There on the bed, seemingly in a swoon, lay poor Lucy,more horribly white and wan-looking than ever.Even the lips were white,and the gums seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth,as we sometimes see in a corpse after a prolonged illness.Van Helsing raised his foot to stamp in anger,but the instinct of his life and all the long years of habit stood to him,and he put it down again softly. “Quick!” he said. “Bring the brandy.” I flew to the dining-room,and returned with the decanter.He wetted the poor white lips with it,and together we rubbed palm and wrist and heart.He felt her heart, and after a few moments of agonising suspense said: --
“It is not too late. It beats, though but feebly.All our work is undone; we must begin again.There is no young Arthur here now;I have to call on you yourself this time, friend John.” As he spoke, he was dipping into his bag and producing the instruments for transfusion; I had taken off my coat and rolled up my shirt-sleeve. There was no possibility of an opiate just at present, and no need of one; and so, without a moment’s delay, we began the operation. After a time--it did not seem a short time either, for the draining away of one’s blood, no matter how willingly it be given, is a terrible feeling--Van Helsing held up a warning finger. “Do not stir,” he said, “but I fear that with growing strength she may wake; and that would make danger, oh, so much danger. But I shall precaution take. I shall give hypodermic injection of morphia.” He proceeded then, swiftly and deftly, to carry out his intent. The effect on Lucy was not bad, for the faint seemed to merge subtly into the narcotic sleep. It was with a feeling of personal pride that I could see a faint tinge of colour steal back into the pallid cheeks and lips. No man knows, till he experiences it, what it is to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves.
The Professor watched me critically. “That will do,” he said. “Already?” I remonstrated. “You took a great deal more from Art.” To which he smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied: --
“He is her lover, her _fiancé_. You have work,much work, to do for her and for others;and the present will suffice.”
When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy,whilst I applied digital pressure to my own incision.I laid down, whilst I waited his leisure to attend to me,for I felt faint and a little sick.By-and-by he bound up my wound,and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine for myself.As I was leaving the room, he came after me,and half whispered:--
“Mind, nothing must be said of this.If our young lover should turn up unexpected,as before, no word to him.It would at once frighten him and enjealous him, too.There must be none. So!”
When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said:--
“You are not much the worse. Go into the room,and lie on your sofa, and rest awhile;then have much breakfast, and come here to me.”
I followed out his orders,for I knew how right and wise they were.I had done my part,and now my next duty was to keep up my strength.I felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at what had occurred. I fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign anywhere to show for it. I think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, sleeping and waking, my thoughts always came back to the little punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their edges--tiny though they were.
Lucy slept well into the day,and when she woke she was fairly well and strong,though not nearly so much so as the day before.When Van Helsing had seen her, he went out for a walk,leaving me in charge,with strict injunctions that I was not to leave her for a moment.I could hear his voice in the hall,asking the way to the nearest telegraph office.
Lucy chatted with me freely,and seemed quite unconscious that anything had happened.I tried to keep her amused and interested.When her mother came up to see her,she did not seem to notice any change whatever,but said to me gratefully:--
“We owe you so much, Dr. Seward, for all you have done,but you really must now take care not to overwork yourself.You are looking pale yourself.You want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit; that you do!” As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson,though it was only momentarily,for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long such an unwonted drain to the head. The reaction came in excessive pallor as she turned imploring eyes on me. I smiled and nodded, and laid my finger on my lips; with a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows.
Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours,and presently said to me: “Now you go home,and eat much and drink enough. Make yourself strong.I stay here to-night,and I shall sit up with little miss myself.You and I must watch the case,and we must have none other to know.I have grave reasons. No, do not ask them;think what you will.Do not fear to think even the most not-probable. Good-night.”
In the hall two of the maids came to me,and asked if they or either of them might not sit up with Miss Lucy.They implored me to let them;and when I said it was Dr.Van Helsing’s wish that either he or I should sit up,they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the “foreign gentleman.” I was much touched by their kindness.Perhaps it is because I am weak at present,and perhaps because it was on Lucy’s account,that their devotion was manifested;for over and over again have I seen similar instances of woman’s kindness.I got back here in time for a late dinner;went my rounds--all well;and set this down whilst waiting for sleep. It is coming.
* * * * *
_11 September._--This afternoon I went over to Hillingham.Found Van Helsing in excellent spirits,and Lucy much better. Shortly after I had arrived,a big parcel from abroad came for the Professor.He opened it with much impressment--assumed,of course--and showed a great bundle of white flowers.
“These are for you, Miss Lucy,” he said.
“For me?Oh, Dr. Van Helsing!”
“Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with.These are medicines.” Here Lucy made a wry face. “Nay,but they are not to take in a decoction or in nauseous form,so you need not snub that so charming nose,or I shall point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have to endure in seeing so much beauty that he so loves so much distort. Aha, my pretty miss, that bring the so nice nose all straight again. This is medicinal, but you do not know how. I put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and hang him round your neck, so that you sleep well. Oh yes!they, like the lotus flower,make your trouble forgotten.It smell so like the waters of Lethe,and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought for in the Floridas, and find him all too late.”