attracted by the light, although so dim, and every now and again
struck the window with its wings. When I came back to my seat, I
found that Lucy had moved slightly, and had torn away the garlic
flowers from her throat. I replaced them as well as I could, and
sat watching her.
Presently she woke, and I gave her food, as Van Helsing had
prescribed. She took but a little, and that languidly. There did
not seem to be with her now the unconscious struggle for life and
strength that had hitherto so marked her illness. It struck me as
curious that the moment she became conscious she pressed the garlic
flowers close to her. It was certainly odd that whenever she got
into that lethargic state, with the stertorous breathing, she put
the flowers from her, but that when she waked she clutched them
close, There was no possibility of making amy mistake about this,
for in the long hours that followed, she had many spells of
sleeping and waking and repeated both actions many times.
At six o'clock Van Helsing came to relieve me. Arthur had then
fallen into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on. When he saw
Lucy's face I could hear the sissing indraw of breath, and he said
to me in a sharp whisper."Draw up the blind. I want light!" Then he
bent down, and, with his face almost touching Lucy's, examined her
carefully. He removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief
from her throat. As he did so he started back and I could hear his
ejaculation, "Mein Gott!" as it was smothered in his throat. I bent
over and looked, too, and as I noticed some queer chill came over
me. The wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared.
For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at her, with
his face at its sternest. Then he turned to me and said calmly,
"She is dying. It will not be long now. It will be much difference,
mark me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep. Wake that poor
boy, and let him come and see the last. He trusts us, and we have
promised him."
I went to the dining room and waked him. He was dazed for apromised him."
I went to the dining room and waked him. He was dazed for a
moment, but when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges
of the shutters he thought he was late, and expressed his fear. I
assured him that Lucy was still asleep, but told him as gently as i
could that both Van Helsing and I feared that the end was near. He
covered his face with his hands, and slid down on his knees by the
sofa, where he remained, perhaps a minute, with his head buried,
praying, whilst his shoulders shook with grief. I took him by the
hand and raised him up. "Come," I said, "my dear old fellow, summon
all your fortitude. It will be best and easiest for her."
When we came into Lucy's room I could see that Van Helsing had,
with his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and
making everything look as pleasing as possible. He had even brushed
Lucy's hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny
ripples. When we came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing
him, whispered softly, "Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have
come!"
He was stooping to kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back.
"No," he whispered, "not yet! Hold her hand, it will comfort her
more."
So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her
best, with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her
eyes. Then gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep. For a
little bit her breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went
like a tired child's.
And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had
noticed in the night. Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth
opened, and the pale gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer
and sharper than ever. In a sort of sleepwaking, vague, unconscious
way she opened her eyes, which were now dull and hard at once, and
said in a soft,voluptuous voice, such as I had never heard from her
lips, "Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss
me!"
Arthur bent eagerly over to kiss her, but at that instant Vanme!"
Arthur bent eagerly over to kiss her, but at that instant Van
Helsing, who, like me, had been startled by her voice, swooped upon
him, and catching him by the neck with both hands, dragged him back
with a fury of strength which I never thought he could have
possessed, and actually hurled him almost across the room. "Not on
your life!" he said, "not for your living soul and hers!" And he
stood between them like a lion at bay.
Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what
to do or say, and before any impulse of violence could seize him he
realized the place and the occasion, and stood silent, waiting.
I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a
spasm as of rage flit like a shadow over her face. The sharp teeth
clamped together. Then her eyes closed, and she breathed
heavily.
Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness,
and putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great
brown one, drawing it close to her, she kissed it. "My true
friend," she said, in a faint voice, but with untellable pathos,
"My true friend, and his! Oh, guard him, and give me peace!"
"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding
up his hand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to
Arthur, and said to him, "Come, my child, take her hand in yours,
and kiss her on the forehead, and only once."
Their eyes met instead of their lips, and so they parted. Lucy's
eyes closed, and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took
Arthur's arm, and drew him away.
And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at
once it ceased.
"It is all over," said Van Helsing. "She is dead!"
I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing room,
where he sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in
a way that nearly broke me down to see.
I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor
Lucy, and his face was sterner than eve. Some change had come over
her body. Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow andher body. Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and
cheeks had recovered some of their flowing lines. Even the lips had
lost their deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed
for the working of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of
death as little rude as might be.
"We thought her dying whilst she slept, And sleeping when she
died."
I stood beside Van Helsing, and said, "Ah well, poor girl, there
is peace for her at last. It is the end!"
He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity,"Not so, alas!
Not so. It is only the beginning!"
When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and
answered, "We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see."