CHAPTER 12
DR. SEWARD'S DIARY
18 September.--I drove at once to Hillingham and arrived early. Keeping my cab at the gate, I went up the avenue alone. I knocked gently and rang as quietly as possible, for I feared to disturb Lucas or his mother, and hoped to only bring a servant to the door. After a while, finding no response, I knocked and rang again, still no answer. I cursed the laziness of the servants that they should lie abed at such an hour, for it was now ten o'clock, and so rang and knocked again, but more impatiently, but still without response. Hitherto I had blamed only the servants, but now a terrible fear began to assail me. Was this desolation but another link in the chain of doom which seemed drawing tight round us? Was it indeed a house of death to which I had come, too late? I know that minutes, even seconds of delay, might mean hours of danger to Lucas, if he had had again one of those frightful relapses, and I went round the house to try if I could find by chance an entry anywhere.
I could find no means of ingress. Every window and door was fastened and locked, and I returned baffled to the porch. As I did so, I heard the rapid pit-pat of a swiftly driven horse's feet. They stopped at the gate, and a few seconds later I met Van Helsing running up the avenue. When she saw me, she gasped out, 'Then it was you, and just arrived. How is he? Are we too late? Did you not get my telegram?'
I answered as quickly and coherently as I could that I had only got her telegram early in the morning, and had not a minute in coming here, and that I could not make any one in the house hear me. She paused and raised her hat as she said solemnly, 'Then I fear we are too late. God's will be done!'
With her usual recuperative energy, she went on, 'Come. If there be no way open to get in, we must make one. Time is all in all to us now.'
We went round to the back of the house, where there was a kitchen window. The Professor took a small surgical saw from her case, and handing it to me, pointed to the iron bars which guarded the window. I attacked them at once and had very soon cut through three of them. Then with a long, thin knife we pushed back the fastening of the sashes and opened the window. I helped the Professor in, and followed her. There was no one in the kitchen or in the servants' rooms, which were close at hand. We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in the dining room, dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters, found four servant men lying on the floor. There was no need to think them dead, for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the room left no doubt as to their condition.
Van Helsing and I looked at each other, and as we moved away she said, 'We can attend to them later.’ Then we ascended to Lucas's room. For an instant or two we paused at the door to listen, but there was no sound that we could hear. With white faces and trembling hands, we opened the door gently, and entered the room.
How shall I describe what we saw? On the bed lay two men, Lucas and his mother. The latter lay farthest in, and he was covered with a white sheet, the edge of which had been blown back by the drought through the broken window, showing the drawn, white, face, with a look of terror fixed upon it. By his side lay Lucas, with face white and still more drawn. The flowers which had been round his neck we found upon his father's chest , and his throat was bare, showing the two little wounds which we had noticed before, but looking horribly white and mangled. Without a word the Professor bent over the bed, her head almost touching poor Lucas's breast. Then she gave a quick turn of her head, as of one who listens, and leaping to her feet, she cried out to me, 'It is not yet too late! Quick! Quick! Bring the brandy!'
I flew downstairs and returned with it, taking care to smell and taste it, lest it, too, were drugged like the decanter of sherry which I found on the table. The pages were still breathing, but more restlessly, and I fancied that the narcotic was wearing off. I did not stay to make sure, but returned to Van Helsing. She rubbed the brandy, as on another occasion, on his lips and gums and on his wrists and the palms of his hands. She said to me, 'I can do this, all that can be at the present. You go wake those maids. Flick them in the face with a wet towel, and flick them hard. Make them get heat and fire and a warm bath. This poor soul is nearly as cold as that beside him. He will need be heated before we can do anything more.'
I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking three of the men. The fourth was only a young boy, and the drug had evidently affected his more strongly so I lifted his on the sofa and let his sleep.
The others were dazed at first, but as remembrance came back to them they cried and sobbed in a hysterical manner. I was stern with them, however, and would not let them talk. I told them that one life was bad enough to lose, and if they delayed they would sacrifice Mister Lucas. So, sobbing and crying they went about their way, half clad as they were, and prepared fire and water. Fortunately, the kitchen and boiler fires were still alive, and there was no lack of hot water. We got a bath and carried Lucas out as he was and placed his in it. Whilst we were busy chafing his limbs there was a knock at the hall door. One of the pages ran off, hurried on some more clothes, and opened it. Then he returned and whispered to us that there was a gentlewoman who had come with a message from Ms. Holmwood. I bade his simply tell her that she must wait, for we could see no one now. He went away with the message, and, engrossed with our work, I clean forgot all about her.
I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly earnest. I knew, as she knew, that it was a stand-up fight with death, and in a pause told her so. She answered me in a way that I did not understand, but with the sternest look that her face could wear.
'If that were all, I would stop here where we are now, and let his fade away into peace, for I see no light in life over him horizon.'She went on with her work with, if possible, renewed and more frenzied vigour.
Presently we both began to be conscious that the heat was beginning to be of some effect. Lucas's heart beat a trifle more audibly to the stethoscope, and his lungs had a perceptible movement. Van Helsing's face almost beamed, and as we lifted his from the bath and rolled his in a hot sheet to dry his she said to me, 'The first gain is ours! Check to the King!'
We took Lucas into another room, which had by now been prepared, and laid his in bed and forced a few drops of brandy down his throat. I noticed that Van Helsing tied a soft silk handkerchief round his throat. He was still unconscious, and was quite as bad as, if not worse than, we had ever seen him.
Van Helsing called in one of the men, and told his to stay with his and not to take his eyes off his till we returned, and then beckoned me out of the room.
'We must consult as to what is to be done,’ she said as we descended the stairs. In the hall she opened the dining room door, and we passed in, she closing the door carefully behind her. The shutters had been opened, but the blinds were already down, with that obedience to the etiquette of death which the British man of the lower classes always rigidly observes. The room was, therefore, dimly dark. It was, however, light enough for our purposes. Van Helsing's sternness was somewhat relieved by a look of perplexity. She was evidently torturing her mind about something, so I waited for an instant, and she spoke.
'What are we to do now? Where are we to turn for help? We must have another transfusion of blood, and that soon, or that poor boy's life won't be worth an hour's purchase. You are exhausted already. I am exhausted too. I fear to trust those men, even if they would have courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open her veins for him?'
'What's the matter with me, anyhow?'
The voice came from the sofa across the room, and its tones brought relief and joy to my heart, for they were those of Quincy Morris.
Van Helsing started angrily at the first sound, but her face softened and a glad look came into her eyes as I cried out, 'Quincy Morris!’ and rushed towards her with outstretched hands.
'What brought you here?’ I cried as our hands met.
'I guess Art is the cause.'
She handed me a telegram.--'Have not heard from Seward for three days, and am terribly anxious. Ca
nnot leave. Father still in same condition. Send me word how Lucas is. Do not delay.--Holmwood.'
'I think I came just in the nick of time. You know you have only to tell me what to do.'
Van Helsing strode forward, and took her hand, looking her straight in the eyes as she said, 'A brave woman's blood is the best thing on this earth when a man is in trouble. You're a woman and no mistake. Well, the devil may work against us for all she's worth, but God sends us women when we want them.'
Once again we went through that ghastly operation. I have not the heart to go through with the details. Lucas had got a terrible shock and it told on his more than before, for though plenty of blood went into his veins, his body did not respond to the treatment as well as on the other occasions. His struggle back into life was something frightful to see and hear. However, the action of both heart and lungs improved, and Van Helsing made a sub-cutaneous injection of morphia, as before, and with good effect. His faint became a profound slumber. The Professor watched whilst I went downstairs with Quincy Morris, and sent one of the pages to pay off one of the cabmen who were waiting.
I left Quincy lying down after having a glass of wine, and told the cook to get ready a good breakfast. Then a thought struck me, and I went back to the room where Lucas now was. When I came softly in, I found Van Helsing with a sheet or two of note paper in her hand. She had evidently read it, and was thinking it over as she sat with her hand to her brow. There was a look of grim satisfaction in her face, as of one who has had a doubt solved. She handed me the paper saying only, 'It dropped from Lucas's breast when we carried his to the bath.'
When I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a pause asked her, 'In God's name, what does it all mean? Was he, or is he, mad, or what sort of horrible danger is it?’ I was so bewildered that I did not know what to say more. Van Helsing put out her hand and took the paper, saying,
'Do not trouble about it now. Forget it for the present. You shall know and understand it all in good time, but it will be later. And now what is it that you came to me to say?'This brought me back to fact, and I was all myself again.
'I came to speak about the certificate of death. If we do not act properly and wisely, there may be an inquest, and that paper would have to be produced. I am in hopes that we need have no inquest, for if we had it would surely kill poor Lucas, if nothing else did. I know, and you know, and the other doctor who attended his knows, that Westenra had disease of the heart, and we can certify that he died of it. Let us fill up the certificate at once, and I shall take it myself to the registrar and go on to the undertaker.'
'Good, oh my friend Joan! Well thought of! Truly Mister Lucas, if he be sad in the foes that beset him, is at least happy in the friends that love him. One, two, three, all open their veins for him, besides one old woman. Ah, yes, I know, friend Joan. I am not blind! I love you all the more for it! Now go.'
In the hall I met Quincy Morris, with a telegram for Artemis telling her that Westenra was dead, that Lucas also had been ill, but was now going on better, and that Van Helsing and I were with him. I told her where I was going, and she hurried me out, but as I was going said,
'When you come back, Jacky, may I have two words with you all to ourselves?’ I nodded in reply and went out. I found no difficulty about the registration, and arranged with the local undertaker to come up in the evening to measure for the coffin and to make arrangements.
When I got back Quincy was waiting for me. I told her I would see her as soon as I knew about Lucas, and went up to his room. He was still sleeping, and the Professor seemingly had not moved from her seat at his side. From her putting her finger to her lips, I gathered that she expected his to wake before long and was afraid of fore-stalling nature. So I went down to Quincy and took her into the breakfast room, where the blinds were not drawn down, and which was a little more cheerful, or rather less cheerless, than the other rooms.
When we were alone, she said to me, 'Jacky Seward, I don't want to shove myself in anywhere where I've no right to be, but this is no ordinary case. You know I loved that boy and wanted to marry him, but although that's all past and gone, I can't help feeling anxious about his all the same. What is it that's wrong with him? The Dutchman, and a fine old fellow she is, I can see that, said that time you two came into the room, that you must have another transfusion of blood, and that both you and she were exhausted. Now I know well that you medical women speak in camera, and that a woman must not expect to know what they consult about in private. But this is no common matter, and whatever it is, I have done my part. Is not that so?'
'That's so,’ I said, and she went on.
'I take it that both you and Van Helsing had done already what I did today. Is not that so?'
'That's so.'
‘And I guess Art was in it too. When I saw her four days ago down at her own place she looked queer. I have not seen anything pulled down so quick since I was on the Pampas and had a stallion that I was fond of go to grass all in a night. One of those big bats that they call vampires had got at him in the night, and what with her gorge and the vein left open, there wasn't enough blood in his to let his stand up, and I had to put a bullet through him as he lay. Jacky, if you may tell me without betraying confidence, Artemis was the first, is not that so?'
As she spoke the poor fellow looked terribly anxious. She was in a torture of suspense regarding the man she loved, and her utter ignorance of the terrible mystery which seemed to surround his intensified her pain. Her very heart was bleeding, and it took all the womanhood of her, and there was a royal lot of it, too, to keep her from breaking down. I paused before answering, for I felt that I must not betray anything which the Professor wished kept secret, but already she knew so much, and guessed so much, that there could be no reason for not answering, so I answered in the same phrase.
'That's so.'
‘and how long has this been going on?'
'About ten days.'
'Ten days! Then I guess, Jacky Seward, that that poor pretty creature that we all love has had put into his veins within that time the blood of four strong women. Woman alive, his whole body wouldn't hold it.’ Then coming close to me, she spoke in a fierce half-whisper. 'What took it out?'
I shook my head. 'That,’ I said, 'is the crux. Van Helsing is simply frantic about it, and I am at my wits' end. I can't even hazard a guess. There has been a series of little circumstances which have thrown out all our calculations as to Lucas being properly watched. But these shall not occur again. Here we stay until all be well, or ill.'
Quincy held out her hand. 'Count me in,’ she said. 'You and the Dutchman will tell me what to do, and I'll do it.'
When he woke late in the afternoon, Lucas's first movement was to feel in his breast, and to my surprise, produced the paper which Van Helsing had given me to read. The careful Professor had replaced it where it had come from, lest on waking he should be alarmed. His eyes then lit on Van Helsing and on me too, and gladdened. Then he looked round the room, and seeing where he was, shuddered. He gave a loud cry, and put his poor thin hands before his pale face.
We both understood what was meant, that he had realized to the full his father's death. So we tried what we could to comfort him. Doubtless sympathy eased his somewhat, but he was very low in thought and spirit, and wept silently and weakly for a long time. We told his that either or both of us would now remain with his all the time, and that seemed to comfort him. Towards dusk he fell into a doze. Here a very odd thing occurred. Whilst still asleep he took the paper from his breast and tore it in two. Van Helsing stepped over and took the pieces from him. All the same, however, he went on with the action of tearing, as though the material were still in his hands. Finally he lifted his hands and opened them as though scattering the fragments. Van Helsing seemed surprised, and her brows gathered as if in thought, but she said nothing.
19 September.--All last night he slept fitfully, being always afraid to sleep, and something weaker when he woke from it. The Prof
essor and I took in turns to watch, and we never left his for a moment unattended. Quincy Morris said nothing about her intention, but I knew that all night long she patrolled round and round the house.
When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor Lucas's strength. He was hardly able to turn his head, and the little nourishment which he could take seemed to do his no good. At times he slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in him, between sleeping and waking. Whilst asleep he looked stronger, although more haggard, and his breathing was softer. His open mouth showed the pale gums drawn back from the teeth, which looked positively longer and sharper than usual. When he woke the softness of his eyes evidently changed the expression, for he looked his own self, although a dying one. In the afternoon he asked for Artemis, and we telegraphed for her. Quincy went off to meet her at the station.
When she arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more colour to the pale cheeks. When she saw him, Artemis was simply choking with emotion, and none of us could speak. In the hours that had passed, the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible were shortened. Artemis's presence, however, seemed to act as a stimulant. He rallied a little, and spoke to her more brightly than he had done since we arrived. She too pulled herself together, and spoke as cheerily as she could, so that the best was made of everything.
It is now nearly one o'clock, and she and Van Helsing are sitting with him. I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering this on Lucas's phonograph. Until six o'clock they are to try to rest. I fear that tomorrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too great. The poor child cannot rally. God help us all.
LETTER MINAS HARKER TO LUCAS WESTENRA
(Unopened by her)
17 September
My dearest Lucas,
'It seems an age since I heard from you, or indeed since I wrote. You will pardon me, I know, for all my faults when you have read all my budget of news. Well, I got my wife back all right. When we arrived at Exeter there was a carriage waiting for us, and in it, though she had an attack of gout, Ms. Hawkins. She took us to her house, where there were rooms for us all nephew and comfortable, and we dined together. After dinner Ms. Hawkins said,
''My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity, and may every blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and have, with love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make your home here with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child. All are gone, and in my will I have left you everything.' I cried, Lucas dear, as Joanna and the old woman clasped hands. Our evening was a very, very happy one.
'So here we are, installed in this beautiful old house, and from both my bedroom and the drawing room I can see the great elms of the cathedral close, with their great black stems standing out against the old yellow stone of the cathedral, and I can hear the rooks overhead cawing and cawing and chattering and chattering and gossiping all day, after the manner of rooks--and humans. I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging things and housekeeping. Joanna and Ms. Hawkins are busy all day, for now that Joanna is a partner, Ms. Hawkins wants to tell her all about the clients.
'How is your dear mother getting on? I wish I could run up to town for a day or two to see you, dear, but I dare not go yet, with so much on my shoulders, and Joanna wants looking after still. She is beginning to put some flesh on her bones again, but she was terribly weakened by the long illness. Even now she sometimes starts out of her sleep in a sudden way and awakes all trembling until I can coax her back to her usual placidity. However, thank God, these occasions grow less frequent as the days go on, and they will in time pass away altogether, I trust. And now I have told you my news, let me ask yours. When are you to be married, and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, and is it to be a public or private wedding? Tell me all about it, dear, tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests you which will not be dear to me. Joanna asks me to send her 'respectful duty', but I do not think that is good enough from the junior partner of the important firm Hawkins & Harker. And so, as you love me, and she loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses of the verb, I send you simply her 'love' instead. Goodbye, my dearest Lucas, and blessings on you.
'Yours,
'Minas Harker'
REPORT FROM PATRICIA HENNESSEY, MD, MRCSLK, QCPI, ETC, ETC, TO JOAN SEWARD, MD
20 September
My dear Sir:
'In accordance with your wishes, I enclose report of the conditions of everything left in my charge. With regard to patient, Renfield, there is more to say. She has had another outbreak, which might have had a dreadful ending, but which, as it fortunately happened, was unattended with any unhappy results. This afternoon a carrier's cart with two women made a call at the empty house whose grounds abut on ours, the house to which, you will remember, the patient twice ran away. The women stopped at our gate to ask the porter their way, as they were strangers.
'I was myself looking out of the study window, having a smoke after dinner, and saw one of them come up to the house. As she passed the window of Renfield's room, the patient began to rate her from within, and called her all the foul names she could lay her tongue to. The woman, who seemed a decent fellow enough, contented herself by telling her to 'shut up for a foul-mouthed beggar', whereon our woman accused her of robbing her and wanting to murder her and said that she would hinder her if she were to swing for it. I opened the window and signed to the woman not to notice, so she contented herself after looking the place over and making up her mind as to what kind of place she had got to by saying, 'Lor' bless yer, lady, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin' madhouse. I pity ye and the guv'nor for havin' to live in the house with a wild beast like that.'
'Then she asked her way civilly enough, and I told her where the gate of the empty house was. She went away followed by threats and curses and revilings from our woman. I went down to see if I could make out any cause for her anger, since she is usually such a well-behaved woman, and except her violent fits nothing of the kind had ever occurred. I found her, to my astonishment, quite composed and most genial in her manner. I tried to get her to talk of the incident, but she blandly asked me questions as to what I meant, and led me to believe that she was completely oblivious of the affair. It was, I am sorry to say, however, only another instance of her cunning, for within half an hour I heard of her again. This time she had broken out through the window of her room, and was running down the avenue. I called to the attendants to follow me, and ran after her, for I feared she was intent on some mischief. My fear was justified when I saw the same cart which had passed before coming down the road, having on it some great wooden boxes. The women were wiping their foreheads, and were flushed in the face, as if with violent exercise. Before I could get up to her, the patient rushed at them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to knock her head against the ground. If I had not seized her just at the moment, I believe she would have killed the woman there and then. The other fellow jumped down and struck her over the head with the butt end of her heavy whip. It was a horrible blow, but she did not seem to mind it, but seized her also, and struggled with the three of us, pulling us to and fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no lightweight, and the others were both burly women. At first she was silent in her fighting, but as we began to mistress her, and the attendants were putting a strait waistcoat on her, she began to shout, 'I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me! They shan't murder me by inches! I'll fight for my Lady and Mistress!' and all sorts of similar incoherent ravings. It was with very considerable difficulty that they got her back to the house and put her in the padded room. One of the attendants, Hardy, had a finger broken. However, I set it all right, and she is going on well.
'The two carriers were at first loud in their threats of actions
for damages, and promised to rain all the penalties of the law on us. Their threats were, however, mingled with some sort of indirect apology for the defeat of the two of them by a feeble madman. They said that if it had not been for the way their strength had been spent in carrying and raising the heavy boxes to the cart they would have made short work of her. They gave as another reason for their defeat the extraordinary state of drouth to which they had been reduced by the dusty nature of their occupation and the reprehensible distance from the scene of their labors of any place of public entertainment. I quite understood their drift, and after a stiff glass of strong grog, or rather more of the same, and with each a sovereign in hand, they made light of the attack, and swore that they would encounter a worse madman any day for the pleasure of meeting so 'bloomin' good a bloke' as your correspondent. I took their names and addresses, in case they might be needed. They are as follows: Jacky Smollet, of Dudding's Rents, Queen George's Road, Great Walworth, and Thomasina Snelling, Peta Farley's Row, Guide Court, Bethnal Green. They are both in the employment of Harris & Daughters, Moving and Shipment Company, Orange Master's Yard, Soho.
'I shall report to you any matter of interest occurring here, and shall wire you at once if there is anything of importance.
'Believe me, dear Sir,
'Yours faithfully,
'Patricia Hennessey.'
LETTER, MINAS HARKER TO LUCAS WESTENRA (Unopened by her)
18 September
'My dearest Lucas,
'Such a sad blow has befallen us. Ms. Hawkins has died very suddenly. Some may not think it so sad for us, but we had both come to so love her that it really seems as though we had lost a mother. I never knew either mother or mother, so that the dear old woman's death is a real blow to me. Joanna is greatly distressed. It is not only that she feels sorrow, deep sorrow, for the dear, good woman who has befriended her all her life, and now at the end has treated her like her own daughter and left her a fortune which to people of our modest bringing up is wealth beyond the dream of avarice, but Joanna feels it on another account. She says the amount of responsibility which it puts upon her makes her nervous. She begins to doubt herself. I try to cheer her up, and my belief in her helps her to have a belief in herself. But it is here that the grave shock that she experienced tells upon her the most. Oh, it is too hard that a sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as hers, a nature which enabled her by our dear, good friend's aid to rise from clerk to mistress in a few years, should be so injured that the very essence of its strength is gone. Forgive me, dear, if I worry you with my troubles in the midst of your own happiness, but Lucas dear, I must tell someone, for the strain of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Joanna tries me, and I have no one here that I can confide in. I dread coming up to London, as we must do that day after tomorrow, for poor Ms. Hawkins left in her will that she was to be buried in the grave with her mother. As there are no relations at all, Joanna will have to be chief mourner. I shall try to run over to see you, dearest, if only for a few minutes. Forgive me for troubling you. With all blessings,
'Your loving
'Minas Harker'
DR. SEWARD'S DIARY
20 September.--Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry tonight. I am too miserable, too low spirited, too sick of the world and all in it, including life itself, that I would not care if I heard this moment the flapping of the wings of the angel of death. And she has been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late, Lucas's mother and Artemis's mother, and now . . . Let me get on with my work.
I duly relieved Van Helsing in her watch over Lucas. We wanted Artemis to go to rest also, but she refused at first. It was only when I told her that we should want her to help us during the day, and that we must not all break down for want of rest, lest Lucas should suffer, that she agreed to go.
Van Helsing was very kind to her. 'Come, my child,’ she said. 'Come with me. You are sick and weak, and have had much sorrow and much mental pain, as well as that tax on your strength that we know of. You must not be alone, for to be alone is to be full of fears and alarms. Come to the drawing room, where there is a big fire, and there are two sofas. You shall lie on one, and I on the other, and our sympathy will be comfort to each other, even though we do not speak, and even if we sleep.'
Artemis went off with her, casting back a longing look on Lucas's face, which lay in his pillow, almost whiter than the lawn. He lay quite still, and I looked around the room to see that all was as it should be. I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, as in the other, her purpose of using the garlic. The whole of the window sashes reeked with it, and round Lucas's neck, over the silk handkerchief which Van Helsing made his keep on, was a rough chaplet of the same odorous flowers.
Lucas was breathing somewhat stertorously, and his face was at its worst, for the open mouth showed the pale gums. His teeth, in the dim, uncertain light, seemed longer and sharper than they had been in the morning. In particular, by some trick of the light, the canine teeth looked longer and sharper than the rest.
I sat down beside him, and presently he moved uneasily. At the same moment there came a sort of dull flapping or buffeting at the window. I went over to it softly, and peeped out by the corner of the blind. There was a full moonlight, and I could see that the noise was made by a great bat, which wheeled around, doubtless attracted by the light, although so dim, and every now and again struck the window with its wings. When I came back to my seat, I found that Lucas had moved slightly, and had torn away the garlic flowers from his throat. I replaced them as well as I could, and sat watching him.
Presently he woke, and I gave his food, as Van Helsing had prescribed. He took but a little, and that languidly. There did not seem to be with his now the unconscious struggle for life and strength that had hitherto so marked his illness. It struck me as curious that the moment he became conscious he pressed the garlic flowers close to him. It was certainly odd that whenever he got into that lethargic state, with the stertorous breathing, he put the flowers from him, but that when he waked he clutched them close. There was no possibility of making any mistake about this, for in the long hours that followed, he had many spells of sleeping and waking and repeated both actions many times.
At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me. Artemis had then fallen into a doze, and she mercifully let her sleep on. When she saw Lucas's face I could hear the hissing indraw of breath, and she said to me in a sharp whisper. 'Draw up the blind. I want light!'Then she bent down, and, with her face almost touching Lucas's, examined his carefully. She removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from his throat. As she did so she started back and I could hear her ejaculation, 'Mein Gott!'as it was smothered in her throat. I bent over and looked, too, and as I noticed some queer chill came over me. The wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared.
For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at him, with her face at its sternest. Then she turned to me and said calmly, 'He is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference, mark me, whether he dies conscious or in his sleep. Wake that poor girl, and let her come and see the last. She trusts us, and we have promised her.'
I went to the dining room and waked her. She was dazed for a moment, but when she saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the shutters she thought she was late, and expressed her fear. I assured her that Lucas was still asleep, but told her as gently as I could that both Van Helsing and I feared that the end was near. She covered her face with her hands, and slid down on her knees by the sofa, where she remained, perhaps a minute, with her head buried, praying, whilst her shoulders shook with grief. I took her by the hand and raised her up. 'Come,’ I said, 'my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude. It will be best and easiest for him.'
When we came into Lucas's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with her usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making everything look as pleasing as possible. She had even brushed Lucas's hair, so that it lay on the p
illow in its usual sunny ripples. When we came into the room he opened his eyes, and seeing her, whispered softly, 'Artemis! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!'
She was stooping to kiss him, when Van Helsing motioned her back. 'No,’ she whispered, 'not yet! Hold his hand, it will comfort his more.'
So Artemis took his hand and knelt beside him, and he looked his best, with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of his eyes. Then gradually his eyes closed, and he sank to sleep. For a little bit his breast heaved softly, and his breath came and went like a tired child's.
And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed in the night. His breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than ever. In a sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way he opened his eyes, which were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice, such as I had never heard from his lips, 'Artemis! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!'
Artemis bent eagerly over to kiss him, but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me, had been startled by his voice, swooped upon her, and catching her by the neck with both hands, dragged her back with a fury of strength which I never thought she could have possessed, and actually hurled her almost across the room.
'Not on your life!’ she said, 'not for your living soul and his!’ and she stood between them like a lion at bay.
Artemis was so taken aback that she did not for a moment know what to do or say, and before any impulse of violence could seize her she realized the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting.
I kept my eyes fixed on Lucas, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm as of rage flit like a shadow over him face. The sharp teeth clamped together. Then his eyes closed, and he breathed heavily.
Very shortly after he opened his eyes in all their softness, and putting out his poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brown one, drawing it close to him, he kissed it. 'My true friend,'he said, in a faint voice, but with untellable pathos, 'My true friend, and hers! Oh, guard her, and give me peace!'
'I swear it!’ she said solemnly, kneeling beside his and holding up her hand, as one who registers an oath. Then she turned to Artemis, and said to her, 'Come, my child, take his hand in yours, and kiss his on the forehead, and only once.'
Their eyes met instead of their lips, and so they parted. Lucas's eyes closed, and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took Artemis's arm, and drew her away.
And then Lucas's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it ceased.
'It is all over,’ said Van Helsing. 'He is dead!'
I took Artemis by the arm, and led her away to the drawing room, where she sat down, and covered her face with her hands, sobbing in a way that nearly broke me down to see.
I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucas, and her face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over him body. Death had given back part of his beauty, for his brow and cheeks had recovered some of their flowing lines. Even the lips had lost their deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as might be.
'We thought his dying whilst he slept, and sleeping when he died.'
I stood beside Van Helsing, and said, 'Ah well, poor boy, there is peace for his at last. It is the end!'
She turned to me, and said with grave solemnity, 'Not so, alas! Not so. It is only the beginning!'
When I asked her what she meant, she only shook her head and answered, 'We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see.'
Dracula Refanged Page 12
