late the habit has not returned.
"I am in doubt, and so have done the best thing I know of. I
have written to my old friend and master, Professor Van Helsing, of
Amsterdam, who knows as much about obscure diseases as any one in
the world. I have asked him to come over, and as you told me that
all things were to be at your charge, I have mentioned to him who
you are and your relations to Miss Westenra. This, my dear fellow,
is in obedience to your wishes, for I am only too proud and happy
to do anything I can for her.
"Van Helsing would, I know, do anything for me for a personal
reason, so no matter on what ground he comes, we must accept his
wishes. He is a seemingly arbitrary man, this is because he knows
what he is talking about better than any one else. He is a
philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced
scientists of his day, and he has, I believe, an absolutely open
mind. This, with an iron nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, and
indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration exalted from
virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that
beats, these form his equipment for the noble work that he is doing
for mankind, work both in theory and practice, for his views are as
wide as his all-embracing sympathy. I tell you these facts that you
may know why I have such confidence in him. I have asked him to
come at once. I shall see Miss Westenra tomorrow again. She is to
meet me at the Stores, so that I may not alarm her mother by too
early a repetition of my call.
"Yours always."
John Seward
LETTER, ABRAHAM VAN HELSING, MD, DPh, D. LiT, ETC, ETC, TO DR.
SEWARD
2 September.
"My good Friend,
"When I received your letter I am already coming to you. By good
fortune I can leave just at once, without wrong to any of those who
have trusted me. Were fortune other, then it were bad for those who
have trusted, for I come to my friend when he call me to aid those
he holds dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck fromhe holds dear. Tell your friend that when that time you suck from
my wound so swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that
our other friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when
he wants my aids and you call for them than all his great fortune
could do. But it is pleasure added to do for him, your friend, it
is to you that I come. Have near at hand, and please it so arrange
that we may see the young lady not too late on tomorrow, for it is
likely that I may have to return here that night. But if need be I
shall come again in three days, and stay longer if it must. Till
then goodbye, my friend John.
"Van Helsing."
LETTER, DR. SEWARD TO HON. ARTHUR HOLMWOOD
3 September
"My dear Art,
"Van Helsing has come and gone. He came on with me to
Hillingham, and found that, by Lucy's discretion, her mother was
lunching out, so that we were alone with her.
"Van Helsing made a very careful examination of the patient. He
is to report to me, and I shall advise you, for of course I was not
present all the time. He is, I fear, much concerned, but says he
must think. When I told him of our friendship and how you trust to
me in the matter, he said, `You must tell him all you think. Tell
him him what I think, if you can guess it, if you will. Nay, I am
not jesting. This is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.' I
asked what he meant by that, for he was very serious. This was when
we had come back to town, and he was having a cup of tea before
starting on his return to Amsterdam. He would not give me any
further clue. You must not be angry with me, Art, because his very
reticence means that all his brains are working for her good. He
will speak plainly enough when the time comes, be sure. So I told
him I would simply write an account of our visit, just as if I were
doing a descriptive special article for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH. He
seemed not to notice, but remarked that the smuts of London were
not quite so bad as they used to be when he was a student here. Inot quite so bad as they used to be when he was a student here. I
am to get his report tomorrow if he can possibly make it. In any
case I am to have a letter.
"Well, as to the visit, Lucy was more cheerful than on the day I
first saw her, and certainly looked better. She had lost something
of the ghastly look that so upset you, and her breathing was
normal. She was very sweet to the Professor (as she always is),and
tried to make him feel at ease, though I could see the poor girl
was making a hard struggle for it.
"I believe Van Helsing saw it, too, for I saw the quick look
under his bushy brows that I knew of old. Then he began to chat of
all things except ourselves and diseases and with such an infinite
geniality that I could see poor Lucy's pretense of animation merge
into reality. Then, without any seeming change, he brought the
conversation gently round to his visit, and sauvely said,
"`My dear young miss, I have the so great pleasure because you
are so much beloved. That is much, my dear, even were there that
which I do not see. They told me you were down in the spirit, and
that you were of a ghastly pale. To them I say "Pouf!" ' And he
snapped his fingers at me and went on. `But you and I shall show
them how wrong they are. How can he', and he pointed at me with the
same look and gesture as that with which he pointed me out in his
class, on, or rather after, a particular occasion which he never
fails to remind me of, `know anything of a young ladies? He has his
madmen to play with, and to bring them back to happiness, and to
those that love them. It is much to do, and, oh, but there are
rewards in that we can bestow such happiness. But the young ladies!
He has no wife nor daughter, and the young do not tell themselves
to the young, but to the old, like me, who have known so many
sorrows and the causes of them. So, my dear, we will send him away
to smoke the cigarette in the garden, whiles you and I have little
talk all to ourselves.' I took the hint, and strolled about, and