{"id":39,"date":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T20:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/dracula-15\/"},"modified":"2019-02-26T01:25:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T01:25:12","slug":"dracula-15","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/chapter\/dracula-15\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 15 - Dr. Seward's Diary\u2014cont.","rendered":"Chapter 15 – Dr. Seward’s Diary\u2014cont."},"content":{"raw":"\r\n
\r\n\r\nFor a while sheer anger mastered me. It was as if he had during\r\nher life struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose\r\nup as I said to him, \"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?\"\r\n\r\nHe raised his head and looked at me, and somehow the tenderness\r\nof his face calmed me at once. \"Would I were!\" he said. \"Madness\r\nwere easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my friend,\r\nwhey, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell so\r\nsimple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all my\r\nlife? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I\r\nwanted, no so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life,\r\nand from a fearful death? Ah no!\"\r\n\r\n\"Forgive me,\" said I.\r\n\r\nHe went on, \"My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in\r\nthe breaking to you, for I know you have loved that so sweet lady.\r\nBut even yet I do not expect you to believe. It is so hard to\r\naccept at once any abstract truth, that we may doubt such to be\r\npossible when we have always believed the `no' of it. It is more\r\nhard still to accept so sad a concrete truth, and of such a one as\r\nMiss Lucy. Tonight I go to prove it. Dare you come with me?\"\r\n\r\nThis staggered me. A man does not like to prove such a truth,\r\nByron excepted from the catagory, jealousy.\r\n\r\n\"And prove the very truth he most abhorred.\"\r\n\r\nHe saw my hesitation, and spoke, \"The logic is simple, no\r\nmadman's logic this time, jumping from tussock to tussock in a\r\nmisty bog. If it not be true, then proof will be relief. At worst\r\nit will not harm. If it be true! Ah, there is the dread. Yet every\r\ndread should help my cause, for in it is some need of belief. Come,\r\nI tell you what I propose. First, that we go off now and see that\r\nchild in the hospital. Dr. Vincent, of the North Hospital, where\r\nthe papers say the child is, is a friend of mine, and I think of\r\nyours since you were in class at Amsterdam. He will let two\r\nscientists see his case, if he will not let two friends. We shall\r\ntell him nothing, but only that we wish to learn. And then\u00a0\u2026\r\n\"\r\n\r\n\"And then?\"\r\n\r\nHe took a key from his pocket and held it up. \"And then we spend\r\nthe night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies. This is\r\nthe key that lock the tomb. I had it from the coffin man to give to\r\nArthur.\"\r\n\r\nMy heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful\r\nordeal before us. I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what\r\nheart I could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon\r\nwas passing.\r\n\r\nWe found the child awake. It had had a sleep and taken some\r\nfood, and altogether was going on well. Dr, Vincent took the\r\nbandage from its throat, and showed us the punctures. There was no\r\nmistaking the similarity to those which had been on Lucy's throat.\r\nThey were smaller, and the edges looked fresher, that was all. We\r\nasked Vincent to what he attributed them, and he replied that it\r\nmust have been a bite of some animal, perhaps a rat, but for his\r\nown part, he was inclined to think it was one of the bats which are\r\nso numerous on the northern heights of London. \"Out of so many\r\nharmless ones,\" he said, \"there may be some wild specimen from the\r\nSouth of a more malignant species. Some sailor may have brought one\r\nhome, and it managed to escape, or even from the Zoological Gardens\r\na young one may have got loose, or one be bred there from a\r\nvampire. These things do occur, you, know. Only ten days ago a wolf\r\ngot out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction. For a\r\nweek after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood\r\non the Heath and in every alley in the place until this `bloofer\r\nlady' scare came along, since then it has been quite a gala time\r\nwith them. Even this poor little mite, when he woke up today, asked\r\nthe nurse if he might go away. When she asked him why he wanted to\r\ngo, he said he wanted to play with the `bloofer lady'.\"\r\n\r\n\"I hope,\" said Van Helsing, \"that when you are sending the child\r\nhome you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it.\r\nThese fancies to stray are most dangerous, and if the child were to\r\nremain out another night, it would probably be fatal. But in any\r\ncase I suppose you will not let it away for some days?\"\r\n\r\n\"Certainly not, not for a week at least, longer if the wound is\r\nnot healed.\"\r\n\r\nOur visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned\r\non, and the sun had dipped before we came out. When Van Helsing saw\r\nhow dark it was, he said,\r\n\r\n\"There is not hurry. It is more late than I thought. Come, let\r\nus seek somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our\r\nway.\"\r\n\r\nWe dined at `Jack Straw's Castle' along with a little crowd of\r\nbicyclists and others who were genially noisy. About ten o'clock we\r\nstarted from the inn. It was then very dark, and the scattered\r\nlamps made the darkness greater when we were once outside their\r\nindividual radius. The Professor had evidently noted the road we\r\nwere to go, for he went on unhesitatingly, but, as for me, I was in\r\nquite a mixup as to locality. As we went further, we met fewer and\r\nfewer people, till at last we were somewhat surprised when we met\r\neven the patrol of horse police going their usual suburban round.\r\nAt last we reached the wall of the churchyard, which we climbed\r\nover. With some little difficulty, for it was very dark, and the\r\nwhole place seemed so strange to us, we found the Westenra tomb.\r\nThe Professor took the key, opened the creaky door, and standing\r\nback, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to precede\r\nhim. There was a delicious irony in the offer, in the courtliness\r\nof giving preference on such a ghastly occasion. My companion\r\nfollowed me quickly, and cautiously drew the door to, after\r\ncarefully ascertaining that the lock was a falling, and not a\r\nspring one. In the latter case we should have been in a bad plight.\r\nThen he fumbled in his bag, and taking out a matchbox and a piece\r\nof candle, proceeded to make a light. The tomb in the daytime, and\r\nwhen wreathed with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome\r\nenough, but now, some days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank\r\nand dead, their whites turning to rust and their greens to browns,\r\nwhen the spider and the beetle had resumed their accustomed\r\ndominance, when the time-discolored stone, and dust-encrusted\r\nmortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished brass, and clouded\r\nsilver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a candle, the effect\r\nwas more miserable and sordid than could have been imagined. It\r\nconveyed irresistibly the idea that life, animal life, was not the\r\nonly thing which could pass away.\r\n\r\nVan Helsing went about his work systematically. Holding his\r\ncandle so that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it\r\nthat the sperm dropped in white patches which congealed as they\r\ntouched the metal, he made assurance of Lucy's coffin. Another\r\nsearch in his bag, and he took out a turnscrew.\r\n\r\n\"What are you going to do?\" I asked.\r\n\r\n\"To open the coffin. You shall yet be convinced.\"\r\n\r\nStraightway he began taking out the screws, and finally lifted\r\noff the lid, showing the casing of lead beneath. The sight was\r\nalmost too much for me. It seemed to be as much an affront to the\r\ndead as it would have been to have stripped off her clothing in her\r\nsleep whilst living. I actually took hold of his hand to stop\r\nhim.\r\n\r\nHe only said, \"You shall see,\"and again fumbling in his bag took\r\nout a tiny fret saw. Striking the turnscrew through the lead with a\r\nswift downward stab, which made me wince, he made a small hole,\r\nwhich was, however, big enough to admit the point of the saw. I had\r\nexpected a rush of gas from the week-old corpse. We doctors, who\r\nhave had to study our dangers, have to become accustomed to such\r\nthings, and I drew back towards the door. But the Professor never\r\nstopped for a moment. He sawed down a couple of feet along one side\r\nof the lead coffin, and then across, and down the other side.\r\nTaking the edge of the loose flange, he bent it back towards the\r\nfoot of the coffin, and holding up the candle into the aperture,\r\nmotioned to me to look.\r\n\r\nI drew near and looked. The coffin was empty. It was certainly a\r\nsurprise to me, and gave me a considerable shock, but Van Helsing\r\nwas unmoved. He was now more sure than ever of his ground, and so\r\nemboldened to proceed in his task.\"Are you satisfied now, friend\r\nJohn?\" he asked.\r\n\r\nI felt all the dogged argumentativeness of my nature awake\r\nwithin me as I answered him, \"I am satisfied that Lucy's body is\r\nnot in that coffin, but that only proves one thing.\"\r\n\r\n\"And what is that, friend John?\"\r\n\r\n\"That it is not there.\"\r\n\r\n\"That is good logic,\" he said, \"so far as it goes. But how do\r\nyou, how can you, account for it not being there?\"\r\n\r\n\"Perhaps a body-snatcher,\" I suggested. \"Some of the\r\nundertaker's people may have stolen it.\" I felt that I was speaking\r\nfolly, and yet it was the only real cause which I could\r\nsuggest.\r\n\r\nThe Professor sighed. \"Ah well!\" he said,\" we must have more\r\nproof. Come with me.\"\r\n\r\nHe put on the coffin lid again, gathered up all his things and\r\nplaced them in the bag, blew out the light, and placed the candle\r\nalso in the bag. We opened the door, and went out. Behind us he\r\nclosed the door and locked it. He handed me the key, saying, \"Will\r\nyou keep it? You had better be assured.\"\r\n\r\nI laughed, it was not a very cheerful laugh, I am bound to say,\r\nas I motioned him to keep it. \"A key is nothing,\" I said, \"thee are\r\nmany duplicates, and anyhow it is not difficult to pick a lock of\r\nthis kind.\"\r\n\r\nHe said nothing, but put the key in his pocket. Then he told me\r\nto watch at one side of the churchyard whilst he would watch at the\r\nother.\r\n\r\nI took up my place behind a yew tree, and I saw his dark figure\r\nmove until the intervening headstones and trees hid it from my\r\nsight. It was a lonely vigil. Just after I had taken my place I\r\nheard a distant clock strike twelve, and in time came one and two.\r\nI was chilled and unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking\r\nme on such an errand and with myself for coming. I was too cold and\r\ntoo sleepy to be keenly observant, and not sleepy enough to betray\r\nmy trust, so altogether I had a dreary, miserable time.\r\n\r\nSuddenly, as I turned round, I thought I saw something like a\r\nwhite streak, moving between two dark yew trees at the side of the\r\nchurchyard farthest from the tomb. At the same time a dark mass\r\nmoved from the Professor's side of the ground, and hurriedly went\r\ntowards it. Then I too moved, but I had to go round headstones and\r\nrailed-off tombs, and I stumbled over graves. The sky was overcast,\r\nand somewhere far off an early cock crew. A little ways off, beyond\r\na line of scattered juniper trees, which marked the pathway to the\r\nchurch, a white dim figure flitted in the direction of the tomb.\r\nThe tomb itself was hidden by trees, and I could not see where the\r\nfigure had disappeared. I heard the rustle of actual movement where\r\nI had first seen the white figure, and coming over, found the\r\nProfessor holding in his arms a tiny child. When he saw me he held\r\nit out to me, and said, \"Are you satisfied now?\"\r\n\r\n\"No,\" I said, in a way that I felt was aggressive.\r\n\r\n\"Do you not see the child?\"\r\n\r\n\"Yes, it is a child, but who brought it here? And is it\r\nwounded?\"\r\n\r\n\"We shall see,\"said the Professor, and with one impulse we took\r\nour way out of the churchyard, he carrying the sleeping child.\r\n\r\nWhen we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump\r\nof trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child's throat. It\r\nwas without a scratch or scar of any kind.\r\n\r\n\"Was I right?\" I asked triumphantly.\r\n\r\n\"We were just in time,\" said the Professor thankfully.\r\n\r\nWe had now to decide what we were to do with the child, and so\r\nconsulted about it. If we were to take it to a police station we\r\nshould have to give some account of our movements during the night.\r\nAt least, we should have had to make some statement as to how we\r\nhad come to find the child. So finally we decided that we would\r\ntake it to the Heath, and when we heard a policeman coming, would\r\nleave it where he could not fail to find it. We would then seek our\r\nway home as quickly as we could. All fell out well. At the edge of\r\nHampstead Heath we heard a policeman's heavy tramp, and laying the\r\nchild on the pathway, we waited and watched until he saw it as he\r\nflashed his lantern to and fro. We heard his exclamation of\r\nastonishment, and then we went away silently. By good chance we got\r\na cab near the `Spainiards,' and drove to town.\r\n\r\nI cannot sleep, so I make this entry. But I must try to get a\r\nfew hours' sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon. He\r\ninsists that I go with him on another expedition.\r\n\r\n27 September.\u2014It was two o'clock before we found a suitable\r\nopportunity for our attempt. The funeral held at noon was all\r\ncompleted, and the last stragglers of the mourners had taken\r\nthemselves lazily away, when, looking carefully from behind a clump\r\nof alder trees, we saw the sexton lock the gate after him. We knew\r\nthat we were safe till morning did we desire it, but the Professor\r\ntold me that we should not want more than an hour at most. Again I\r\nfelt that horrid sense of the reality of things, in which any\r\neffort of imagination seemed out of place, and I realized\r\ndistinctly the perils of the law which we were incurring in our\r\nunhallowed work. Besides, I felt it was all so useless. Outrageous\r\nas it was to open a leaden coffin, to see if a woman dead nearly a\r\nweek were really dead, it now seemed the height of folly to open\r\nthe tomb again, when we knew, from the evidence of our own\r\neyesight, that the coffin was empty. I shrugged my shoulders,\r\nhowever, and rested silent, for Van Helsing had a way of going on\r\nhis own road, no matter who remonstrated. He took the key, opened\r\nthe vault, and again courteously motioned me to precede. The place\r\nwas not so gruesome as last night, but oh, how unutterably mean\r\nlooking when the sunshine streamed in. Van Helsing walked over to\r\nLucy's coffin, and I followed. He bent over and again forced back\r\nthe leaden flange, and a shock of surprise and dismay shot through\r\nme.\r\n\r\nThere lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night\r\nbefore her funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful\r\nthan ever, and I could not believe that she was dead. The lips were\r\nred, nay redder than before, and on the cheeks was a delicate\r\nbloom.\r\n\r\n\"Is this a juggle?\" I said to him.\r\n\r\n\"Are you convinced now?\" said the Professor, in response, and as\r\nhe spoke he put over his hand, and in a way that made me shudder,\r\npulled back the dead lips and showed the white teeth. \"See,\" he\r\nwent on,\"they are even sharper than before. With this and this,\"\r\nand he touched one of the canine teeth and that below it, \"the\r\nlittle children can be bitten. Are you of belief now, friend\r\nJohn?\"\r\n\r\nOnce more argumentative hostility woke within me. I could not\r\naccept such an overwhelming idea as he suggested. So, with an\r\nattempt to argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said,\r\n\"She may have been placed here since last night.\"\r\n\r\n\"Indeed? That is so, and by whom?\"\r\n\r\n\"I do not know. Someone has done it.\"\r\n\r\n\"And yet she has been dead one week. Most peoples in that time\r\nwould not look so.\"\r\n\r\nI had no answer for this, so was silent. Van Helsing did not\r\nseem to notice my silence. At any rate, he showed neither chagrin\r\nnor triumph. He was looking intently at the face of the dead woman,\r\nraising the eyelids and looking at the eyes, and once more opening\r\nthe lips and examining the teeth. Then he turned to me and\r\nsaid,\r\n\r\n\"Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded.\r\nHere is some dual life that is not as the common. She was bitten by\r\nthe vampire when she was in a trance, sleep-walking, oh, you start.\r\nYou do not know that, friend John, but you shall know it later, and\r\nin trance could he best come to take more blood. In trance she\r\ndies, and in trance she is Un-Dead, too. So it is that she differ\r\nfrom all other. Usually when the Un-Dead sleep at home,\" as he\r\nspoke he made a comprehensive sweep of his arm to designate what to\r\na vampire was `home', \"their face show what they are, but this so\r\nsweet that was when she not Un-Dead she go back to the nothings of\r\nthe common dead. There is no malign there, see, and so it make hard\r\nthat I must kill her in her sleep.\"\r\n\r\nThis turned my blood cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I\r\nwas accepting Van Helsing's theories. But if she were really dead,\r\nwhat was there of terror in the idea of killing her?\r\n\r\nHe looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in my face, for\r\nhe said almost joyously, \"Ah, you believe now?\"\r\n\r\nI answered, \"Do not press me too hard all at once. I am willing\r\nto accept. How will you do this bloody work?\"\r\n\r\n\"I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I\r\nshall drive a stake through her body.\"\r\n\r\nIt made me shudder to think of so mutilating the body of the\r\nwoman whom I had loved. And yet the feeling was not so strong as I\r\nhad expected. I was, in fact, beginning to shudder at the presence\r\nof this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing called it, and to\r\nloathe it. Is it possible that love is all subjective, or all\r\nobjective?\r\n\r\nI waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he\r\nstood as if wrapped in thought. Presently he closed the catch of\r\nhis bag with a snap, and said,\r\n\r\n\"I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is\r\nbest. If I did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this\r\nmoment, what is to be done. But there are other things to follow,\r\nand things that are thousand times more difficult in that them we\r\ndo not know. This is simple. She have yet no life taken, though\r\nthat is of time, and to act now would be to take danger from her\r\nforever. But then we may have to want Arthur, and how shall we tell\r\nhim of this? If you, who saw the wounds on Lucy's throat, and saw\r\nthe wounds so similar on the child's at the hospital, if you, who\r\nsaw the coffin empty last night and full today with a woman who\r\nhave not change only to be more rose and more beautiful in a whole\r\nweek, after she die, if you know of this and know of the white\r\nfigure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, and yet\r\nof your own senses you did not believe, how then, can I expect\r\nArthur, who know none of those things, to believe?\r\n\r\n\"He doubted me when I took him from her kiss when she was dying.\r\nI know he has forgiven me because in some mistaken idea I have done\r\nthings that prevent him say goodbye as he ought, and he may think\r\nthat in some more mistaken idea this woman was buried alive, and\r\nthat in most mistake of all we have killed her. He will then argue\r\nback that it is we, mistaken ones, that have killed her by our\r\nideas, and so he will be much unhappy always. Yet he never can be\r\nsure, and that is the worst of all. And he will sometimes think\r\nthat she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint his dreams\r\nwith horrors of what she must have suffered, and again, he will\r\nthink that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all,\r\nan Un-Dead. No! I told him once, and since then I learn much. Now,\r\nsince I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I\r\nknow that he must pass through the bitter waters to reach the\r\nsweet. He, poor fellow, must have one hour that will make the very\r\nface of heaven grow black to him, then we can act for good all\r\nround and send him peace. My mind is made up. Let us go. You return\r\nhome for tonight to your asylum, and see that all be well. As for\r\nme, I shall spend the night here in this churchyard in my own way.\r\nTomorrow night you will come to me to the Berkeley Hotel at ten of\r\nthe clock. I shall send for Arthur to come too, and also that so\r\nfine young man of America that gave his blood. Later we shall all\r\nhave work to do. I come with you so far as Piccadilly and there\r\ndine, for I must be back here before the sun set.\"\r\n\r\nSo we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of\r\nthe churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to\r\nPiccadilly.\r\n\r\nNOTE LEFT BY VAN HELSING IN HIS PORTMANTEAU, BERKELEY HOTEL\r\nDIRECTED TO JOHN SEWARD, M. D. (Not Delivered)\r\n\r\n27 September\r\n\r\n\"Friend John,\r\n\r\n\"I write this in case anything should happen. I go alone to\r\nwatch in that churchyard. It pleases me that the Un-Dead, Miss\r\nLucy, shall not leave tonight, that so on the morrow night she may\r\nbe more eager. Therefore I shall fix some things she like not,\r\ngarlic and a crucifix, and so seal up the door of the tomb. She is\r\nyoung as Un-Dead, and will heed. Moreover, these are only to\r\nprevent her coming out. They may not prevail on her wanting to get\r\nin, for then the Un-Dead is desperate, and must find the line of\r\nleast resistance, whatsoever it may be. I shall be at hand all the\r\nnight from sunset till after sunrise, and if there be aught that\r\nmay be learned I shall learn it. For Miss Lucy or from her, I have\r\nno fear, but that other to whom is there that she is Un-Dead, he\r\nhave not the power to seek her tomb and find shelter. He is\r\ncunning, as I know from Mr. Jonathan and from the way that all\r\nalong he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's\r\nlife, and we lost, and in many ways the Un-Dead are strong. He have\r\nalways the strength in his hand of twenty men, even we four who\r\ngave our strength to Miss Lucy it also is all to him. Besides, he\r\ncan summon his wolf and I know not what. So if it be that he came\r\nthither on this night he shall find me. But none other shall, until\r\nit be too late. But it may be that he will not attempt the place.\r\nThere is no reason why he should. His hunting ground is more full\r\nof game than the churchyard where the Un-Dead woman sleeps, and the\r\none old man watch.\r\n\r\n\"Therefore I write this in case\u00a0\u2026 Take the papers that are\r\nwith this, the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and\r\nthen find this great Un-Dead, and cut off his head and burn his\r\nheart or drive a stake through it, so that the world may rest from\r\nhim.\r\n\r\n\"If it be so, farewell.\r\n\r\n\"VAN HELSING.\"\r\n\r\nDR. SEWARD'S DIARY\r\n\r\n28 September.\u2014It is wonderful what a good night's sleep will do\r\nfor one. Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing's\r\nmonstrous ideas, but now they seem to start out lurid before me as\r\noutrages on common sense. I have no doubt that he believes it all.\r\nI wonder if his mind can have become in any way unhinged. Surely\r\nthere must be some rational explanation of all these mysterious\r\nthings. Is it possible that the Professor can have done it himself?\r\nHe is so abnormally clever that if he went off his head he would\r\ncarry out his intent with regard to some fixed idea in a wonderful\r\nway. I am loathe to think it, and indeed it would be almost as\r\ngreat a marvel as the other to find that Van Helsing was mad, but\r\nanyhow I shall watch him carefully. I may get some light on the\r\nmystery.\r\n\r\n29 September.\u2014Last night, at a little before ten o'clock, Arthur\r\nand Quincey came into Van Helsing's room. He told us all what he\r\nwanted us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if\r\nall our wills were centered in his. He began by saying that he\r\nhoped we would all come with him too, \"for,\" he said, \"there is a\r\ngrave duty to be done there. You were doubtless surprised at my\r\nletter?\" This query was directly addressed to Lord Godalming. \"I\r\nwas. It rather upset me for a bit. There has been so much trouble\r\naround my house of late that I could do without any more. I have\r\nbeen curious, too, as to what you mean.\r\n\r\n\"Quincey and I talked it over, but the more we talked, the more\r\npuzzled we got, till now I can say for myself that I'm about up a\r\ntree as to any meaning about anything.\"\r\n\r\n\"Me too,\" said Quincey Morris laconically.\r\n\r\n\"Oh,\" said the Professor, \"then you are nearer the beginning,\r\nboth of you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back\r\nbefore he can even get so far as to begin.\"\r\n\r\nIt was evident that he recognized my return to my old doubting\r\nframe of mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other\r\ntwo, he said with intense gravity,\r\n\r\n\"I want your permission to do what I think good this night. It\r\nis, I know, much to ask, and when you know what it is I propose to\r\ndo you will know, and only then how much. Therefore may I ask that\r\nyou promise me in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be\r\nangry with me for a time, I must not disguise from myself the\r\npossibility that such may be, you shall not blame yourselves for\r\nanything.\"\r\n\r\n\"That's frank anyhow,\" broke in Quincey. \"I'll answer for the\r\nProfessor. I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest,\r\nand that's good enough for me.\"\r\n\r\n\"I thank you, Sir,\" said Van Helsing proudly. \"I have done\r\nmyself the honor of counting you one trusting friend, and such\r\nendorsement is dear to me.\" He held out a hand, which Quincey\r\ntook.\r\n\r\nThen Arthur spoke out, \"Dr. Van Helsing, I don't quite like to\r\n`buy a pig in a poke', as they say in Scotland, and if it be\r\nanything in which my honour as a gentleman or my faith as a\r\nChristian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. If you can\r\nassure me that what you intend does not violate either of these\r\ntwo, then I give my consent at once, though for the life of me, I\r\ncannot understand what you are driving at.\"\r\n\r\n\"I accept your limitation,\" said Van Helsing, \"and all I ask of\r\nyou is that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine,\r\nyou will first consider it well and be satisfied that it does not\r\nviolate your reservations.\"\r\n\r\n\"Agreed!\" said Arthur. \"That is only fair. And now that the\r\npourparlers are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?\"\r\n\r\n\"I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the\r\nchurchyard at Kingstead.\"\r\n\r\nArthur's face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way,\r\n\r\n\"Where poor Lucy is buried?\"\r\n\r\nThe Professor bowed.\r\n\r\nArthur went on, \"And when there?\"\r\n\r\n\"To enter the tomb!\"\r\n\r\nArthur stood up. \"Professor, are you in earnest, or is it some\r\nmonstrous joke? Pardon me, I see that you are in earnest.\" He sat\r\ndown again, but I could see that he sat firmly and proudly, as one\r\nwho is on his dignity. There was silence until he asked again, \"And\r\nwhen in the tomb?\"\r\n\r\n\"To open the coffin.\"\r\n\r\n\"This is too much!\" he said, angrily rising again. \"I am willing\r\nto be patient in all things that are reasonable, but in this, this\r\ndesecration of the grave, of one who\u00a0\u2026 \" He fairly choked with\r\nindignation.\r\n\r\nThe Professor looked pityingly at him.\"If I could spare you one\r\npang, my poor friend,\" he said, \"God knows I would. But this night\r\nour feet must tread in thorny paths, or later, and for ever, the\r\nfeet you love must walk in paths of flame!\"\r\n\r\nArthur looked up with set white face and said, \"Take care, sir,\r\ntake care!\"\r\n\r\n\"Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?\" said Van\r\nHelsing. \"And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose.\r\nShall I go on?\"\r\n\r\n\"That's fair enough,\" broke in Morris.\r\n\r\nAfter a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort,\r\n\"Miss Lucy is dead, is it not so? Yes! Then there can be no wrong\r\nto her. But if she be not dead\u2026 \"\r\n\r\nArthur jumped to his feet, \"Good God!\" he cried. \"What do you\r\nmean? Has there been any mistake, has she been buried alive?\"He\r\ngroaned in anguish that not even hope could soften.\r\n\r\n\"I did not say she was alive, my child. I did not think it. I go\r\nno further than to say that she might be Un-Dead.\"\r\n\r\n\"Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare,\r\nor what is it?\"\r\n\r\n\"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by\r\nage they may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the\r\nverge of one. But I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead\r\nMiss Lucy?\"\r\n\r\n\"Heavens and earth, no!\" cried Arthur in a storm of passion.\r\n\"Not for the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her\r\ndead body. Dr. Van Helsing, you try me too far. What have I done to\r\nyou that you should torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girl\r\ndo that you should want to cast such dishonor on her grave? Are you\r\nmad, that you speak of such things, or am I mad to listen to them?\r\nDon't dare think more of such a desecration. I shall not give my\r\nconsent to anything you do. I have a duty to do in protecting her\r\ngrave from outrage, and by God, I shall do it!\"\r\n\r\nVan Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated,\r\nand said, gravely and sternly, \"My Lord Godalming, I too, have a\r\nduty to do, a duty to others, a duty to you, a duty to the dead,\r\nand by God, I shall do it! All I ask you now is that you come with\r\nme, that you look and listen, and if when later I make the same\r\nrequest you do not be more eager for its fulfillment even than I\r\nam, then, I shall do my duty, whatever it may seem to me. And then,\r\nto follow your Lordship's wishes I shall hold myself at your\r\ndisposal to render an account to you, when and where you will.\" His\r\nvoice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of pity.\r\n\r\n\"But I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me. In a long\r\nlife of acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which\r\nsometimes did wring my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as\r\nnow. Believe me that if the time comes for you to change your mind\r\ntowards me, one look from you will wipe away all this so sad hour,\r\nfor I would do what a man can to save you from sorrow. Just think.\r\nFor why should I give myself so much labor and so much of sorrow? I\r\nhave come here from my own land to do what I can of good, at the\r\nfirst to please my friend John, and then to help a sweet young\r\nlady, whom too, I come to love. For her, I am ashamed to say so\r\nmuch, but I say it in kindness, I gave what you gave, the blood of\r\nmy veins. I gave it, I who was not, like you, her lover, but only\r\nher physician and her friend. I gave her my nights and days, before\r\ndeath, after death, and if my death can do her good even now, when\r\nshe is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely.\" He said this\r\nwith a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected by\r\nit.\r\n\r\nHe took the old man's hand and said in a broken voice, \"Oh, it\r\nis hard to think of it, and I cannot understand, but at least I\r\nshall go with you and wait.\"\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
\n

For a while sheer anger mastered me. It was as if he had during
\nher life struck Lucy on the face. I smote the table hard and rose
\nup as I said to him, “Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?”<\/p>\n

He raised his head and looked at me, and somehow the tenderness
\nof his face calmed me at once. “Would I were!” he said. “Madness
\nwere easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my friend,
\nwhey, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell so
\nsimple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all my
\nlife? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I
\nwanted, no so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life,
\nand from a fearful death? Ah no!”<\/p>\n

“Forgive me,” said I.<\/p>\n

He went on, “My friend, it was because I wished to be gentle in
\nthe breaking to you, for I know you have loved that so sweet lady.
\nBut even yet I do not expect you to believe. It is so hard to
\naccept at once any abstract truth, that we may doubt such to be
\npossible when we have always believed the `no’ of it. It is more
\nhard still to accept so sad a concrete truth, and of such a one as
\nMiss Lucy. Tonight I go to prove it. Dare you come with me?”<\/p>\n

This staggered me. A man does not like to prove such a truth,
\nByron excepted from the catagory, jealousy.<\/p>\n

“And prove the very truth he most abhorred.”<\/p>\n

He saw my hesitation, and spoke, “The logic is simple, no
\nmadman’s logic this time, jumping from tussock to tussock in a
\nmisty bog. If it not be true, then proof will be relief. At worst
\nit will not harm. If it be true! Ah, there is the dread. Yet every
\ndread should help my cause, for in it is some need of belief. Come,
\nI tell you what I propose. First, that we go off now and see that
\nchild in the hospital. Dr. Vincent, of the North Hospital, where
\nthe papers say the child is, is a friend of mine, and I think of
\nyours since you were in class at Amsterdam. He will let two
\nscientists see his case, if he will not let two friends. We shall
\ntell him nothing, but only that we wish to learn. And then\u00a0\u2026
\n”<\/p>\n

“And then?”<\/p>\n

He took a key from his pocket and held it up. “And then we spend
\nthe night, you and I, in the churchyard where Lucy lies. This is
\nthe key that lock the tomb. I had it from the coffin man to give to
\nArthur.”<\/p>\n

My heart sank within me, for I felt that there was some fearful
\nordeal before us. I could do nothing, however, so I plucked up what
\nheart I could and said that we had better hasten, as the afternoon
\nwas passing.<\/p>\n

We found the child awake. It had had a sleep and taken some
\nfood, and altogether was going on well. Dr, Vincent took the
\nbandage from its throat, and showed us the punctures. There was no
\nmistaking the similarity to those which had been on Lucy’s throat.
\nThey were smaller, and the edges looked fresher, that was all. We
\nasked Vincent to what he attributed them, and he replied that it
\nmust have been a bite of some animal, perhaps a rat, but for his
\nown part, he was inclined to think it was one of the bats which are
\nso numerous on the northern heights of London. “Out of so many
\nharmless ones,” he said, “there may be some wild specimen from the
\nSouth of a more malignant species. Some sailor may have brought one
\nhome, and it managed to escape, or even from the Zoological Gardens
\na young one may have got loose, or one be bred there from a
\nvampire. These things do occur, you, know. Only ten days ago a wolf
\ngot out, and was, I believe, traced up in this direction. For a
\nweek after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood
\non the Heath and in every alley in the place until this `bloofer
\nlady’ scare came along, since then it has been quite a gala time
\nwith them. Even this poor little mite, when he woke up today, asked
\nthe nurse if he might go away. When she asked him why he wanted to
\ngo, he said he wanted to play with the `bloofer lady’.”<\/p>\n

“I hope,” said Van Helsing, “that when you are sending the child
\nhome you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over it.
\nThese fancies to stray are most dangerous, and if the child were to
\nremain out another night, it would probably be fatal. But in any
\ncase I suppose you will not let it away for some days?”<\/p>\n

“Certainly not, not for a week at least, longer if the wound is
\nnot healed.”<\/p>\n

Our visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned
\non, and the sun had dipped before we came out. When Van Helsing saw
\nhow dark it was, he said,<\/p>\n

“There is not hurry. It is more late than I thought. Come, let
\nus seek somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our
\nway.”<\/p>\n

We dined at `Jack Straw’s Castle’ along with a little crowd of
\nbicyclists and others who were genially noisy. About ten o’clock we
\nstarted from the inn. It was then very dark, and the scattered
\nlamps made the darkness greater when we were once outside their
\nindividual radius. The Professor had evidently noted the road we
\nwere to go, for he went on unhesitatingly, but, as for me, I was in
\nquite a mixup as to locality. As we went further, we met fewer and
\nfewer people, till at last we were somewhat surprised when we met
\neven the patrol of horse police going their usual suburban round.
\nAt last we reached the wall of the churchyard, which we climbed
\nover. With some little difficulty, for it was very dark, and the
\nwhole place seemed so strange to us, we found the Westenra tomb.
\nThe Professor took the key, opened the creaky door, and standing
\nback, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to precede
\nhim. There was a delicious irony in the offer, in the courtliness
\nof giving preference on such a ghastly occasion. My companion
\nfollowed me quickly, and cautiously drew the door to, after
\ncarefully ascertaining that the lock was a falling, and not a
\nspring one. In the latter case we should have been in a bad plight.
\nThen he fumbled in his bag, and taking out a matchbox and a piece
\nof candle, proceeded to make a light. The tomb in the daytime, and
\nwhen wreathed with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome
\nenough, but now, some days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank
\nand dead, their whites turning to rust and their greens to browns,
\nwhen the spider and the beetle had resumed their accustomed
\ndominance, when the time-discolored stone, and dust-encrusted
\nmortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished brass, and clouded
\nsilver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a candle, the effect
\nwas more miserable and sordid than could have been imagined. It
\nconveyed irresistibly the idea that life, animal life, was not the
\nonly thing which could pass away.<\/p>\n

Van Helsing went about his work systematically. Holding his
\ncandle so that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it
\nthat the sperm dropped in white patches which congealed as they
\ntouched the metal, he made assurance of Lucy’s coffin. Another
\nsearch in his bag, and he took out a turnscrew.<\/p>\n

“What are you going to do?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“To open the coffin. You shall yet be convinced.”<\/p>\n

Straightway he began taking out the screws, and finally lifted
\noff the lid, showing the casing of lead beneath. The sight was
\nalmost too much for me. It seemed to be as much an affront to the
\ndead as it would have been to have stripped off her clothing in her
\nsleep whilst living. I actually took hold of his hand to stop
\nhim.<\/p>\n

He only said, “You shall see,”and again fumbling in his bag took
\nout a tiny fret saw. Striking the turnscrew through the lead with a
\nswift downward stab, which made me wince, he made a small hole,
\nwhich was, however, big enough to admit the point of the saw. I had
\nexpected a rush of gas from the week-old corpse. We doctors, who
\nhave had to study our dangers, have to become accustomed to such
\nthings, and I drew back towards the door. But the Professor never
\nstopped for a moment. He sawed down a couple of feet along one side
\nof the lead coffin, and then across, and down the other side.
\nTaking the edge of the loose flange, he bent it back towards the
\nfoot of the coffin, and holding up the candle into the aperture,
\nmotioned to me to look.<\/p>\n

I drew near and looked. The coffin was empty. It was certainly a
\nsurprise to me, and gave me a considerable shock, but Van Helsing
\nwas unmoved. He was now more sure than ever of his ground, and so
\nemboldened to proceed in his task.”Are you satisfied now, friend
\nJohn?” he asked.<\/p>\n

I felt all the dogged argumentativeness of my nature awake
\nwithin me as I answered him, “I am satisfied that Lucy’s body is
\nnot in that coffin, but that only proves one thing.”<\/p>\n

“And what is that, friend John?”<\/p>\n

“That it is not there.”<\/p>\n

“That is good logic,” he said, “so far as it goes. But how do
\nyou, how can you, account for it not being there?”<\/p>\n

“Perhaps a body-snatcher,” I suggested. “Some of the
\nundertaker’s people may have stolen it.” I felt that I was speaking
\nfolly, and yet it was the only real cause which I could
\nsuggest.<\/p>\n

The Professor sighed. “Ah well!” he said,” we must have more
\nproof. Come with me.”<\/p>\n

He put on the coffin lid again, gathered up all his things and
\nplaced them in the bag, blew out the light, and placed the candle
\nalso in the bag. We opened the door, and went out. Behind us he
\nclosed the door and locked it. He handed me the key, saying, “Will
\nyou keep it? You had better be assured.”<\/p>\n

I laughed, it was not a very cheerful laugh, I am bound to say,
\nas I motioned him to keep it. “A key is nothing,” I said, “thee are
\nmany duplicates, and anyhow it is not difficult to pick a lock of
\nthis kind.”<\/p>\n

He said nothing, but put the key in his pocket. Then he told me
\nto watch at one side of the churchyard whilst he would watch at the
\nother.<\/p>\n

I took up my place behind a yew tree, and I saw his dark figure
\nmove until the intervening headstones and trees hid it from my
\nsight. It was a lonely vigil. Just after I had taken my place I
\nheard a distant clock strike twelve, and in time came one and two.
\nI was chilled and unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking
\nme on such an errand and with myself for coming. I was too cold and
\ntoo sleepy to be keenly observant, and not sleepy enough to betray
\nmy trust, so altogether I had a dreary, miserable time.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, as I turned round, I thought I saw something like a
\nwhite streak, moving between two dark yew trees at the side of the
\nchurchyard farthest from the tomb. At the same time a dark mass
\nmoved from the Professor’s side of the ground, and hurriedly went
\ntowards it. Then I too moved, but I had to go round headstones and
\nrailed-off tombs, and I stumbled over graves. The sky was overcast,
\nand somewhere far off an early cock crew. A little ways off, beyond
\na line of scattered juniper trees, which marked the pathway to the
\nchurch, a white dim figure flitted in the direction of the tomb.
\nThe tomb itself was hidden by trees, and I could not see where the
\nfigure had disappeared. I heard the rustle of actual movement where
\nI had first seen the white figure, and coming over, found the
\nProfessor holding in his arms a tiny child. When he saw me he held
\nit out to me, and said, “Are you satisfied now?”<\/p>\n

“No,” I said, in a way that I felt was aggressive.<\/p>\n

“Do you not see the child?”<\/p>\n

“Yes, it is a child, but who brought it here? And is it
\nwounded?”<\/p>\n

“We shall see,”said the Professor, and with one impulse we took
\nour way out of the churchyard, he carrying the sleeping child.<\/p>\n

When we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump
\nof trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child’s throat. It
\nwas without a scratch or scar of any kind.<\/p>\n

“Was I right?” I asked triumphantly.<\/p>\n

“We were just in time,” said the Professor thankfully.<\/p>\n

We had now to decide what we were to do with the child, and so
\nconsulted about it. If we were to take it to a police station we
\nshould have to give some account of our movements during the night.
\nAt least, we should have had to make some statement as to how we
\nhad come to find the child. So finally we decided that we would
\ntake it to the Heath, and when we heard a policeman coming, would
\nleave it where he could not fail to find it. We would then seek our
\nway home as quickly as we could. All fell out well. At the edge of
\nHampstead Heath we heard a policeman’s heavy tramp, and laying the
\nchild on the pathway, we waited and watched until he saw it as he
\nflashed his lantern to and fro. We heard his exclamation of
\nastonishment, and then we went away silently. By good chance we got
\na cab near the `Spainiards,’ and drove to town.<\/p>\n

I cannot sleep, so I make this entry. But I must try to get a
\nfew hours’ sleep, as Van Helsing is to call for me at noon. He
\ninsists that I go with him on another expedition.<\/p>\n

27 September.\u2014It was two o’clock before we found a suitable
\nopportunity for our attempt. The funeral held at noon was all
\ncompleted, and the last stragglers of the mourners had taken
\nthemselves lazily away, when, looking carefully from behind a clump
\nof alder trees, we saw the sexton lock the gate after him. We knew
\nthat we were safe till morning did we desire it, but the Professor
\ntold me that we should not want more than an hour at most. Again I
\nfelt that horrid sense of the reality of things, in which any
\neffort of imagination seemed out of place, and I realized
\ndistinctly the perils of the law which we were incurring in our
\nunhallowed work. Besides, I felt it was all so useless. Outrageous
\nas it was to open a leaden coffin, to see if a woman dead nearly a
\nweek were really dead, it now seemed the height of folly to open
\nthe tomb again, when we knew, from the evidence of our own
\neyesight, that the coffin was empty. I shrugged my shoulders,
\nhowever, and rested silent, for Van Helsing had a way of going on
\nhis own road, no matter who remonstrated. He took the key, opened
\nthe vault, and again courteously motioned me to precede. The place
\nwas not so gruesome as last night, but oh, how unutterably mean
\nlooking when the sunshine streamed in. Van Helsing walked over to
\nLucy’s coffin, and I followed. He bent over and again forced back
\nthe leaden flange, and a shock of surprise and dismay shot through
\nme.<\/p>\n

There lay Lucy, seemingly just as we had seen her the night
\nbefore her funeral. She was, if possible, more radiantly beautiful
\nthan ever, and I could not believe that she was dead. The lips were
\nred, nay redder than before, and on the cheeks was a delicate
\nbloom.<\/p>\n

“Is this a juggle?” I said to him.<\/p>\n

“Are you convinced now?” said the Professor, in response, and as
\nhe spoke he put over his hand, and in a way that made me shudder,
\npulled back the dead lips and showed the white teeth. “See,” he
\nwent on,”they are even sharper than before. With this and this,”
\nand he touched one of the canine teeth and that below it, “the
\nlittle children can be bitten. Are you of belief now, friend
\nJohn?”<\/p>\n

Once more argumentative hostility woke within me. I could not
\naccept such an overwhelming idea as he suggested. So, with an
\nattempt to argue of which I was even at the moment ashamed, I said,
\n“She may have been placed here since last night.”<\/p>\n

“Indeed? That is so, and by whom?”<\/p>\n

“I do not know. Someone has done it.”<\/p>\n

“And yet she has been dead one week. Most peoples in that time
\nwould not look so.”<\/p>\n

I had no answer for this, so was silent. Van Helsing did not
\nseem to notice my silence. At any rate, he showed neither chagrin
\nnor triumph. He was looking intently at the face of the dead woman,
\nraising the eyelids and looking at the eyes, and once more opening
\nthe lips and examining the teeth. Then he turned to me and
\nsaid,<\/p>\n

“Here, there is one thing which is different from all recorded.
\nHere is some dual life that is not as the common. She was bitten by
\nthe vampire when she was in a trance, sleep-walking, oh, you start.
\nYou do not know that, friend John, but you shall know it later, and
\nin trance could he best come to take more blood. In trance she
\ndies, and in trance she is Un-Dead, too. So it is that she differ
\nfrom all other. Usually when the Un-Dead sleep at home,” as he
\nspoke he made a comprehensive sweep of his arm to designate what to
\na vampire was `home’, “their face show what they are, but this so
\nsweet that was when she not Un-Dead she go back to the nothings of
\nthe common dead. There is no malign there, see, and so it make hard
\nthat I must kill her in her sleep.”<\/p>\n

This turned my blood cold, and it began to dawn upon me that I
\nwas accepting Van Helsing’s theories. But if she were really dead,
\nwhat was there of terror in the idea of killing her?<\/p>\n

He looked up at me, and evidently saw the change in my face, for
\nhe said almost joyously, “Ah, you believe now?”<\/p>\n

I answered, “Do not press me too hard all at once. I am willing
\nto accept. How will you do this bloody work?”<\/p>\n

“I shall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I
\nshall drive a stake through her body.”<\/p>\n

It made me shudder to think of so mutilating the body of the
\nwoman whom I had loved. And yet the feeling was not so strong as I
\nhad expected. I was, in fact, beginning to shudder at the presence
\nof this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing called it, and to
\nloathe it. Is it possible that love is all subjective, or all
\nobjective?<\/p>\n

I waited a considerable time for Van Helsing to begin, but he
\nstood as if wrapped in thought. Presently he closed the catch of
\nhis bag with a snap, and said,<\/p>\n

“I have been thinking, and have made up my mind as to what is
\nbest. If I did simply follow my inclining I would do now, at this
\nmoment, what is to be done. But there are other things to follow,
\nand things that are thousand times more difficult in that them we
\ndo not know. This is simple. She have yet no life taken, though
\nthat is of time, and to act now would be to take danger from her
\nforever. But then we may have to want Arthur, and how shall we tell
\nhim of this? If you, who saw the wounds on Lucy’s throat, and saw
\nthe wounds so similar on the child’s at the hospital, if you, who
\nsaw the coffin empty last night and full today with a woman who
\nhave not change only to be more rose and more beautiful in a whole
\nweek, after she die, if you know of this and know of the white
\nfigure last night that brought the child to the churchyard, and yet
\nof your own senses you did not believe, how then, can I expect
\nArthur, who know none of those things, to believe?<\/p>\n

“He doubted me when I took him from her kiss when she was dying.
\nI know he has forgiven me because in some mistaken idea I have done
\nthings that prevent him say goodbye as he ought, and he may think
\nthat in some more mistaken idea this woman was buried alive, and
\nthat in most mistake of all we have killed her. He will then argue
\nback that it is we, mistaken ones, that have killed her by our
\nideas, and so he will be much unhappy always. Yet he never can be
\nsure, and that is the worst of all. And he will sometimes think
\nthat she he loved was buried alive, and that will paint his dreams
\nwith horrors of what she must have suffered, and again, he will
\nthink that we may be right, and that his so beloved was, after all,
\nan Un-Dead. No! I told him once, and since then I learn much. Now,
\nsince I know it is all true, a hundred thousand times more do I
\nknow that he must pass through the bitter waters to reach the
\nsweet. He, poor fellow, must have one hour that will make the very
\nface of heaven grow black to him, then we can act for good all
\nround and send him peace. My mind is made up. Let us go. You return
\nhome for tonight to your asylum, and see that all be well. As for
\nme, I shall spend the night here in this churchyard in my own way.
\nTomorrow night you will come to me to the Berkeley Hotel at ten of
\nthe clock. I shall send for Arthur to come too, and also that so
\nfine young man of America that gave his blood. Later we shall all
\nhave work to do. I come with you so far as Piccadilly and there
\ndine, for I must be back here before the sun set.”<\/p>\n

So we locked the tomb and came away, and got over the wall of
\nthe churchyard, which was not much of a task, and drove back to
\nPiccadilly.<\/p>\n

NOTE LEFT BY VAN HELSING IN HIS PORTMANTEAU, BERKELEY HOTEL
\nDIRECTED TO JOHN SEWARD, M. D. (Not Delivered)<\/p>\n

27 September<\/p>\n

“Friend John,<\/p>\n

“I write this in case anything should happen. I go alone to
\nwatch in that churchyard. It pleases me that the Un-Dead, Miss
\nLucy, shall not leave tonight, that so on the morrow night she may
\nbe more eager. Therefore I shall fix some things she like not,
\ngarlic and a crucifix, and so seal up the door of the tomb. She is
\nyoung as Un-Dead, and will heed. Moreover, these are only to
\nprevent her coming out. They may not prevail on her wanting to get
\nin, for then the Un-Dead is desperate, and must find the line of
\nleast resistance, whatsoever it may be. I shall be at hand all the
\nnight from sunset till after sunrise, and if there be aught that
\nmay be learned I shall learn it. For Miss Lucy or from her, I have
\nno fear, but that other to whom is there that she is Un-Dead, he
\nhave not the power to seek her tomb and find shelter. He is
\ncunning, as I know from Mr. Jonathan and from the way that all
\nalong he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy’s
\nlife, and we lost, and in many ways the Un-Dead are strong. He have
\nalways the strength in his hand of twenty men, even we four who
\ngave our strength to Miss Lucy it also is all to him. Besides, he
\ncan summon his wolf and I know not what. So if it be that he came
\nthither on this night he shall find me. But none other shall, until
\nit be too late. But it may be that he will not attempt the place.
\nThere is no reason why he should. His hunting ground is more full
\nof game than the churchyard where the Un-Dead woman sleeps, and the
\none old man watch.<\/p>\n

“Therefore I write this in case\u00a0\u2026 Take the papers that are
\nwith this, the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and
\nthen find this great Un-Dead, and cut off his head and burn his
\nheart or drive a stake through it, so that the world may rest from
\nhim.<\/p>\n

“If it be so, farewell.<\/p>\n

“VAN HELSING.”<\/p>\n

DR. SEWARD’S DIARY<\/p>\n

28 September.\u2014It is wonderful what a good night’s sleep will do
\nfor one. Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing’s
\nmonstrous ideas, but now they seem to start out lurid before me as
\noutrages on common sense. I have no doubt that he believes it all.
\nI wonder if his mind can have become in any way unhinged. Surely
\nthere must be some rational explanation of all these mysterious
\nthings. Is it possible that the Professor can have done it himself?
\nHe is so abnormally clever that if he went off his head he would
\ncarry out his intent with regard to some fixed idea in a wonderful
\nway. I am loathe to think it, and indeed it would be almost as
\ngreat a marvel as the other to find that Van Helsing was mad, but
\nanyhow I shall watch him carefully. I may get some light on the
\nmystery.<\/p>\n

29 September.\u2014Last night, at a little before ten o’clock, Arthur
\nand Quincey came into Van Helsing’s room. He told us all what he
\nwanted us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if
\nall our wills were centered in his. He began by saying that he
\nhoped we would all come with him too, “for,” he said, “there is a
\ngrave duty to be done there. You were doubtless surprised at my
\nletter?” This query was directly addressed to Lord Godalming. “I
\nwas. It rather upset me for a bit. There has been so much trouble
\naround my house of late that I could do without any more. I have
\nbeen curious, too, as to what you mean.<\/p>\n

“Quincey and I talked it over, but the more we talked, the more
\npuzzled we got, till now I can say for myself that I’m about up a
\ntree as to any meaning about anything.”<\/p>\n

“Me too,” said Quincey Morris laconically.<\/p>\n

“Oh,” said the Professor, “then you are nearer the beginning,
\nboth of you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back
\nbefore he can even get so far as to begin.”<\/p>\n

It was evident that he recognized my return to my old doubting
\nframe of mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other
\ntwo, he said with intense gravity,<\/p>\n

“I want your permission to do what I think good this night. It
\nis, I know, much to ask, and when you know what it is I propose to
\ndo you will know, and only then how much. Therefore may I ask that
\nyou promise me in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be
\nangry with me for a time, I must not disguise from myself the
\npossibility that such may be, you shall not blame yourselves for
\nanything.”<\/p>\n

“That’s frank anyhow,” broke in Quincey. “I’ll answer for the
\nProfessor. I don’t quite see his drift, but I swear he’s honest,
\nand that’s good enough for me.”<\/p>\n

“I thank you, Sir,” said Van Helsing proudly. “I have done
\nmyself the honor of counting you one trusting friend, and such
\nendorsement is dear to me.” He held out a hand, which Quincey
\ntook.<\/p>\n

Then Arthur spoke out, “Dr. Van Helsing, I don’t quite like to
\n`buy a pig in a poke’, as they say in Scotland, and if it be
\nanything in which my honour as a gentleman or my faith as a
\nChristian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. If you can
\nassure me that what you intend does not violate either of these
\ntwo, then I give my consent at once, though for the life of me, I
\ncannot understand what you are driving at.”<\/p>\n

“I accept your limitation,” said Van Helsing, “and all I ask of
\nyou is that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine,
\nyou will first consider it well and be satisfied that it does not
\nviolate your reservations.”<\/p>\n

“Agreed!” said Arthur. “That is only fair. And now that the
\npourparlers are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?”<\/p>\n

“I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the
\nchurchyard at Kingstead.”<\/p>\n

Arthur’s face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way,<\/p>\n

“Where poor Lucy is buried?”<\/p>\n

The Professor bowed.<\/p>\n

Arthur went on, “And when there?”<\/p>\n

“To enter the tomb!”<\/p>\n

Arthur stood up. “Professor, are you in earnest, or is it some
\nmonstrous joke? Pardon me, I see that you are in earnest.” He sat
\ndown again, but I could see that he sat firmly and proudly, as one
\nwho is on his dignity. There was silence until he asked again, “And
\nwhen in the tomb?”<\/p>\n

“To open the coffin.”<\/p>\n

“This is too much!” he said, angrily rising again. “I am willing
\nto be patient in all things that are reasonable, but in this, this
\ndesecration of the grave, of one who\u00a0\u2026 ” He fairly choked with
\nindignation.<\/p>\n

The Professor looked pityingly at him.”If I could spare you one
\npang, my poor friend,” he said, “God knows I would. But this night
\nour feet must tread in thorny paths, or later, and for ever, the
\nfeet you love must walk in paths of flame!”<\/p>\n

Arthur looked up with set white face and said, “Take care, sir,
\ntake care!”<\/p>\n

“Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?” said Van
\nHelsing. “And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose.
\nShall I go on?”<\/p>\n

“That’s fair enough,” broke in Morris.<\/p>\n

After a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort,
\n“Miss Lucy is dead, is it not so? Yes! Then there can be no wrong
\nto her. But if she be not dead\u2026 ”<\/p>\n

Arthur jumped to his feet, “Good God!” he cried. “What do you
\nmean? Has there been any mistake, has she been buried alive?”He
\ngroaned in anguish that not even hope could soften.<\/p>\n

“I did not say she was alive, my child. I did not think it. I go
\nno further than to say that she might be Un-Dead.”<\/p>\n

“Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare,
\nor what is it?”<\/p>\n

“There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by
\nage they may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the
\nverge of one. But I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead
\nMiss Lucy?”<\/p>\n

“Heavens and earth, no!” cried Arthur in a storm of passion.
\n“Not for the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her
\ndead body. Dr. Van Helsing, you try me too far. What have I done to
\nyou that you should torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girl
\ndo that you should want to cast such dishonor on her grave? Are you
\nmad, that you speak of such things, or am I mad to listen to them?
\nDon’t dare think more of such a desecration. I shall not give my
\nconsent to anything you do. I have a duty to do in protecting her
\ngrave from outrage, and by God, I shall do it!”<\/p>\n

Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated,
\nand said, gravely and sternly, “My Lord Godalming, I too, have a
\nduty to do, a duty to others, a duty to you, a duty to the dead,
\nand by God, I shall do it! All I ask you now is that you come with
\nme, that you look and listen, and if when later I make the same
\nrequest you do not be more eager for its fulfillment even than I
\nam, then, I shall do my duty, whatever it may seem to me. And then,
\nto follow your Lordship’s wishes I shall hold myself at your
\ndisposal to render an account to you, when and where you will.” His
\nvoice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of pity.<\/p>\n

“But I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me. In a long
\nlife of acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which
\nsometimes did wring my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as
\nnow. Believe me that if the time comes for you to change your mind
\ntowards me, one look from you will wipe away all this so sad hour,
\nfor I would do what a man can to save you from sorrow. Just think.
\nFor why should I give myself so much labor and so much of sorrow? I
\nhave come here from my own land to do what I can of good, at the
\nfirst to please my friend John, and then to help a sweet young
\nlady, whom too, I come to love. For her, I am ashamed to say so
\nmuch, but I say it in kindness, I gave what you gave, the blood of
\nmy veins. I gave it, I who was not, like you, her lover, but only
\nher physician and her friend. I gave her my nights and days, before
\ndeath, after death, and if my death can do her good even now, when
\nshe is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely.” He said this
\nwith a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected by
\nit.<\/p>\n

He took the old man’s hand and said in a broken voice, “Oh, it
\nis hard to think of it, and I cannot understand, but at least I
\nshall go with you and wait.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":15,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-39","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/39","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\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/39\/revisions\/75"}],"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\/39\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/dracula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}