_28 September._--It is wonderful what a good night’s sleep will do for one.Yesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing’s monstrous ideas;but now they seem to start out lurid before me as outrages on common sense.I have no doubt that he believes it all.I wonder if his mind can have become in any way unhinged.Surely there must be _some_ rational explanation of all these mysterious things. Is it possible that the Professor can have done it himself?He is so abnormally clever that if he went off his head he would carry out his intent with regard to some fixed idea in a wonderful way. I am loath to think it, and indeed it would be almost as great a marvel as the other to find that Van Helsing was mad; but anyhow I shall watch him carefully. I may get some light on the mystery.
* * * * *
_29 September, morning._.... Last night,at a little before ten o’clock,Arthur and Quincey came into Van Helsing’s room;he told us all that he wanted us to do,but especially addressing himself to Arthur,as if all our wills were centred in his.He began by saying that he hoped we would all come with him too,“for,” he said, “there is a grave duty to be done there.You were doubtless surprised at my letter?” This query was directly addressed to Lord Godalming.
“I was. It rather upset me for a bit.There has been so much trouble around my house of late that I could do without any more. I have been curious, too, as to what you mean. Quincey and I talked it over; but the more we talked, the more puzzled we got, till now I can say for myself that I’m about up a tree as to any meaning about anything.”
“Me too,” said Quincey Morris laconically.
“Oh,” said the Professor,“then you are nearer the beginning, both of you,than friend John here,who has to go a long way back before he can even get so far as to begin. ”
It was evident that he recognised my return to my old doubting frame of mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other two, he said with intense gravity:--
“I want your permission to do what I think good this night.It is, I know, much to ask;and when you know what it is I propose to do you will know,and only then, how much.Therefore may I ask that you promise me in the dark,so that afterwards,though you may be angry with me for a time--I must not disguise from myself the possibility that such may be--you shall not blame yourselves for anything.”
“That’s frank anyhow,” broke in Quincey.“I’ll answer for the Professor.I don’t quite see his drift, but I swear he’s honest;and that’s good enough for me.”
“I thank you, sir,” said Van Helsing proudly.“I have done myself the honour of counting you one trusting friend,and such endorsement is dear to me.” He held out a hand, which Quincey took.
Then Arthur spoke out:--
“Dr. Van Helsing, I don’t quite like to ‘buy a pig in a poke,’ as they say in Scotland,and if it be anything in which my honour as a gentleman or my faith as a Christian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. If you can assure me that what you intend does not violate either of these two, then I give my consent at once; though for the life of me, I cannot understand what you are driving at.”
“I accept your limitation,” said Van Helsing,“and all I ask of you is that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine, you will first consider it well and be satisfied that it does not violate your reservations.”
“Agreed!” said Arthur; “that is only fair.And now that the _pourparlers_ are over,may I ask what it is we are to do?”
“I want you to come with me, and to come in secret,to the churchyard at Kingstead.”
Arthur’s face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way: --
“Where poor Lucy is buried?” The Professor bowed. Arthur went on: “And when there?”
“To enter the tomb!” Arthur stood up.
“Professor, are you in earnest;or it is some monstrous joke?Pardon me, I see that you are in earnest.” He sat down again,but I could see that he sat firmly and proudly,as one who is on his dignity.There was silence until he asked again:--
“And when in the tomb?”
“To open the coffin.”
“This is too much!” he said, angrily rising again.“I am willing to be patient in all things that are reasonable;but in this--this desecration of the grave--of one who----” He fairly choked with indignation. The Professor looked pityingly at him.
“If I could spare you one pang, my poor friend,” he said, “God knows I would.But this night our feet must tread in thorny paths;or later, and for ever,the feet you love must walk in paths of flame!”
Arthur looked up with set white face and said:--
“Take care, sir, take care!”
“Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?” said Van Helsing. “And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose. Shall I go on?”
“That’s fair enough,” broke in Morris.
After a pause Van Helsing went on,evidently with an effort:--
“Miss Lucy is dead; is it not so?Yes!Then there can be no wrong to her.But if she be not dead----”
Arthur jumped to his feet.
“Good God!” he cried. “What do you mean?Has there been any mistake; has she been buried alive?” He groaned in anguish that not even hope could soften.
“I did not say she was alive, my child;I did not think it.I go no further than to say that she might be Un-Dead.”
“Un-Dead!Not alive!What do you mean?Is this all a nightmare, or what is it?”
“There are mysteries which men can only guess at,which age by age they may solve only in part.Believe me, we are now on the verge of one.But I have not done.May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?”
“Heavens and earth, no!” cried Arthur in a storm of passion.“Not for the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her dead body.Dr. Van Helsing, you try me too far.What have I done to you that you should torture me so?What did that poor, sweet girl do that you should want to cast such dishonour on her grave?Are you mad to speak such things,or am I mad to listen to them?Don’t dare to think more of such a desecration;I shall not give my consent to anything you do.I have a duty to do in protecting her grave from outrage;and, by God, I shall do it!”
Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated,and said, gravely and sternly:--
“My Lord Godalming, I, too, have a duty to do,a duty to others, a duty to you, a duty to the dead;and, by God, I shall do it!All I ask you now is that you come with me,that you look and listen;and if when later I make the same request you do not be more eager for its fulfilment even than I am, then--then I shall do my duty, whatever it may seem to me. And then, to follow of your Lordship’s wishes I shall hold myself at your disposal to render an account to you, when and where you will.” His voice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of pity:--
“But, I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me.In a long life of acts which were often not pleasant to do,and which sometimes did wring my heart,I have never had so heavy a task as now.Believe me that if the time comes for you to change your mind towards me,one look from you will wipe away all this so sad hour,for I would do what a man can to save you from sorrow.Just think. For why should I give myself so much of labour and so much of sorrow?I have come here from my own land to do what I can of good;at the first to please my friend John,and then to help a sweet young lady, whom, too,I came to love. For her--I am ashamed to say so much,but I say it in kindness--I gave what you gave;the blood of my veins; I gave it, I, who was not,like you, her lover,but only her physician and her friend.I gave to her my nights and days--before death,after death; and if my death can do her good even now,when she is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely.” He said this with a very grave, sweet pride,and Arthur was much affected by it.He took the old man’s hand and said in a broken voice: --