave reasons. No, do not ask the. Think what you
\nwill. Do not fear to think even the most not-improbable.
\nGoodnight.”<\/p>\n

In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or
\neither of them might not sit up with Miss Lucy. They implored me to
\nlet them, and when I said it was Dr. Van Helsing’s wish that either
\nhe or I should sit up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede
\nwith the`foreign gentleman’. I was much touched by their kindness.
\nPerhaps it is because I am weak at present, and perhaps because it
\nwas on Lucy’s account, that their devotion was manifested. For over
\nand over again have I seen similar instances of woman’s kindness. I
\ngot back here in time for a late dinner, went my rounds, all well,
\nand set this down whilst waiting for sleep. It is coming.<\/p>\n

11 September.\u2014This afternoon I went over to Hillingham. Found
\nVan Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much better. Shortly
\nafter I had arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the
\nProfessor. He opened it with much impressment, assumed, of course,
\nand showed a great bundle of white flowers.<\/p>\n

“These are for you, Miss Lucy,” he said.<\/p>\n

“For me? Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!”<\/p>\n

“Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with. These are
\nmedicines.” Here Lucy made a wry face. “Nay, but they are not to
\ntake in a decoction or in nauseous form, so you need not snub that
\nso charming nose, or I shall point out to my friend Arthur what
\nwoes he may have to endure in seeing so much beauty that he so
\nloves so much distort. Aha, my pretty miss, that bring the so nice
\nnose all straight again. This is medicinal, but you do not know
\nhow. I put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and hang him
\nround your neck, so you sleep well. Oh, yes! They, like the lotus
\nflower, make your trouble forgotten. It smell so like the waters of
\nLethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought
\nfor in the Floridas, and find him all too late.”<\/p>\n

Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and
\nsmelling them. Now she threw them down saying, with half laughter,
\nand half disgust,<\/p>\n

“Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me.
\nWhy, these flowers are only common garlic.”<\/p>\n

To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his
\nsternness, his iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting,<\/p>\n

“No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in
\nwhat I do, and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for
\nthe sake of others if not for your own.” Then seeing poor Lucy
\nscared, as she might well be, he went on more gently, “Oh, little
\nmiss, my dear, do not fear me. I only do for your good, but there
\nis much virtue to you in those so common flowers. See, I place them
\nmyself in your room. I make myself the wreath that you are to wear.
\nBut hush! No telling to others that make so inquisitive questions.
\nWe must obey, and silence is a part of obedience, and obedience is
\nto bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait for you.
\nNow sit still a while. Come with me, friend John, and you shall
\nhelp me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the war from
\nHaarlem, where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass houses
\nall the year. I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have
\nbeen here.”<\/p>\n

We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The
\nProfessor’s actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any
\npharmacopeia that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows
\nand latched them securely. Next, taking a handful of the flowers,
\nhe rubbed them all over the sashes, as though to ensure that every
\nwhiff of air that might get in would be laden with the garlic
\nsmell. Then with the wisp he rubbed all over the jamb of the door,
\nabove, below, and at each side, and round the fireplace in the same
\nway. It all seemed grotesque to me, and presently I said, “Well,
\nProfessor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but
\nthis certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or
\nhe would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil
\nspirit.”<\/p>\n

“Perhaps I am!” He answered quietly as he began to make the
\nwreath which Lucy was to wear round her neck.<\/p>\n

We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and
\nwhen she was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic
\nround her neck. The last words he said to her were,<\/p>\n

“Take care you do not disturb it, and even if the room feel
\nclose, do not tonight open the window or the door.”<\/p>\n

“I promise,” said Lucy. “And thank you both a thousand times for
\nall your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with
\nsuch friends?”<\/p>\n

As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing
\nsaid,”Tonight I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want, two nights of
\ntravel, much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the
\nday to follow, and a night to sit up, without to wink. Tomorrow in
\nthe morning early you call for me, and we come together to see our
\npretty miss, so much more strong for my `spell’ which I have work.
\nHo, ho!”<\/p>\n

He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two
\nnights before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague
\nterror. It must have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell
\nit to my friend, but I felt it all the more, like unshed tears.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":10,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-34","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/34\/revisions\/70"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/34\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}