before he can even get so far as to begin."
It was evident that he recognized my return to my old doubting
frame of mind without my saying a word. Then, turning to the other
two, he said with intense gravity,
"I want your permission to do what I think good this night. It
is, I know, much to ask, and when you know what it is I propose to
do you will know, and only then how much. Therefore may I ask that
you promise me in the dark, so that afterwards, though you may be
angry with me for a time, I must not disguise from myself the
possibility that such may be, you shall not blame yourselves for
anything."
"That's frank anyhow," broke in Quincey. "I'll answer for the
Professor. I don't quite see his drift, but I swear he's honest,
and that's good enough for me."
"I thank you, Sir," said Van Helsing proudly. "I have done
myself the honor of counting you one trusting friend, and such
endorsement is dear to me." He held out a hand, which Quincey
took.
Then Arthur spoke out, "Dr. Van Helsing, I don't quite like to
`buy a pig in a poke', as they say in Scotland, and if it be
anything in which my honour as a gentleman or my faith as a
Christian is concerned, I cannot make such a promise. If you can
assure me that what you intend does not violate either of these
two, then I give my consent at once, though for the life of me, I
cannot understand what you are driving at."
"I accept your limitation," said Van Helsing, "and all I ask of
you is that if you feel it necessary to condemn any act of mine,
you will first consider it well and be satisfied that it does not
violate your reservations."
"Agreed!" said Arthur. "That is only fair. And now that the
pourparlers are over, may I ask what it is we are to do?"
"I want you to come with me, and to come in secret, to the
churchyard at Kingstead."
Arthur's face fell as he said in an amazed sort of way,
"Where poor Lucy is buried?"
The Professor bowed.
Arthur went on, "And when there?"
"To enter the tomb!"
Arthur stood up. "Professor, are you in earnest, or is it some"To enter the tomb!"
Arthur stood up. "Professor, are you in earnest, or is it some
monstrous joke? Pardon me, I see that you are in earnest." He sat
down again, but I could see that he sat firmly and proudly, as one
who is on his dignity. There was silence until he asked again, "And
when in the tomb?"
"To open the coffin."
"This is too much!" he said, angrily rising again. "I am willing
to be patient in all things that are reasonable, but in this, this
desecration of the grave, of one who … " He fairly choked with
indignation.
The Professor looked pityingly at him."If I could spare you one
pang, my poor friend," he said, "God knows I would. But this night
our feet must tread in thorny paths, or later, and for ever, the
feet you love must walk in paths of flame!"
Arthur looked up with set white face and said, "Take care, sir,
take care!"
"Would it not be well to hear what I have to say?" said Van
Helsing. "And then you will at least know the limit of my purpose.
Shall I go on?"
"That's fair enough," broke in Morris.
After a pause Van Helsing went on, evidently with an effort,
"Miss Lucy is dead, is it not so? Yes! Then there can be no wrong
to her. But if she be not dead… "
Arthur jumped to his feet, "Good God!" he cried. "What do you
mean? Has there been any mistake, has she been buried alive?"He
groaned in anguish that not even hope could soften.
"I did not say she was alive, my child. I did not think it. I go
no further than to say that she might be Un-Dead."
"Un-Dead! Not alive! What do you mean? Is this all a nightmare,
or what is it?"
"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by
age they may solve only in part. Believe me, we are now on the
verge of one. But I have not done. May I cut off the head of dead
Miss Lucy?"
"Heavens and earth, no!" cried Arthur in a storm of passion.
"Not for the wide world will I consent to any mutilation of her
dead body. Dr. Van Helsing, you try me too far. What have I done to
you that you should torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girlyou that you should torture me so? What did that poor, sweet girl
do that you should want to cast such dishonor on her grave? Are you
mad, that you speak of such things, or am I mad to listen to them?
Don't dare think more of such a desecration. I shall not give my
consent to anything you do. I have a duty to do in protecting her
grave from outrage, and by God, I shall do it!"
Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time been seated,
and said, gravely and sternly, "My Lord Godalming, I too, have a
duty to do, a duty to others, a duty to you, a duty to the dead,
and by God, I shall do it! All I ask you now is that you come with
me, that you look and listen, and if when later I make the same
request you do not be more eager for its fulfillment even than I
am, then, I shall do my duty, whatever it may seem to me. And then,
to follow your Lordship's wishes I shall hold myself at your
disposal to render an account to you, when and where you will." His
voice broke a little, and he went on with a voice full of pity.
"But I beseech you, do not go forth in anger with me. In a long
life of acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which
sometimes did wring my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as
now. Believe me that if the time comes for you to change your mind
towards me, one look from you will wipe away all this so sad hour,
for I would do what a man can to save you from sorrow. Just think.
For why should I give myself so much labor and so much of sorrow? I
have come here from my own land to do what I can of good, at the
first to please my friend John, and then to help a sweet young
lady, whom too, I come to love. For her, I am ashamed to say so
much, but I say it in kindness, I gave what you gave, the blood of
my veins. I gave it, I who was not, like you, her lover, but only
her physician and her friend. I gave her my nights and days, before
death, after death, and if my death can do her good even now, when
she is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely." He said thisshe is the dead Un-Dead, she shall have it freely." He said this
with a very grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected by
it.
He took the old man's hand and said in a broken voice, "Oh, it
is hard to think of it, and I cannot understand, but at least I
shall go with you and wait."