Atlas Nightshade

Day 29

"We shall see!" he answered, as he hurried out. He came back a moment

later and put his head inside the door and said with warning finger held

up:--

"Remember, she is your charge. If you leave her, and harm befall, you

shall not sleep easy hereafter!"

_Dr. Seward's Diary--continued._

_8 September._--I sat up all night with Lucy. The opiate worked itself

off towards dusk, and she waked naturally; she looked a different being

from what she had been before the operation. Her spirits even were good,

and she was full of a happy vivacity, but I could see evidences of the

absolute prostration which she had undergone. When I told Mrs. Westenra

that Dr. Van Helsing had directed that I should sit up with her she

almost pooh-poohed the idea, pointing out her daughter's renewed

strength and excellent spirits. I was firm, however, and made

preparations for my long vigil. When her maid had prepared her for the

night I came in, having in the meantime had supper, and took a seat by

the bedside. She did not in any way make objection, but looked at me

gratefully whenever I caught her eye. After a long spell she seemed

sinking off to sleep, but with an effort seemed to pull herself together

and shook it off. This was repeated several times, with greater effort

and with shorter pauses as the time moved on. It was apparent that she

did not want to sleep, so I tackled the subject at once:--

"You do not want to go to sleep?"

"No; I am afraid."

"Afraid to go to sleep! Why so? It is the boon we all crave for."

"Ah, not if you were like me--if sleep was to you a presage of horror!"

"A presage of horror! What on earth do you mean?"

"I don't know; oh, I don't know. And that is what is so terrible. All

this weakness comes to me in sleep; until I dread the very thought."

"But, my dear girl, you may sleep to-night. I am here watching you, and

I can promise that nothing will happen."

"Ah, I can trust you!" I seized the opportunity, and said: "I promise

you that if I see any evidence of bad dreams I will wake you at once."

"You will? Oh, will you really? How good you are to me. Then I will

sleep!" And almost at the word she gave a deep sigh of relief, and sank

back, asleep.

All night long I watched by her. She never stirred, but slept on and on

in a deep, tranquil, life-giving, health-giving sleep. Her lips were

slightly parted, and her breast rose and fell with the regularity of a

pendulum. There was a smile on her face, and it was evident that no bad

dreams had come to disturb her peace of mind.

In the early morning her maid came, and I left her in her care and took

myself back home, for I was anxious about many things. I sent a short

wire to Van Helsing and to Arthur, telling them of the excellent result

of the operation. My own work, with its manifold arrears, took me all

day to clear off; it was dark when I was able to inquire about my

zoöphagous patient. The report was good; he had been quite quiet for the

past day and night. A telegram came from Van Helsing at Amsterdam whilst

I was at dinner, suggesting that I should be at Hillingham to-night, as

it might be well to be at hand, and stating that he was leaving by the

night mail and would join me early in the morning.

* * * * *

_9 September_.--I was pretty tired and worn out when I got to

Hillingham. For two nights I had hardly had a wink of sleep, and my

brain was beginning to feel that numbness which marks cerebral

exhaustion. Lucy was up and in cheerful spirits. When she shook hands

with me she looked sharply in my face and said:--

"No sitting up to-night for you. You are worn out. I am quite well

again; indeed, I am; and if there is to be any sitting up, it is I who

will sit up with you." I would not argue the point, but went and had my

supper. Lucy came with me, and, enlivened by her charming presence, I

made an excellent meal, and had a couple of glasses of the more than

excellent port. Then Lucy took me upstairs, and showed me a room next

her own, where a cozy fire was burning. "Now," she said, "you must stay

here. I shall leave this door open and my door too. You can lie on the

sofa for I know that nothing would induce any of you doctors to go to

bed whilst there is a patient above the horizon. If I want anything I

shall call out, and you can come to me at once." I could not but

acquiesce, for I was "dog-tired," and could not have sat up had I tried.

So, on her renewing her promise to call me if she should want anything,

I lay on the sofa, and forgot all about everything.

_Lucy Westenra's Diary._

_9 September._--I feel so happy to-night. I have been so miserably weak,

that to be able to think and move about is like feeling sunshine after

a long spell of east wind out of a steel sky. Somehow Arthur feels very,

very close to me. I seem to feel his presence warm about me. I suppose

it is that sickness and weakness are selfish things and turn our inner

eyes and sympathy on ourselves, whilst health and strength give Love

rein, and in thought and feeling he can wander where he wills. I know

where my thoughts are. If Arthur only knew! My dear, my dear, your ears

must tingle as you sleep, as mine do waking. Oh, the blissful rest of

last night! How I slept, with that dear, good Dr. Seward watching me.

And to-night I shall not fear to sleep, since he is close at hand and

within call. Thank everybody for being so good to me! Thank God!

Good-night, Arthur.

_Dr. Seward's Diary._

_10 September._--I was conscious of the Professor's hand on my head, and

started awake all in a second. That is one of the things that we learn

in an asylum, at any rate.

"And how is our patient?"

"Well, when I left her, or rather when she left me," I answered.

"Come, let us see," he said. And together we went into the room.

The blind was down, and I went over to raise it gently, whilst Van

Helsing stepped, with his soft, cat-like tread, over to the bed.

As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room, I

heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its rarity, a

deadly fear shot through my heart. As I passed over he moved back, and

his exclamation of horror, "Gott in Himmel!" needed no enforcement from

his agonised face. He raised his hand and pointed to the bed, and his

iron face was drawn and ashen white. I felt my knees begin to tremble.

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."