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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 eye then lit on Van

Helsing and on me too, and gladdened. Then she looked around 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 that

meant--that she had realised 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.

 

* * * * *

 

_19 September._--All last night she slept fitfully, being always afraid

to sleep, and something weaker when she woke from it. The Professor and

I took it in turns to watch, and we never left her for a moment

unattended. Quincey Morris said nothing about his intention, but I knew

that all night long he patrolled round and round the house.

 

When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor Lucy's

strength. She was hardly able to turn her head, and the little

nourishment which she could take seemed to do her no good. At times she

slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in her, between

sleeping and waking. Whilst asleep she looked stronger, although more

haggard, and her breathing was softer; her open mouth showed the pale

gums drawn back from the teeth, which thus looked positively longer and

sharper than usual; when she woke the softness of her eyes evidently

changed the expression, for she looked her own self, although a dying

one. In the afternoon she asked for Arthur, and we telegraphed for him.

Quincey went off to meet him at the station.

 

When he 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 he saw her, Arthur 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. Arthur's presence, however, seemed to act as a

stimulant; she rallied a little, and spoke to him more brightly than she

had done since we arrived. He too pulled himself together, and spoke as

cheerily as he could, so that the best was made of everything.

 

It was now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with

her. I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering

this on Lucy's phonograph. Until six o'clock they are to try to rest. I

fear that to-morrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too

great; the poor child cannot rally. God help us all.

 

 

_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra._

 

(Unopened by her.)

 

"_17 September._

 

"My dearest Lucy,--

 

"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 husband back all right; when we arrived

at Exeter there was a carriage waiting for us, and in it, though he had

an attack of gout, Mr. Hawkins. He took us to his house, where there

were rooms for us all nice and comfortable, and we dined together. After

dinner Mr. 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, Lucy dear, as Jonathan and

the old man 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 gossiping all day, after the manner of

rooks--and humans. I am busy, I need not tell you, arranging things and

housekeeping. Jonathan and Mr. Hawkins are busy all day; for, now that

Jonathan is a partner, Mr. Hawkins wants to tell him 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 Jonathan wants looking after still. He is beginning to

put some flesh on his bones again, but he was terribly weakened by the

long illness; even now he sometimes starts out of his sleep in a sudden

way and awakes all trembling until I can coax him back to his 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 a 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. Jonathan asks me to send his

'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 he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses

of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead. Good-bye, my dearest

Lucy, and all blessings on you.

 

"Yours,

 

"MINA HARKER."

 

 

_Report from Patrick Hennessey, M. D., M. R. C. S. L. K. Q. C. P. I.,

etc., etc., to John Seward, M. D._

 

"_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. He 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 men

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 men 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 he passed the window of

Renfield's room, the patient began to rate him from within, and called

him all the foul names he could lay his tongue to. The man, who seemed a

decent fellow enough, contented himself by telling him to "shut up for a

foul-mouthed beggar," whereon our man accused him of robbing him and

wanting to murder him and said that he would hinder him if he were to

swing for it. I opened the window and signed to the man not to notice,

so he contented himself after looking the place over and making up his

mind as to what kind of a place he had got to by saying: 'Lor' bless

yer, sir, 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 he asked his way civilly enough, and I told him

where the gate of the empty house was; he went away, followed by threats

and curses and revilings from our man. I went down to see if I could

make out any cause for his anger, since he is usually such a

well-behaved man, and except his violent fits nothing of the kind had

ever occurred. I found him, to my astonishment, quite composed and most

genial in his manner. I tried to get him to talk of the incident, but he

blandly asked me questions as to what I meant, and led me to believe

that he was completely oblivious of the affair. It was, I am sorry to

say, however, only another instance of his cunning, for within half an

hour I heard of him again. This time he had broken out through the

window of his room, and was running down the avenue. I called to the

attendants to follow me, and ran after him, for I feared he 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 men were wiping their foreheads, and were flushed in the

face, as if with violent exercise. Before I could get up to him the

patient rushed at them, and pulling one of them off the cart, began to

knock his head against the ground. If I had not seized him just at the

moment I believe he would have killed the man there and then. The other

fellow jumped down and struck him over the head with the butt-end of his

heavy whip. It was a terrible blow; but he did not seem to mind it, but

seized him also, and struggled with the three of us, pulling us to and

fro as if we were kittens. You know I am no light weight, and the others

were both burly men. At first he was silent in his fighting; but as we

began to master him, and the attendants were putting a strait-waistcoat

on him, he began to shout: 'I'll frustrate them! They shan't rob me!

they shan't murder me by inches! I'll fight for my Lord and Master!' and

all sorts of similar incoherent ravings. It was with very considerable

difficulty that they got him back to the house and put him in the padded

room. One of the attendants, Hardy, had a finger broken. However, I set

it all right; and he 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

him. 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

labours of any place of public entertainment. I quite understood their

drift, and after a stiff glass of 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:--Jack Smollet, of Dudding's Rents, King George's Road, Great

Walworth, and Thomas Snelling, Peter Farley's Row, Guide Court, Bethnal

Green. They are both in the employment of Harris & Sons, 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,

 

"PATRICK HENNESSEY."

 

 

_Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra_.

 

(Unopened by her.)

 

"_18 September._

 

"My dearest Lucy,--

 

"Such a sad blow has befallen us. Mr. Hawkins has died very suddenly.

Some may not think it so sad for us, but we had both come to so love him

that it really seems as though we had lost a father. I never knew either

father or mother, so that the dear old man's death is a real blow to me.

Jonathan is greatly distressed. It is not only that he feels sorrow,

deep sorrow, for the dear, good man who has befriended him all his life,

and now at the end has treated him like his own son and left him a

fortune which to people of our modest bringing up is wealth beyond the

dream of avarice, but Jonathan feels it on another account. He says the

amount of responsibility which it puts upon him makes him nervous. He

begins to doubt himself. I try to cheer him up, and _my_ belief in _him_

helps him to have a belief in himself. But it is here that the grave

shock that he experienced tells upon him the most. Oh, it is too hard

that a sweet, simple, noble, strong nature such as his--a nature which

enabled him by our dear, good friend's aid to rise from clerk to master

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, Lucy dear, I must tell some one,

for the strain of keeping up a brave and cheerful appearance to Jonathan

tries me, and I have no one here that I can confide in. I dread coming

up to London, as we must do the day after to-morrow; for poor Mr.

Hawkins left in his will that he was to be buried in the grave with his

father. As there are no relations at all, Jonathan 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

 

"MINA HARKER."

 

 

_Dr. Seward's Diary._

 

_20 September._--Only resolution and habit can let me make an entry

to-night. 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 he has

been flapping those grim wings to some purpose of late--Lucy's mother

and Arthur's father, and now.... Let me get on with my work.

 

I duly relieved Van Helsing in his watch over Lucy. We wanted Arthur to

go to rest also, but he refused at first. It was only when I told him

that we should want him to help us during the day, and that we must not

all break down for want of rest, lest Lucy should suffer, that he agreed

to go. Van Helsing was very kind to him. "Come, my child," he 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." Arthur went off with him, casting back a longing look on Lucy's

face, which lay in her pillow, almost whiter than the lawn. She lay

quite still, and I looked round 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, his purpose of using the garlic; the whole of the

window-sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk

handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet of

the same odorous flowers. Lucy was breathing somewhat stertorously, and

her face was at its worst, for the open mouth showed the pale gums. Her

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 by her,

and presently she 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

round--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 Lucy had moved slightly, and had torn away the garlic

flowers from her throat. I replaced them as well as I could, and sat

watching her.

 

Presently she woke, and I gave her food, as Van Helsing had prescribed.

She took but a little, and that languidly. There did not seem to be with

her now the unconscious struggle for life and strength that had hitherto

so marked her illness. It struck me as curious that the moment she

became conscious she pressed the garlic flowers close to her. It was

certainly odd that whenever she got into that lethargic state, with the

stertorous breathing, she put the flowers from her; but that when she

waked she clutched them close. There was no possibility of making any

mistake about this, for in the long hours that followed, she had many

spells of sleeping and waking and repeated both actions many times.

 

At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me. Arthur had then fallen

into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on. When he saw Lucy's face

I could hear the sissing indraw of his breath, and he said to me in a

sharp whisper: "Draw up the blind; I want light!" Then he bent down,

and, with his face almost touching Lucy's, examined her carefully. He

removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from her throat. As

he did so he started back, and I could hear his ejaculation, "Mein

Gott!" as it was smothered in his 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 her, with his face

at its sternest. Then he turned to me and said calmly:--

 

"She is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference, mark

me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep. Wake that poor boy, and

let him come and see the last; he trusts us, and we have promised him."

 

I went to the dining-room and waked him. He was dazed for a moment, but

when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the shutters

he thought he was late, and expressed his fear. I assured him that Lucy

was still asleep, but told him as gently as I could that both Van

Helsing and I feared that the end was near. He covered his face with his

hands, and slid down on his knees by the sofa, where he remained,

perhaps a minute, with his head buried, praying, whilst his shoulders

shook with grief. I took him by the hand and raised him up. "Come," I

said, "my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude: it will be best

and easiest for her."

 

When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had, with

his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making

everything look as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed Lucy's

hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples. When we

came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered

softly:--

 

"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!" He was stooping to

kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back. "No," he whispered, "not

yet! Hold her hand; it will comfort her more."

 

So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her best,

with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her eyes. Then

gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep. For a little bit her

breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went like a tired child's.

 

And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed in

the night. Her 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 she opened her eyes, which

were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice,

such as I had never heard from her lips:--

 

"Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Arthur bent

eagerly over to kiss her; but at that instant Van Helsing, who, like me,

had been startled by her voice, swooped upon him, and catching him by

the neck with both hands, dragged him back with a fury of strength which

I never thought he could have possessed, and actually hurled him almost

across the room.

 

"Not for your life!" he said; "not for your living soul and hers!" And

he stood between them like a lion at bay.

 

Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what to do

or say; and before any impulse of violence could seize him he realised

the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting.

 

I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasm as

of rage flit like a shadow over her face; the sharp teeth champed

together. Then her eyes closed, and she breathed heavily.

 

Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, and

putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brown

one; drawing it to her, she kissed it. "My true friend," she said, in a

faint voice, but with untellable pathos, "My true friend, and his! Oh,

guard him, and give me peace!"

 

"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his

hand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to Arthur, and said

to him: "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on the

forehead, and only once."

 

Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted.

 

Lucy's eyes closed; and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took

Arthur's arm, and drew him away.

 

And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it

ceased.

 

"It is all over," said Van Helsing. "She is dead!"

 

I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing-room, where he

sat down, and covered his face with his 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 Lucy, and

his face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over her body.

Death had given back part of her beauty, for her 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 her dying whilst she slept,

And sleeping when she died."

 

I stood beside Van Helsing, and said:--

 

"Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!"

 

He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:--

 

"Not so; alas! not so. It is only the beginning!"

 

When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered:--

 

"We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see."

 

 

CHAPTER XIII

 

DR. SEWARD'S DIARY--_continued_.

 

 

The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy and

her mother might be buried together. I attended to all the ghastly

formalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff were

afflicted--or blessed--with something of his own obsequious suavity.

Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked to

me, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come out

from the death-chamber:--

 

"She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir. It's quite a privilege to

attend on her. It's not too much to say that she will do credit to our

establishment!"

 

I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away. This was possible from

the disordered state of things in the household. There were no relatives

at hand; and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attend at his

father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who should have been

bidden. Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took it upon

ourselves to examine papers, etc. He insisted upon looking over Lucy's

papers himself. I asked him why, for I feared that he, being a