Dr.
Seward's Diary18 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 Lucy or her 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 Lucy, if she
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 he saw me, he gasped out, "Then it was you, and just arrived.
How is she? Are we too late? Did you not get my telegram?" I answered
as quickly and coherently as I could that I had only got his 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. He paused and raised his hat as he said solemnly, "Then
I fear we are too late. God's will be done!" With his usual recuperative
energy, he 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 his 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 him. 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 women 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 he said, "We can attend to them later."
Then we ascended to Lucy'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 women, Lucy and her mother. The latter lay farthest
in, and she 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 her side lay Lucy, with face white and still
more drawn. The flowers which had been round her neck we found upon her mother's
bosom, and her 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, his head almost touching poor Lucy's breast. Then he gave a quick
turn of his head, as of one who listens, and leaping to his feet, he 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 maids 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. He
rubbed the brandy, as on another occasion, on her lips and gums and on her wrists
and the palms of her hands. He 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 her. She will need be heated before we can do
anything more." I went at once, and found little difficulty in waking
three of the women. The fourth was only a young girl, and the drug had evidently
affected her more strongly so I lifted her on the sofa and let her 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 Miss Lucy. 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 Lucy out as she was and placed her in it. Whilst we were busy
chafing her limbs there was a knock at the hall door. One of the maids ran off,
hurried on some more clothes, and opened it. Then she returned and whispered to
us that there was a gentleman who had come with a message from Mr. Holmwood. I
bade her simply tell him that he must wait, for we could see no one now. She went
away with the message, and, engrossed with our work, I clean forgot all about
him. I never saw in all my experience the Professor work in such deadly
earnest. I knew, as he knew, that it was a stand-up fight with death, and in a
pause told him so. He answered me in a way that I did not understand, but with
the sternest look that his face could wear. "If that were all, I would
stop here where we are now, and let her fade away into peace, for I see no light
in life over her horizon." He went on with his 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. Lucy's heart beat a trifle more audibly
to the stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement. Van Helsing's face
almost beamed, and as we lifted her from the bath and rolled her in a hot sheet
to dry her he said to me, "The first gain is ours! Check to the King!" We
took Lucy into another room, which had by now been prepared, and laid her in bed
and forced a few drops of brandy down her throat. I noticed that Van Helsing tied
a soft silk handkerchief round her throat. She was still unconscious, and was
quite as bad as, if not worse than, we had ever seen her. Van Helsing called
in one of the women, and told her to stay with her and not to take her eyes off
her till we returned, and then beckoned me out of the room. "We must
consult as to what is to be done," he said as we descended the stairs. In
the hall he opened the dining room door, and we passed in, he closing the door
carefully behind him. The shutters had been opened, but the blinds were already
down, with that obedience to the etiquette of death which the British woman 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. He was evidently torturing his mind about something,
so I waited for an instant, and he 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 girl's life won't be worth an hour's purchase. You are exhausted
already. I am exhausted too. I fear to trust those women, even if they would have
courage to submit. What are we to do for some one who will open his veins for
her?" "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 Quincey Morris. Van Helsing started angrily
at the first sound, but his face softened and a glad look came into his eyes as
I cried out, "Quincey Morris!" and rushed towards him with outstretched
hands. "What brought you here?" I cried as our hands met. "I
guess Art is the cause." He handed me a telegram.--'Have not heard
from Seward for three days, and am terribly anxious. Cannot leave. Father still
in same condition. Send me word how Lucy 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 his hand, looking him
straight in the eyes as he said, "A brave man's blood is the best thing on
this earth when a woman is in trouble. You're a man and no mistake. Well, the
devil may work against us for all he's worth, but God sends us men when we want
them." Once again we went through that ghastly operation. I have not
the heart to go through with the details. Lucy had got a terrible shock and it
told on her more than before, for though plenty of blood went into her veins,
her body did not respond to the treatment as well as on the other occasions. Her
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. Her faint became a profound
slumber. The Professor watched whilst I went downstairs with Quincey Morris, and
sent one of the maids to pay off one of the cabmen who were waiting. I left
Quincey 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
Lucy now was. When I came softly in, I found Van Helsing with a sheet or two of
note paper in his hand. He had evidently read it, and was thinking it over as
he sat with his hand to his brow. There was a look of grim satisfaction in his
face, as of one who has had a doubt solved. He handed me the paper saying only,
"It dropped from Lucy's breast when we carried her to the bath." When
I had read it, I stood looking at the Professor, and after a pause asked him,
"In God's name, what does it all mean? Was she, or is she, 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 his 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 Lucy, if
nothing else did. I know, and you know, and the other doctor who attended her
knows, that Mrs. Westenra had disease of the heart, and we can certify that she
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
John! Well thought of! Truly Miss Lucy, if she be sad in the foes that beset her,
is at least happy in the friends that love her. One, two, three, all open their
veins for her, besides one old man. Ah, yes, I know, friend John. I am not blind!
I love you all the more for it! Now go." In the hall I met Quincey
Morris, with a telegram for Arthur telling him that Mrs. Westenra was dead, that
Lucy also had been ill, but was now going on better, and that Van Helsing and
I were with her. I told him where I was going, and he hurried me out, but as I
was going said, "When you come back, Jack, 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
Quincey was waiting for me. I told him I would see him as soon as I knew about
Lucy, and went up to her room. She was still sleeping, and the Professor seemingly
had not moved from his seat at her side. From his putting his finger to his lips,
I gathered that he expected her to wake before long and was afraid of fore-stalling
nature. So I went down to Quincey and took him 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, he said to me,
"Jack 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 girl and wanted to
marry her, but although that's all past and gone, I can't help feeling anxious
about her all the same. What is it that's wrong with her? The Dutchman, and a
fine old fellow he 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 he were
exhausted. Now I know well that you medical men speak in camera, and that a man
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 he 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 him four days
ago down at his own place he looked queer. I have not seen anything pulled down
so quick since I was on the Pampas and had a mare that I was fond of go to grass
all in a night. One of those big bats that they call vampires had got at her in
the night, and what with his gorge and the vein left open, there wasn't enough
blood in her to let her stand up, and I had to put a bullet through her as she
lay. Jack, if you may tell me without betraying confidence, Arthur was the first,
is not that so?" As he spoke the poor fellow looked terribly anxious.
He was in a torture of suspense regarding the woman he loved, and his utter ignorance
of the terrible mystery which seemed to surround her intensified his pain. His
very heart was bleeding, and it took all the manhood of him, and there was a royal
lot of it, too, to keep him from breaking down. I paused before answering, for
I felt that I must not betray anything which the Professor wished kept secret,
but already he 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, Jack Seward, that that poor pretty creature that we all love
has had put into her veins within that time the blood of four strong men. Man
alive, her whole body wouldn't hold it." Then coming close to me, he 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 Lucy
being properly watched. But these shall not occur again. Here we stay until all
be well, or ill." Quincey held out his hand. "Count me in,"
he said. "You and the Dutchman will tell me what to do, and I'll do it." When
she woke late in the afternoon, Lucy's first movement was to feel in her 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 she
should be alarmed. Her eyes then lit on Van Helsing and on me too, and gladdened.
Then she looked round the room, and seeing where she was, shuddered. She gave
a loud cry, and put her poor thin hands before her pale face. We both understood
what was meant, that she had realized to the full her mother's death. So we tried
what we could to comfort her. Doubtless sympathy eased her somewhat, but she was
very low in thought and spirit, and wept silently and weakly for a long time.
We told her that either or both of us would now remain with her all the time,
and that seemed to comfort her. Towards dusk she fell into a doze. Here a very
odd thing occurred. Whilst still asleep she took the paper from her breast and
tore it in two. Van Helsing stepped over and took the pieces from her. All the
same, however, she went on with the action of tearing, as though the material
were still in her hands. Finally she lifted her hands and opened them as though
scattering the fragments. Van Helsing seemed surprised, and his brows gathered
as if in thought, but he said nothing. |
