{"id":35,"date":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/dracula-11\/"},"modified":"2019-02-26T01:19:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T01:19:57","slug":"dracula-11","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/dracula-11\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 11 Lucy Westenra's Diary","rendered":"Chapter 11 Lucy Westenra’s Diary"},"content":{"raw":"\r\n
\r\n\r\n12 September.\u2014How good they all are to me. I quite love that\r\ndear Dr. Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these\r\nflowers. He positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he\r\nmust have been right, for I feel comfort from them already.\r\nSomehow, I do not dread being alone tonight, and I can go to sleep\r\nwithout fear. I shall not mind any flapping outside the window. Oh,\r\nthe terrible struggle that I have had against sleep so often of\r\nlate, the pain of sleeplessness, or the pain of the fear of sleep,\r\nand with such unknown horrors as it has for me! How blessed are\r\nsome people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is\r\na blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.\r\nWell, here I am tonight, hoping for sleep, and lying like Ophelia\r\nin the play, with`virgin crants and maiden strewments.' I never\r\nliked garlic before, but tonight it is delightful! There is peace\r\nin its smell. I feel sleep coming already. Goodnight,\r\neverybody.\r\n\r\nDR. SEWARD'S DIARY\r\n\r\n13 September.\u2014Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as\r\nusual, up to time. The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting.\r\nThe Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him\r\nnow.\r\n\r\nLet all be put down exactly. Van Helsing and I arrived at\r\nHillingham at eight o'clock. It was a lovely morning. The bright\r\nsunshine and all the fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the\r\ncompletion of nature's annual work. The leaves were turning to all\r\nkinds of beautiful colors, but had not yet begun to drop from the\r\ntrees. When we entered we met Mrs. Westenra coming out of the\r\nmorning room. She is always an early riser. She greeted us warmly\r\nand said,\r\n\r\n\"You will be glad to know that Lucy is better. The dear child is\r\nstill asleep. I looked into her room and saw her, but did not go\r\nin, lest I should disturb her.\" The Professor smiled, and looked\r\nquite jubilant. He rubbed his hands together, and said, \"Aha! I\r\nthought I had diagnosed the case. My treatment is working.\"\r\n\r\nTo which she replied, \"You must not take all the credit to\r\nyourself, doctor. Lucy's state this morning is due in part to\r\nme.\"\r\n\r\n\"How do you mean, ma'am?\" asked the Professor.\r\n\r\n\"Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went\r\ninto her room. She was sleeping soundly, so soundly that even my\r\ncoming did not wake her. But the room was awfully stuffy. There\r\nwere a lot of those horrible, strongsmelling flowers about\r\neverywhere, and she had actually a bunch of them round her neck. I\r\nfeared that the heavy odor would be too much for the dear child in\r\nher weak state, so I took them all away and opened a bit of the\r\nwindow to let in a little fresh air. You will be pleased with her,\r\nI am sure.\"\r\n\r\nShe moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted\r\nearly. As she had spoken, I watched the Professor's face, and saw\r\nit turn ashen gray. He had been able to retain his self-command\r\nwhilst the poor lady was present, for he knew her state and how\r\nmischievous a shock would be. He actually smiled on her as he held\r\nopen the door for her to pass into her room. But the instant she\r\nhad disappeared he pulled me, suddenly and forcibly, into the\r\ndining room and closed the door.\r\n\r\nThen, for the first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break\r\ndown. He raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair,\r\nand then beat his palms together in a helpless way. Finally he sat\r\ndown on a chair, and putting his hands before his face, began to\r\nsob, with loud, dry sobs that seemed to come from the very racking\r\nof his heart.\r\n\r\nThen he raised his arms again, as though appealing to the whole\r\nuniverse. \"God! God! God!\" he said. \"What have we done, what has\r\nthis poor thing done, that we are so sore beset? Is there fate\r\namongst us still, send down from the pagan world of old, that such\r\nthings must be, and in such way? This poor mother, all unknowing,\r\nand all for the best as she think, does such thing as lose her\r\ndaughter body and soul, and we must not tell her, we must not even\r\nwarn her, or she die, then both die. Oh, how we are beset! How are\r\nall the powers of the devils against us!\"\r\n\r\nSuddenly he jumped to his feet. \"Come,\" he said.\"come, we must\r\nsee and act. Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it\r\nmatters not. We must fight him all the same.\" He went to the hall\r\ndoor for his bag, and together we went up to Lucy's room.\r\n\r\nOnce again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards\r\nthe bed. This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face\r\nwith the same awful, waxen pallor as before. He wore a look of\r\nstern sadness and infinite pity.\r\n\r\n\"As I expected,\" he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of\r\nhis which meant so much. Without a word he went and locked the\r\ndoor, and then began to set out on the little table the instruments\r\nfor yet another operation of transfusion of blood. I had long ago\r\nrecognized the necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he\r\nstopped me with a warning hand. \"No!\" he said. \"Today you must\r\noperate. I shall provide. You are weakened already.\" As he spoke he\r\ntook off his coat and rolled up his shirtsleeve.\r\n\r\nAgain the operation. Again the narcotic. Again some return of\r\ncolor to the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy\r\nsleep. This time I watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and\r\nrested.\r\n\r\nPresently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that\r\nshe must not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting\r\nhim. That the flowers were of medicinal value, and that the\r\nbreathing of their odor was a part of the system of cure. Then he\r\ntook over the care of the case himself, saying that he would watch\r\nthis night and the next, and would send me word when to come.\r\n\r\nAfter another hour Lucy waked from her sleep, fresh and bright\r\nand seemingly not much the worse for her terrible ordeal.\r\n\r\nWhat does it all mean? I am beginning to wonder if my long habit\r\nof life amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own\r\nbrain.\r\n\r\nLUCY WESTENRA'S DIARY\r\n\r\n17 September.\u2014Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so\r\nstrong again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed\r\nthrough some long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the\r\nbeautiful sunshine and feel the fresh air of the morning around me.\r\nI have a dim half remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and\r\nfearing, darkness in which there was not even the pain of hope to\r\nmake present distress more poignant. And then long spells of\r\noblivion, and the rising back to life as a diver coming up through\r\na great press of water. Since, however, Dr. Van Helsing has been\r\nwith me, all this bad dreaming seems to have passed away. The\r\nnoises that used to frighten me out of my wits, the flapping\r\nagainst the windows, the distant voices which seemed so close to\r\nme, the harsh sounds that came from I know not where and commanded\r\nme to do I know not what, have all ceased. I go to bed now without\r\nany fear of sleep. I do not even try to keep awake. I have grown\r\nquite fond of the garlic, and a boxful arrives for me every day\r\nfrom Haarlem. Tonight Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to\r\nbe for a day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched. I am well\r\nenough to be left alone.\r\n\r\nThank God for Mother's sake, and dear Arthur's, and for all our\r\nfriends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change,\r\nfor last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the\r\ntime. I found him asleep twice when I awoke. But I did not fear to\r\ngo to sleep again, although the boughs or bats or something flapped\r\nalmost angrily against the window panes.\r\n\r\nTHE PALL MALL GAZETTE 18 September.\r\n\r\nTHE ESCAPED WOLF PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER\r\n\r\nINTERVIEW WITH THE KEEPER IN THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS\r\n\r\nAfter many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and\r\nperpetually using the words `PALL MALL GAZETTE ' as a sort of\r\ntalisman, I managed to find the keeper of the section of the\r\nZoological Gardens in which the wold department is included. Thomas\r\nBilder lives in one of the cottages in the enclosure behind the\r\nelephant house, and was just sitting down to his tea when I found\r\nhim. Thomas and his wife are hospitable folk, elderly, and without\r\nchildren, and if the specimen I enjoyed of their hospitality be of\r\nthe average kind, their lives must be pretty comfortable. The\r\nkeeper would not enter on what he called business until the supper\r\nwas over, and we were all satisfied. Then when the table was\r\ncleared, and he had lit his pipe, he said,\r\n\r\n\"Now, Sir, you can go on and arsk me what you want. You'll\r\nexcoose me refoosin' to talk of perfeshunal subjucts afore meals. I\r\ngives the wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section\r\ntheir tea afore I begins to arsk them questions.\"\r\n\r\n\"How do you mean, ask them questions?\" I queried, wishful to get\r\nhim into a talkative humor.\r\n\r\n\" `Ittin' of them over the `ead with a pole is one way.\r\nScratchin' of their ears in another, when gents as is flush wants a\r\nbit of a show-orf to their gals. I don't so much mind the fust, the\r\n`ittin of the pole part afore I chucks in their dinner, but I waits\r\ntill they've `ad their sherry and kawffee, so to speak,afore I\r\ntries on with the ear scratchin'. Mind you,\" he added\r\nphilosophically, \"there's a deal of the same nature in us as in\r\nthem theer animiles. Here's you a-comin' and arskin' of me\r\nquestions about my business, and I that grump-like that only for\r\nyour bloomin' `arf-quid I'd `a' seen you blowed fust `fore I'd\r\nanswer. Not even when you arsked me sarcastic like if I'd like you\r\nto arsk the Superintendent if you might arsk me questions. Without\r\noffence did I tell yer to go to `ell?\"\r\n\r\n\"You did.\"\r\n\r\n\"An' when you said you'd report me for usin' obscene language\r\nthat was `ittin' me over the `ead. But the `arfquid made that all\r\nright. I weren't a-goin' to fight, so I waited for the food, and\r\ndid with my `owl as the wolves and lions and tigers does. But, lor'\r\nlove yer `art, now that the old `ooman has stuck a chunk of her\r\ntea-cake in me, an' rinsed me out with her bloomin' old teapot, and\r\nI've lit hup, you may scratch my ears for all you're worth, and\r\nwon't even get a growl out of me. Drive along with your questions.\r\nI know what yer a-comin' at, that `ere escaped wolf.\"\r\n\r\n\"Exactly. I want you to give me your view of it. Just tell me\r\nhow it happened, and when I know the facts I'll get you to say what\r\nyou consider was the cause of it, and how you think the whole\r\naffair will end.\"\r\n\r\n\"All right, guv'nor. This `ere is about the `ole story. That`ere\r\nwolf what we called Bersicker was one of three gray ones that came\r\nfrom Norway to Jamrach's, which we bought off him four years ago.\r\nHe was a nice well-behaved wolf, that never gave no trouble to talk\r\nof. I'm more surprised at `im for wantin' to get out nor any other\r\nanimile in the place. But, there, you can't trust wolves no more\r\nnor women.\"\r\n\r\n\"Don't you mind him, Sir!\" broke in Mrs. Tom, with a cheery\r\nlaugh. \" `E's got mindin' the animiles so long that blest if he\r\nain't like a old wolf `isself! But there ain't no `arm in `im.\"\r\n\r\n\"Well, Sir, it was about two hours after feedin' yesterday when\r\nI first hear my disturbance. I was makin' up a litter in the monkey\r\nhouse for a young puma which is ill. But when I heard the yelpin'\r\nand `owlin' I kem away straight. There was Bersicker a-tearin' like\r\na mad thing at the bars as if he wanted to get out. There wasn't\r\nmuch people about that day, and close at hand was only one man, a\r\ntall, thin chap, with a `ook nose and a pointed beard, with a few\r\nwhite hairs runnin' through it. He had a `ard, cold look and red\r\neyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, for it seemed as if it\r\nwas `im as they was hirritated at. He `ad white kid gloves on `is\r\n`ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says, `Keeper,\r\nthese wolves seem upset at something.'\r\n\r\n\"`Maybe it's you,' says I, for I did not like the airs as he\r\ngive `isself. He didn't get angry, as I `oped he would, but he\r\nsmiled a kind of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white, sharp\r\nteeth. `Oh no, they wouldn't like me,' `e says.\r\n\r\n\" `Ow yes, they would,' says I, a-imitatin'of him.`They always\r\nlike a bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea time, which\r\nyou `as a bagful.'\r\n\r\n\"Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us\r\na-talkin' they lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let\r\nme stroke his ears same as ever. That there man kem over, and\r\nblessed but if he didn't put in his hand and stroke the old wolf's\r\nears too!\r\n\r\n\" `Tyke care,' says I. `Bersicker is quick.'\r\n\r\n\" `Never mind,' he says. I'm used to `em!'\r\n\r\n\" `Are you in the business yourself?\"I says, tyking off my `at,\r\nfor a man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good friend to\r\nkeepers.\r\n\r\n\" `Nom' says he, `not exactly in the business, but I `ave made\r\npets of several.' and with that he lifts his `at as perlite as a\r\nlord, and walks away. Old Bersicker kep' a-lookin' arter `im till\r\n`e was out of sight, and then went and lay down in a corner and\r\nwouldn't come hout the `ole hevening. Well, larst night, so soon as\r\nthe moon was hup, the wolves here all began a-`owling. There warn't\r\nnothing for them to `owl at. There warn't no one near, except some\r\none that was evidently a-callin' a dog somewheres out back of the\r\ngardings in the Park road. Once or twice I went out to see that all\r\nwas right, and it was, and then the `owling stopped. Just before\r\ntwelve o'clock I just took a look round afore turnin' in, an', bust\r\nme, but when I kem opposite to old Bersicker's cage I see the rails\r\nbroken and twisted about and the cage empty. And that's all I know\r\nfor certing.\"\r\n\r\n\"Did any one else see anything?\"\r\n\r\n\"One of our gard`ners was a-comin' `ome about that time from a\r\n`armony, when he sees a big gray dog comin' out through the garding\r\n`edges. At least, so he says, but I don't give much for it myself,\r\nfor if he did `e never said a word about it to his missis when `e\r\ngot `ome, and it was only after the escape of the wolf was made\r\nknown, and we had been up all night a-huntin' of the Park for\r\nBersicker, that he remembered seein' anything. My own belief was\r\nthat the `armony `ad got into his `ead.\"\r\n\r\n\"Now, Mr. Bilder, can you account in any way for the escape of\r\nthe wolf?\"\r\n\r\n\"Well, Sir,\"he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, \"I think\r\nI can, but I don't know as `ow you'd be satisfied with the\r\ntheory.\"\r\n\r\n\"Certainly I shall. If a man like you, who knows the animals\r\nfrom experience, can't hazard a good guess at any rate, who is even\r\nto try?\"\r\n\r\n\"well then, Sir, I accounts for it this way. It seems to me that\r\n`ere wolf escaped\u2014simply because he wanted to get out.\"\r\n\r\nFrom the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the\r\njoke I could see that it had done service before, and that the\r\nwhole explanation was simply an elaborate sell. I couldn't cope in\r\nbadinage with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way\r\nto his heart, so I said,\"Now, Mr. Bilder, we'll consider that first\r\nhalf-sovereign worked off, and this brother of his is waiting to be\r\nclaimed when you've told me what you think will happen.\"\r\n\r\n\"Right y`are, Sir,\" he said briskly. \"Ye`ll excoose me, I know,\r\nfor a-chaffin' of ye, but the old woman her winked at me, which was\r\nas much as telling me to go on.\"\r\n\r\n\"Well, I never!\" said the old lady.\r\n\r\n\"My opinion is this. That `ere wolf is a`idin' of, somewheres.\r\nThe gard`ner wot didn't remember said he was a-gallopin' northward\r\nfaster than a horse could go, but I don't believe him, for, yer\r\nsee, Sir, wolves don't gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein'\r\nbuilt that way. Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay\r\nwhen they gets in packs and does be chivyin' somethin' that's more\r\nafeared than they is they can make a devil of a noise and chop it\r\nup, whatever it is. But, Lor' bless you, in real life a wolf is\r\nonly a low creature, not half so clever or bold as a good dog, and\r\nnot half a quarter so much fight in `im. This one ain't been used\r\nto fightin' or even to providin' for hisself, and more like he's\r\nsomewhere round the Park a'hidin' an' a'shiverin' of, and if he\r\nthinks at all, wonderin' where he is to get his breakfast from. Or\r\nmaybe he's got down some area and is in a coal cellar. My eye,\r\nwon't some cook get a rum start when she sees his green eyes\r\na-shinin' at her out of the dark! If he can't get food he's bound\r\nto look for it, and mayhap he may chance to light on a butcher's\r\nshop in time. If he doesn't, and some nursemaid goes out walkin' or\r\norf with a soldier, leavin' of the hinfant in the\r\nperambulator\u2014well, then I shouldn't be surprised if the census is\r\none babby the less. That's all.\"\r\n\r\nI was handing him the half-sovereign, when something came\r\nbobbing up against the window, and Mr. Bilder's face doubled its\r\nnatural length with surprise.\r\n\r\n\"God bless me!\" he said. \"If there ain't old Bersicker come back\r\nby `isself!\"\r\n\r\nHe went to the door and opened it, a most unnecessary proceeding\r\nit seemed to me. I have always thought that a wild animal never\r\nlooks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is\r\nbetween us. A personal experience has intensified rather than\r\ndiminished that idea.\r\n\r\nAfter all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither\r\nBilder nor his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a\r\ndog. The animal itself was a peaceful and well-behaved as that\r\nfather of all picture-wolves, Red Riding Hood's quondam friend,\r\nwhilst moving her confidence in masquerade.\r\n\r\nThe whole scene was a unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos.\r\nThe wicked wolf that for a half a day had paralyzed London and set\r\nall the children in town shivering in their shoes, was there in a\r\nsort of penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of\r\nvulpine prodigal son. Old Bilder examined him all over with most\r\ntender solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent\r\nsaid,\r\n\r\n\"There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of\r\ntrouble. Didn't I say it all along? Here's his head all cut and\r\nfull of broken glass. `E's been a-gettin' over some bloomin' wall\r\nor other. It's a shyme that people are allowed to top their walls\r\nwith broken bottles. This `ere's what comes of it. Come along,\r\nBersicker.\"\r\n\r\nHe took the wolf and locked him up in a cage, with a piece of\r\nmeat that satisfied, in quantity at any rate, the elementary\r\nconditions of the fatted calf, and went off to report.\r\n\r\nI came off too, to report the only exclusive information that is\r\ngiven today regarding the strange escapade at the Zoo.\r\n\r\nDR. SEWARD'S DIARY\r\n\r\n17 September.\u2014I was engaged after dinner in my study posting up\r\nmy books, which, through press of other work and the many visits to\r\nLucy, had fallen sadly into arrear. Suddenly the door was burst\r\nopen, and in rushed my patient, with his face distorted with\r\npassion. I was thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting\r\nof his own accord into the Superintendent's study is almost\r\nunknown.\r\n\r\nWithout an instant's notice he made straight at me. He had a\r\ndinner knife in his hand, and as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to\r\nkeep the table between us. He was too quick and too strong for me,\r\nhowever, for before I could get my balance he had struck at me and\r\ncut my left wrist rather severely.\r\n\r\nBefore he could strike again, however, I got in my right hand\r\nand he was sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled\r\nfreely, and quite a little pool trickled on to the carpet. I saw\r\nthat my friend was not intent on further effort, and occupied\r\nmyself binding up my wrist, keeping a wary eye on the prostrate\r\nfigure all the time. When the attendants rushed in, and we turned\r\nour attention to him, his employment positively sickened me. He was\r\nlying on his belly on the floor licking up, like a dog, the blood\r\nwhich had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was easily secured, and\r\nto my surprise, went with the attendants quite placidly, simply\r\nrepeating over and over again, \"The blood is the life! The blood is\r\nthe life!\"\r\n\r\nI cannot afford to lose blood just at present. I have lost too\r\nmuch of late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of\r\nLucy's illness and its horrible phases is telling on me. I am over\r\nexcited and weary, and I need rest, rest, rest. Happily Van Helsing\r\nhas not summoned me, so I need not forego my sleep. Tonight I could\r\nnot well do without it.\r\n\r\nTELEGRAM, VAN HELSING, ANTWERP, TO SEWARD, CARFAX\r\n\r\n(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given, delivered late by\r\ntwenty-two hours.)\r\n\r\n17 September.\u2014Do not fail to be at Hilllingham tonight. If not\r\nwatching all the time, frequently visit and see that flowers are as\r\nplaced, very important, do not fail. Shall be with you as soon as\r\npossible after arrival.\r\n\r\nDR. SEWARD'S DIARY\r\n\r\n18 September.\u2014Just off train to London. The arrival of Van\r\nHelsing's telegram filled me with dismay. A whole night lost, and I\r\nknow by bitter experience what may happen in a night. Of course it\r\nis possible that all may be well, but what may have happened?\r\nSurely there is some horrible doom hanging over us that every\r\npossible accident should thwart us in all we try to do. I shall\r\ntake this cylinder with me, and then I can complete my entry on\r\nLucy's phonograph. MEMORANDUM LEFT BY LUCY WESTENRA\r\n\r\n17 September, Night.\u2014I write this and leave it to be seen, so\r\nthat no one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is\r\nan exact record of what took place tonight. I feel I am dying of\r\nweakness, and have barely strength to write, but it must be done if\r\nI die in the doing.\r\n\r\nI went to bed as usual, taking care that the flowers were placed\r\nas Dr. Van Helsing directed, and soon fell asleep.\r\n\r\nI was waked by the flapping at the window, which had begun after\r\nthat sleep-walking on the cliff at Whitby when Mina saved me, and\r\nwhich now I know so well. I was not afraid, but I did wish that Dr.\r\nSeward was in the next room, as Dr. Van Helsing said he would be,\r\nso that I might have called him. I tried to sleep, but I could not.\r\nThen there came to me the old fear of sleep, and I determined to\r\nkeep awake. Perversely sleep would try to come then when I did not\r\nwant it. So, as I feared to be alone, I opened my door and called\r\nout. \"Is there anybody there?\" There was no answer. I was afraid to\r\nwake mother, and so closed my door again. Then outside in the\r\nshrubbery I heard a sort of howl like a dog's, but more fierce and\r\ndeeper. I went to the window and looked out, but could see nothing,\r\nexcept a big bat, which had evidently been buffeting its wings\r\nagainst the window. So I went back to bed again, but determined not\r\nto go to sleep. Presently the door opened, and mother looked in.\r\nSeeing by my moving that I was not asleep, she came in and sat by\r\nme. She said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont,\r\n\r\n\"I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that you\r\nwere all right.\"\r\n\r\nI feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her to\r\ncome in and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay down\r\nbeside me. She did not take off her dressing gown, for she said she\r\nwould only stay a while and then go back to her own bed. As she lay\r\nthere in my arms, and I in hers the flapping and buffeting came to\r\nthe window again. She was startled and a little frightened, and\r\ncried out, \"What is that?\"\r\n\r\nI tried to pacify her, and at last succeeded, and she lay quiet.\r\nBut I could hear her poor dear heart still beating terribly. After\r\na while there was the howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly\r\nafter there was a crash at the window, and a lot of broken glass\r\nwas hurled on the floor. The window blind blew back with the wind\r\nthat rushed in, and in the aperture of the broken panes there was\r\nthe head of a great, gaunt gray wolf.\r\n\r\nMother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting\r\nposture, and clutched wildly at anything that would help her.\r\nAmongst other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr.\r\nVan Helsing insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away\r\nfrom me. For a second or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and\r\nthere was a strange and horrible gurgling in her throat. Then she\r\nfell over, as if struck with lightning, and her head hit my\r\nforehead and made me dizzy for a moment or two.\r\n\r\nThe room and all round seemed to spin round. I kept my eyes\r\nfixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole\r\nmyriad of little specks seems to come blowing in through the broken\r\nwindow, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust\r\nthat travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert. I\r\ntried to stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear Mother's\r\npoor body, which seemed to grow cold already, for her dear heart\r\nhad ceased to beat, weighed me down, and I remembered no more for a\r\nwhile.\r\n\r\nThe time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I\r\nrecovered consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was\r\ntolling. The dogs all round the neighborhood were howling, and in\r\nour shrubbery, seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing. I\r\nwas dazed and stupid with pain and terror and weakness, but the\r\nsound of the nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother\r\ncome back to comfort me. The sounds seemed to have awakened the\r\nmaids, too, for I could hear their bare feet pattering outside my\r\ndoor. I called to them, and they came in, and when they saw what\r\nhad happened, and what it was that lay over me on the bed, they\r\nscreamed out. The wind rushed in through the broken window, and the\r\ndoor slammed to. They lifted off the body of my dear mother, and\r\nlaid her, covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I had got up.\r\nThey were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them to go\r\nto the dining room and each have a glass of wine. The door flew\r\nopen for an instant and closed again. The maids shrieked, and then\r\nwent in a body to the dining room, and I laid what flowers I had on\r\nmy dear mother's breast. When they were there I remembered what Dr.\r\nVan Helsing had told me, but I didn't like to remove them, and\r\nbesides, I would have some of the servants to sit up with me now. I\r\nwas surprised that the maids did not come back. I called them, but\r\ngot no answer, so I went to the dining room to look for them.\r\n\r\nMy heart sank when I saw what had happened. They all four lay\r\nhelpless on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry\r\nwas on the table half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell\r\nabout. I was suspicious, and examined the decanter. It smelt of\r\nlaudanum, and looking on the sideboard, I found that the bottle\r\nwhich Mother's doctor uses for her\u2014oh! did use\u2014was empty. What am I\r\nto do? What am I to do? I am back in the room with Mother. I cannot\r\nleave her, and I am alone, save for the sleeping servants, whom\r\nsome one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I\r\ncan hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window.\r\n\r\nThe air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the\r\ndraught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am\r\nI to do? God shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this\r\npaper in my breast, where they shall find it when they come to lay\r\nme out. My dear mother gone! It is time that I go too. Goodbye,\r\ndear Arthur, if I should not survive this night. God keep you,\r\ndear, and God help me!\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n","rendered":"
\n

12 September.\u2014How good they all are to me. I quite love that
\ndear Dr. Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these
\nflowers. He positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he
\nmust have been right, for I feel comfort from them already.
\nSomehow, I do not dread being alone tonight, and I can go to sleep
\nwithout fear. I shall not mind any flapping outside the window. Oh,
\nthe terrible struggle that I have had against sleep so often of
\nlate, the pain of sleeplessness, or the pain of the fear of sleep,
\nand with such unknown horrors as it has for me! How blessed are
\nsome people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is
\na blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.
\nWell, here I am tonight, hoping for sleep, and lying like Ophelia
\nin the play, with`virgin crants and maiden strewments.’ I never
\nliked garlic before, but tonight it is delightful! There is peace
\nin its smell. I feel sleep coming already. Goodnight,
\neverybody.<\/p>\n

DR. SEWARD’S DIARY<\/p>\n

13 September.\u2014Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as
\nusual, up to time. The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting.
\nThe Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him
\nnow.<\/p>\n

Let all be put down exactly. Van Helsing and I arrived at
\nHillingham at eight o’clock. It was a lovely morning. The bright
\nsunshine and all the fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the
\ncompletion of nature’s annual work. The leaves were turning to all
\nkinds of beautiful colors, but had not yet begun to drop from the
\ntrees. When we entered we met Mrs. Westenra coming out of the
\nmorning room. She is always an early riser. She greeted us warmly
\nand said,<\/p>\n

“You will be glad to know that Lucy is better. The dear child is
\nstill asleep. I looked into her room and saw her, but did not go
\nin, lest I should disturb her.” The Professor smiled, and looked
\nquite jubilant. He rubbed his hands together, and said, “Aha! I
\nthought I had diagnosed the case. My treatment is working.”<\/p>\n

To which she replied, “You must not take all the credit to
\nyourself, doctor. Lucy’s state this morning is due in part to
\nme.”<\/p>\n

“How do you mean, ma’am?” asked the Professor.<\/p>\n

“Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went
\ninto her room. She was sleeping soundly, so soundly that even my
\ncoming did not wake her. But the room was awfully stuffy. There
\nwere a lot of those horrible, strongsmelling flowers about
\neverywhere, and she had actually a bunch of them round her neck. I
\nfeared that the heavy odor would be too much for the dear child in
\nher weak state, so I took them all away and opened a bit of the
\nwindow to let in a little fresh air. You will be pleased with her,
\nI am sure.”<\/p>\n

She moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted
\nearly. As she had spoken, I watched the Professor’s face, and saw
\nit turn ashen gray. He had been able to retain his self-command
\nwhilst the poor lady was present, for he knew her state and how
\nmischievous a shock would be. He actually smiled on her as he held
\nopen the door for her to pass into her room. But the instant she
\nhad disappeared he pulled me, suddenly and forcibly, into the
\ndining room and closed the door.<\/p>\n

Then, for the first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break
\ndown. He raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair,
\nand then beat his palms together in a helpless way. Finally he sat
\ndown on a chair, and putting his hands before his face, began to
\nsob, with loud, dry sobs that seemed to come from the very racking
\nof his heart.<\/p>\n

Then he raised his arms again, as though appealing to the whole
\nuniverse. “God! God! God!” he said. “What have we done, what has
\nthis poor thing done, that we are so sore beset? Is there fate
\namongst us still, send down from the pagan world of old, that such
\nthings must be, and in such way? This poor mother, all unknowing,
\nand all for the best as she think, does such thing as lose her
\ndaughter body and soul, and we must not tell her, we must not even
\nwarn her, or she die, then both die. Oh, how we are beset! How are
\nall the powers of the devils against us!”<\/p>\n

Suddenly he jumped to his feet. “Come,” he said.”come, we must
\nsee and act. Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it
\nmatters not. We must fight him all the same.” He went to the hall
\ndoor for his bag, and together we went up to Lucy’s room.<\/p>\n

Once again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards
\nthe bed. This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face
\nwith the same awful, waxen pallor as before. He wore a look of
\nstern sadness and infinite pity.<\/p>\n

“As I expected,” he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of
\nhis which meant so much. Without a word he went and locked the
\ndoor, and then began to set out on the little table the instruments
\nfor yet another operation of transfusion of blood. I had long ago
\nrecognized the necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he
\nstopped me with a warning hand. “No!” he said. “Today you must
\noperate. I shall provide. You are weakened already.” As he spoke he
\ntook off his coat and rolled up his shirtsleeve.<\/p>\n

Again the operation. Again the narcotic. Again some return of
\ncolor to the ashy cheeks, and the regular breathing of healthy
\nsleep. This time I watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and
\nrested.<\/p>\n

Presently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that
\nshe must not remove anything from Lucy’s room without consulting
\nhim. That the flowers were of medicinal value, and that the
\nbreathing of their odor was a part of the system of cure. Then he
\ntook over the care of the case himself, saying that he would watch
\nthis night and the next, and would send me word when to come.<\/p>\n

After another hour Lucy waked from her sleep, fresh and bright
\nand seemingly not much the worse for her terrible ordeal.<\/p>\n

What does it all mean? I am beginning to wonder if my long habit
\nof life amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own
\nbrain.<\/p>\n

LUCY WESTENRA’S DIARY<\/p>\n

17 September.\u2014Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so
\nstrong again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed
\nthrough some long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the
\nbeautiful sunshine and feel the fresh air of the morning around me.
\nI have a dim half remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and
\nfearing, darkness in which there was not even the pain of hope to
\nmake present distress more poignant. And then long spells of
\noblivion, and the rising back to life as a diver coming up through
\na great press of water. Since, however, Dr. Van Helsing has been
\nwith me, all this bad dreaming seems to have passed away. The
\nnoises that used to frighten me out of my wits, the flapping
\nagainst the windows, the distant voices which seemed so close to
\nme, the harsh sounds that came from I know not where and commanded
\nme to do I know not what, have all ceased. I go to bed now without
\nany fear of sleep. I do not even try to keep awake. I have grown
\nquite fond of the garlic, and a boxful arrives for me every day
\nfrom Haarlem. Tonight Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to
\nbe for a day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched. I am well
\nenough to be left alone.<\/p>\n

Thank God for Mother’s sake, and dear Arthur’s, and for all our
\nfriends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change,
\nfor last night Dr. Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the
\ntime. I found him asleep twice when I awoke. But I did not fear to
\ngo to sleep again, although the boughs or bats or something flapped
\nalmost angrily against the window panes.<\/p>\n

THE PALL MALL GAZETTE 18 September.<\/p>\n

THE ESCAPED WOLF PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

INTERVIEW WITH THE KEEPER IN THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS<\/p>\n

After many inquiries and almost as many refusals, and
\nperpetually using the words `PALL MALL GAZETTE ‘ as a sort of
\ntalisman, I managed to find the keeper of the section of the
\nZoological Gardens in which the wold department is included. Thomas
\nBilder lives in one of the cottages in the enclosure behind the
\nelephant house, and was just sitting down to his tea when I found
\nhim. Thomas and his wife are hospitable folk, elderly, and without
\nchildren, and if the specimen I enjoyed of their hospitality be of
\nthe average kind, their lives must be pretty comfortable. The
\nkeeper would not enter on what he called business until the supper
\nwas over, and we were all satisfied. Then when the table was
\ncleared, and he had lit his pipe, he said,<\/p>\n

“Now, Sir, you can go on and arsk me what you want. You’ll
\nexcoose me refoosin’ to talk of perfeshunal subjucts afore meals. I
\ngives the wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section
\ntheir tea afore I begins to arsk them questions.”<\/p>\n

“How do you mean, ask them questions?” I queried, wishful to get
\nhim into a talkative humor.<\/p>\n

” `Ittin’ of them over the `ead with a pole is one way.
\nScratchin’ of their ears in another, when gents as is flush wants a
\nbit of a show-orf to their gals. I don’t so much mind the fust, the
\n`ittin of the pole part afore I chucks in their dinner, but I waits
\ntill they’ve `ad their sherry and kawffee, so to speak,afore I
\ntries on with the ear scratchin’. Mind you,” he added
\nphilosophically, “there’s a deal of the same nature in us as in
\nthem theer animiles. Here’s you a-comin’ and arskin’ of me
\nquestions about my business, and I that grump-like that only for
\nyour bloomin’ `arf-quid I’d `a’ seen you blowed fust `fore I’d
\nanswer. Not even when you arsked me sarcastic like if I’d like you
\nto arsk the Superintendent if you might arsk me questions. Without
\noffence did I tell yer to go to `ell?”<\/p>\n

“You did.”<\/p>\n

“An’ when you said you’d report me for usin’ obscene language
\nthat was `ittin’ me over the `ead. But the `arfquid made that all
\nright. I weren’t a-goin’ to fight, so I waited for the food, and
\ndid with my `owl as the wolves and lions and tigers does. But, lor’
\nlove yer `art, now that the old `ooman has stuck a chunk of her
\ntea-cake in me, an’ rinsed me out with her bloomin’ old teapot, and
\nI’ve lit hup, you may scratch my ears for all you’re worth, and
\nwon’t even get a growl out of me. Drive along with your questions.
\nI know what yer a-comin’ at, that `ere escaped wolf.”<\/p>\n

“Exactly. I want you to give me your view of it. Just tell me
\nhow it happened, and when I know the facts I’ll get you to say what
\nyou consider was the cause of it, and how you think the whole
\naffair will end.”<\/p>\n

“All right, guv’nor. This `ere is about the `ole story. That`ere
\nwolf what we called Bersicker was one of three gray ones that came
\nfrom Norway to Jamrach’s, which we bought off him four years ago.
\nHe was a nice well-behaved wolf, that never gave no trouble to talk
\nof. I’m more surprised at `im for wantin’ to get out nor any other
\nanimile in the place. But, there, you can’t trust wolves no more
\nnor women.”<\/p>\n

“Don’t you mind him, Sir!” broke in Mrs. Tom, with a cheery
\nlaugh. ” `E’s got mindin’ the animiles so long that blest if he
\nain’t like a old wolf `isself! But there ain’t no `arm in `im.”<\/p>\n

“Well, Sir, it was about two hours after feedin’ yesterday when
\nI first hear my disturbance. I was makin’ up a litter in the monkey
\nhouse for a young puma which is ill. But when I heard the yelpin’
\nand `owlin’ I kem away straight. There was Bersicker a-tearin’ like
\na mad thing at the bars as if he wanted to get out. There wasn’t
\nmuch people about that day, and close at hand was only one man, a
\ntall, thin chap, with a `ook nose and a pointed beard, with a few
\nwhite hairs runnin’ through it. He had a `ard, cold look and red
\neyes, and I took a sort of mislike to him, for it seemed as if it
\nwas `im as they was hirritated at. He `ad white kid gloves on `is
\n`ands, and he pointed out the animiles to me and says, `Keeper,
\nthese wolves seem upset at something.’<\/p>\n

“`Maybe it’s you,’ says I, for I did not like the airs as he
\ngive `isself. He didn’t get angry, as I `oped he would, but he
\nsmiled a kind of insolent smile, with a mouth full of white, sharp
\nteeth. `Oh no, they wouldn’t like me,’ `e says.<\/p>\n

” `Ow yes, they would,’ says I, a-imitatin’of him.`They always
\nlike a bone or two to clean their teeth on about tea time, which
\nyou `as a bagful.’<\/p>\n

“Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us
\na-talkin’ they lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let
\nme stroke his ears same as ever. That there man kem over, and
\nblessed but if he didn’t put in his hand and stroke the old wolf’s
\nears too!<\/p>\n

” `Tyke care,’ says I. `Bersicker is quick.’<\/p>\n

” `Never mind,’ he says. I’m used to `em!’<\/p>\n

” `Are you in the business yourself?”I says, tyking off my `at,
\nfor a man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good friend to
\nkeepers.<\/p>\n

” `Nom’ says he, `not exactly in the business, but I `ave made
\npets of several.’ and with that he lifts his `at as perlite as a
\nlord, and walks away. Old Bersicker kep’ a-lookin’ arter `im till
\n`e was out of sight, and then went and lay down in a corner and
\nwouldn’t come hout the `ole hevening. Well, larst night, so soon as
\nthe moon was hup, the wolves here all began a-`owling. There warn’t
\nnothing for them to `owl at. There warn’t no one near, except some
\none that was evidently a-callin’ a dog somewheres out back of the
\ngardings in the Park road. Once or twice I went out to see that all
\nwas right, and it was, and then the `owling stopped. Just before
\ntwelve o’clock I just took a look round afore turnin’ in, an’, bust
\nme, but when I kem opposite to old Bersicker’s cage I see the rails
\nbroken and twisted about and the cage empty. And that’s all I know
\nfor certing.”<\/p>\n

“Did any one else see anything?”<\/p>\n

“One of our gard`ners was a-comin’ `ome about that time from a
\n`armony, when he sees a big gray dog comin’ out through the garding
\n`edges. At least, so he says, but I don’t give much for it myself,
\nfor if he did `e never said a word about it to his missis when `e
\ngot `ome, and it was only after the escape of the wolf was made
\nknown, and we had been up all night a-huntin’ of the Park for
\nBersicker, that he remembered seein’ anything. My own belief was
\nthat the `armony `ad got into his `ead.”<\/p>\n

“Now, Mr. Bilder, can you account in any way for the escape of
\nthe wolf?”<\/p>\n

“Well, Sir,”he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, “I think
\nI can, but I don’t know as `ow you’d be satisfied with the
\ntheory.”<\/p>\n

“Certainly I shall. If a man like you, who knows the animals
\nfrom experience, can’t hazard a good guess at any rate, who is even
\nto try?”<\/p>\n

“well then, Sir, I accounts for it this way. It seems to me that
\n`ere wolf escaped\u2014simply because he wanted to get out.”<\/p>\n

From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at the
\njoke I could see that it had done service before, and that the
\nwhole explanation was simply an elaborate sell. I couldn’t cope in
\nbadinage with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way
\nto his heart, so I said,”Now, Mr. Bilder, we’ll consider that first
\nhalf-sovereign worked off, and this brother of his is waiting to be
\nclaimed when you’ve told me what you think will happen.”<\/p>\n

“Right y`are, Sir,” he said briskly. “Ye`ll excoose me, I know,
\nfor a-chaffin’ of ye, but the old woman her winked at me, which was
\nas much as telling me to go on.”<\/p>\n

“Well, I never!” said the old lady.<\/p>\n

“My opinion is this. That `ere wolf is a`idin’ of, somewheres.
\nThe gard`ner wot didn’t remember said he was a-gallopin’ northward
\nfaster than a horse could go, but I don’t believe him, for, yer
\nsee, Sir, wolves don’t gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein’
\nbuilt that way. Wolves is fine things in a storybook, and I dessay
\nwhen they gets in packs and does be chivyin’ somethin’ that’s more
\nafeared than they is they can make a devil of a noise and chop it
\nup, whatever it is. But, Lor’ bless you, in real life a wolf is
\nonly a low creature, not half so clever or bold as a good dog, and
\nnot half a quarter so much fight in `im. This one ain’t been used
\nto fightin’ or even to providin’ for hisself, and more like he’s
\nsomewhere round the Park a’hidin’ an’ a’shiverin’ of, and if he
\nthinks at all, wonderin’ where he is to get his breakfast from. Or
\nmaybe he’s got down some area and is in a coal cellar. My eye,
\nwon’t some cook get a rum start when she sees his green eyes
\na-shinin’ at her out of the dark! If he can’t get food he’s bound
\nto look for it, and mayhap he may chance to light on a butcher’s
\nshop in time. If he doesn’t, and some nursemaid goes out walkin’ or
\norf with a soldier, leavin’ of the hinfant in the
\nperambulator\u2014well, then I shouldn’t be surprised if the census is
\none babby the less. That’s all.”<\/p>\n

I was handing him the half-sovereign, when something came
\nbobbing up against the window, and Mr. Bilder’s face doubled its
\nnatural length with surprise.<\/p>\n

“God bless me!” he said. “If there ain’t old Bersicker come back
\nby `isself!”<\/p>\n

He went to the door and opened it, a most unnecessary proceeding
\nit seemed to me. I have always thought that a wild animal never
\nlooks so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is
\nbetween us. A personal experience has intensified rather than
\ndiminished that idea.<\/p>\n

After all, however, there is nothing like custom, for neither
\nBilder nor his wife thought any more of the wolf than I should of a
\ndog. The animal itself was a peaceful and well-behaved as that
\nfather of all picture-wolves, Red Riding Hood’s quondam friend,
\nwhilst moving her confidence in masquerade.<\/p>\n

The whole scene was a unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos.
\nThe wicked wolf that for a half a day had paralyzed London and set
\nall the children in town shivering in their shoes, was there in a
\nsort of penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of
\nvulpine prodigal son. Old Bilder examined him all over with most
\ntender solicitude, and when he had finished with his penitent
\nsaid,<\/p>\n

“There, I knew the poor old chap would get into some kind of
\ntrouble. Didn’t I say it all along? Here’s his head all cut and
\nfull of broken glass. `E’s been a-gettin’ over some bloomin’ wall
\nor other. It’s a shyme that people are allowed to top their walls
\nwith broken bottles. This `ere’s what comes of it. Come along,
\nBersicker.”<\/p>\n

He took the wolf and locked him up in a cage, with a piece of
\nmeat that satisfied, in quantity at any rate, the elementary
\nconditions of the fatted calf, and went off to report.<\/p>\n

I came off too, to report the only exclusive information that is
\ngiven today regarding the strange escapade at the Zoo.<\/p>\n

DR. SEWARD’S DIARY<\/p>\n

17 September.\u2014I was engaged after dinner in my study posting up
\nmy books, which, through press of other work and the many visits to
\nLucy, had fallen sadly into arrear. Suddenly the door was burst
\nopen, and in rushed my patient, with his face distorted with
\npassion. I was thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting
\nof his own accord into the Superintendent’s study is almost
\nunknown.<\/p>\n

Without an instant’s notice he made straight at me. He had a
\ndinner knife in his hand, and as I saw he was dangerous, I tried to
\nkeep the table between us. He was too quick and too strong for me,
\nhowever, for before I could get my balance he had struck at me and
\ncut my left wrist rather severely.<\/p>\n

Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right hand
\nand he was sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled
\nfreely, and quite a little pool trickled on to the carpet. I saw
\nthat my friend was not intent on further effort, and occupied
\nmyself binding up my wrist, keeping a wary eye on the prostrate
\nfigure all the time. When the attendants rushed in, and we turned
\nour attention to him, his employment positively sickened me. He was
\nlying on his belly on the floor licking up, like a dog, the blood
\nwhich had fallen from my wounded wrist. He was easily secured, and
\nto my surprise, went with the attendants quite placidly, simply
\nrepeating over and over again, “The blood is the life! The blood is
\nthe life!”<\/p>\n

I cannot afford to lose blood just at present. I have lost too
\nmuch of late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of
\nLucy’s illness and its horrible phases is telling on me. I am over
\nexcited and weary, and I need rest, rest, rest. Happily Van Helsing
\nhas not summoned me, so I need not forego my sleep. Tonight I could
\nnot well do without it.<\/p>\n

TELEGRAM, VAN HELSING, ANTWERP, TO SEWARD, CARFAX<\/p>\n

(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given, delivered late by
\ntwenty-two hours.)<\/p>\n

17 September.\u2014Do not fail to be at Hilllingham tonight. If not
\nwatching all the time, frequently visit and see that flowers are as
\nplaced, very important, do not fail. Shall be with you as soon as
\npossible after arrival.<\/p>\n

DR. SEWARD’S DIARY<\/p>\n

18 September.\u2014Just off train to London. The arrival of Van
\nHelsing’s telegram filled me with dismay. A whole night lost, and I
\nknow by bitter experience what may happen in a night. Of course it
\nis possible that all may be well, but what may have happened?
\nSurely there is some horrible doom hanging over us that every
\npossible accident should thwart us in all we try to do. I shall
\ntake this cylinder with me, and then I can complete my entry on
\nLucy’s phonograph. MEMORANDUM LEFT BY LUCY WESTENRA<\/p>\n

17 September, Night.\u2014I write this and leave it to be seen, so
\nthat no one may by any chance get into trouble through me. This is
\nan exact record of what took place tonight. I feel I am dying of
\nweakness, and have barely strength to write, but it must be done if
\nI die in the doing.<\/p>\n

I went to bed as usual, taking care that the flowers were placed
\nas Dr. Van Helsing directed, and soon fell asleep.<\/p>\n

I was waked by the flapping at the window, which had begun after
\nthat sleep-walking on the cliff at Whitby when Mina saved me, and
\nwhich now I know so well. I was not afraid, but I did wish that Dr.
\nSeward was in the next room, as Dr. Van Helsing said he would be,
\nso that I might have called him. I tried to sleep, but I could not.
\nThen there came to me the old fear of sleep, and I determined to
\nkeep awake. Perversely sleep would try to come then when I did not
\nwant it. So, as I feared to be alone, I opened my door and called
\nout. “Is there anybody there?” There was no answer. I was afraid to
\nwake mother, and so closed my door again. Then outside in the
\nshrubbery I heard a sort of howl like a dog’s, but more fierce and
\ndeeper. I went to the window and looked out, but could see nothing,
\nexcept a big bat, which had evidently been buffeting its wings
\nagainst the window. So I went back to bed again, but determined not
\nto go to sleep. Presently the door opened, and mother looked in.
\nSeeing by my moving that I was not asleep, she came in and sat by
\nme. She said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont,<\/p>\n

“I was uneasy about you, darling, and came in to see that you
\nwere all right.”<\/p>\n

I feared she might catch cold sitting there, and asked her to
\ncome in and sleep with me, so she came into bed, and lay down
\nbeside me. She did not take off her dressing gown, for she said she
\nwould only stay a while and then go back to her own bed. As she lay
\nthere in my arms, and I in hers the flapping and buffeting came to
\nthe window again. She was startled and a little frightened, and
\ncried out, “What is that?”<\/p>\n

I tried to pacify her, and at last succeeded, and she lay quiet.
\nBut I could hear her poor dear heart still beating terribly. After
\na while there was the howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly
\nafter there was a crash at the window, and a lot of broken glass
\nwas hurled on the floor. The window blind blew back with the wind
\nthat rushed in, and in the aperture of the broken panes there was
\nthe head of a great, gaunt gray wolf.<\/p>\n

Mother cried out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting
\nposture, and clutched wildly at anything that would help her.
\nAmongst other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr.
\nVan Helsing insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away
\nfrom me. For a second or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and
\nthere was a strange and horrible gurgling in her throat. Then she
\nfell over, as if struck with lightning, and her head hit my
\nforehead and made me dizzy for a moment or two.<\/p>\n

The room and all round seemed to spin round. I kept my eyes
\nfixed on the window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole
\nmyriad of little specks seems to come blowing in through the broken
\nwindow, and wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust
\nthat travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert. I
\ntried to stir, but there was some spell upon me, and dear Mother’s
\npoor body, which seemed to grow cold already, for her dear heart
\nhad ceased to beat, weighed me down, and I remembered no more for a
\nwhile.<\/p>\n

The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I
\nrecovered consciousness again. Somewhere near, a passing bell was
\ntolling. The dogs all round the neighborhood were howling, and in
\nour shrubbery, seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing. I
\nwas dazed and stupid with pain and terror and weakness, but the
\nsound of the nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother
\ncome back to comfort me. The sounds seemed to have awakened the
\nmaids, too, for I could hear their bare feet pattering outside my
\ndoor. I called to them, and they came in, and when they saw what
\nhad happened, and what it was that lay over me on the bed, they
\nscreamed out. The wind rushed in through the broken window, and the
\ndoor slammed to. They lifted off the body of my dear mother, and
\nlaid her, covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I had got up.
\nThey were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them to go
\nto the dining room and each have a glass of wine. The door flew
\nopen for an instant and closed again. The maids shrieked, and then
\nwent in a body to the dining room, and I laid what flowers I had on
\nmy dear mother’s breast. When they were there I remembered what Dr.
\nVan Helsing had told me, but I didn’t like to remove them, and
\nbesides, I would have some of the servants to sit up with me now. I
\nwas surprised that the maids did not come back. I called them, but
\ngot no answer, so I went to the dining room to look for them.<\/p>\n

My heart sank when I saw what had happened. They all four lay
\nhelpless on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry
\nwas on the table half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell
\nabout. I was suspicious, and examined the decanter. It smelt of
\nlaudanum, and looking on the sideboard, I found that the bottle
\nwhich Mother’s doctor uses for her\u2014oh! did use\u2014was empty. What am I
\nto do? What am I to do? I am back in the room with Mother. I cannot
\nleave her, and I am alone, save for the sleeping servants, whom
\nsome one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I
\ncan hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window.<\/p>\n

The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the
\ndraught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am
\nI to do? God shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this
\npaper in my breast, where they shall find it when they come to lay
\nme out. My dear mother gone! It is time that I go too. Goodbye,
\ndear Arthur, if I should not survive this night. God keep you,
\ndear, and God help me!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":11,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-35","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/35","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\/35\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/35\/revisions\/71"}],"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\/35\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}