Atlas Nightshade

Day 31

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."

Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and smelling

them. Now she threw them down, saying, with half-laughter, and

half-disgust:--

"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me. Why,

these flowers are only common garlic."

To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness, his

iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:--

"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I do;

and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the sake of

others if not for your own." Then seeing poor Lucy scared, as she might

well be, he went on more gently: "Oh, little miss, my dear, do not fear

me. I only do for your good; but there is much virtue to you in those so

common flowers. See, I place them myself in your room. I make myself the

wreath that you are to wear. But hush! no telling to others that make so

inquisitive questions. We must obey, and silence is a part of obedience;

and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait

for you. Now sit still awhile. Come with me, friend John, and you shall

help me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem,

where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass-houses all the year.

I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here."

We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The Professor's

actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopoeia

that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them

securely; next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over

the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get

in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed

all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round

the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed grotesque to me, and

presently I said:--

"Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but

this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he

would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit."

"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which

Lucy was to wear round her neck.

We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she

was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her

neck. The last words he said to her were:--

"Take care you do not disturb it; and even if the room feel close, do

not to-night open the window or the door."

"I promise," said Lucy, "and thank you both a thousand times for all

your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such

friends?"

As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said:--

"To-night I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want--two nights of travel,

much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to follow,

and a night to sit up, without to wink. To-morrow in the morning early

you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much

more strong for my 'spell' which I have work. Ho! ho!"

He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two nights

before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terror. It must

have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my friend, but

I felt it all the more, like unshed tears.