DRACULA
PART 9
CHAPTER IX
Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy
Westenra.
“Buda-Pesth, 24 August.
“My dearest Lucy,—
“I know
you will be anxious to hear all that has happened since we parted at the
railway station at Whitby. Well, my dear, I got to Hull all right, and caught
the boat to Hamburg, and then the train on here. I feel that I can hardly
recall anything of the journey, except that I knew I was coming to Jonathan,
and, that as I should have to do some nursing, I had better get all the sleep I
could.... I found my dear one, oh, so thin and pale and weak-looking. All the
resolution has gone out of his dear eyes, and that quiet dignity which I told
you was in his face has vanished. He is only a wreck of himself, and he does
not remember anything that has happened to him for a long time past. At least,
he wants me to believe so, and I shall never ask. He has had some terrible
shock, and I fear it might tax his poor brain if he were to try to recall it.
Sister Agatha, who is a good creature and a born nurse, tells me that he raved
of dreadful things whilst he was off his head. I wanted her to tell me what
they were; but she would only cross herself, and say she would never tell; that
the ravings of the sick were the secrets of God, and that if a nurse through
her vocation should hear them, she should respect her trust. She is a sweet,
good soul, and the next day, when she saw I was troubled, she opened up the
subject again, and after saying that she could never mention what my poor dear
raved about, added: ‘I can tell you this much, my dear: that it was not about
anything which he has done wrong himself; and you, as his wife to be, have no
cause to be concerned. He has not forgotten you or what he owes to you. His
fear was of great and terrible things, which no mortal can treat of.’ I do
believe the dear soul thought I might be jealous lest my poor dear should have
fallen in love with any other girl. The idea of my being jealous about
Jonathan! And yet, my dear, let me whisper, I felt a thrill of joy through me
when I knew that no other woman was a cause of trouble. I am now sitting
by his bedside, where I can see his face while he sleeps. He is waking!...
“When he
woke he asked me for his coat, as he wanted to get something from the pocket; I
asked Sister Agatha, and she brought all his things. I saw that amongst them
was his note-book, and was going to ask him to let me look at it—for I knew
then that I might find some clue to his trouble—but I suppose he must have seen
my wish in my eyes, for he sent me over to the window, saying he wanted to be
quite alone for a moment. Then he called me back, and when I came he had his hand
over the note-book, and he said to me very solemnly:—
“ ‘Wilhelmina’—I
knew then that he was in deadly earnest, for he has never called me by that
name since he asked me to marry him—‘you know, dear, my ideas of the trust
between husband and wife: there should be no secret, no concealment. I have had
a great shock, and when I try to think of what it is I feel my head spin round,
and I do not know if it was all real or the dreaming of a madman. You know I
have had brain fever, and that is to be mad. The secret is here, and I do not
want to know it. I want to take up my life here, with our marriage.’ For, my
dear, we had decided to be married as soon as the formalities are complete.
‘Are you willing, Wilhelmina, to share my ignorance? Here is the book. Take it
and keep it, read it if you will, but never let me know; unless, indeed, some
solemn duty should come upon me to go back to the bitter hours, asleep or
awake, sane or mad, recorded here.’ He fell back exhausted, and I put the book
under his pillow, and kissed him. I have asked Sister Agatha to beg the
Superior to let our wedding be this afternoon, and am waiting her reply....
“She has
come and told me that the chaplain of the English mission church has been sent
for. We are to be married in an hour, or as soon after as Jonathan awakes....
“Lucy, the
time has come and gone. I feel very solemn, but very, very happy. Jonathan woke
a little after the hour, and all was ready, and he sat up in bed, propped up
with pillows. He answered his ‘I will’ firmly and strongly. I could hardly
speak; my heart was so full that even those words seemed to choke me. The dear
sisters were so kind. Please God, I shall never, never forget them, nor the
grave and sweet responsibilities I have taken upon me. I must tell you of my
wedding present. When the chaplain and the sisters had left me alone with my
husband—oh, Lucy, it is the first time I have written the words ‘my
husband’—left me alone with my husband, I took the book from under his pillow,
and wrapped it up in white paper, and tied it with a
little bit of pale blue ribbon which was round my neck, and sealed it over the
knot with sealing-wax, and for my seal I used my wedding ring. Then I kissed it
and showed it to my husband, and told him that I would keep it so, and then it
would be an outward and visible sign for us all our lives that we trusted each
other; that I would never open it unless it were for his own dear sake or for
the sake of some stern duty. Then he took my hand in his, and oh, Lucy, it was
the first time he took his wife’s hand, and said that it was the dearest
thing in all the wide world, and that he would go through all the past again to
win it, if need be. The poor dear meant to have said a part of the past, but he
cannot think of time yet, and I shall not wonder if at first he mixes up not
only the month, but the year.
“Well, my
dear, what could I say? I could only tell him that I was the happiest woman in
all the wide world, and that I had nothing to give him except myself, my life,
and my trust, and that with these went my love and duty for all the days of my
life. And, my dear, when he kissed me, and drew me to him with his poor weak
hands, it was like a very solemn pledge between us....
“Lucy
dear, do you know why I tell you all this? It is not only because it is all
sweet to me, but because you have been, and are, very dear to me. It was my
privilege to be your friend and guide when you came from the schoolroom to
prepare for the world of life. I want you to see now, and with the eyes of a
very happy wife, whither duty has led me; so that in your own married life you
too may be all happy as I am. My dear, please Almighty God, your life may be
all it promises: a long day of sunshine, with no harsh wind, no forgetting
duty, no distrust. I must not wish you no pain, for that can never be; but I do
hope you will be always as happy as I am now. Good-bye, my dear.
I shall post this at once, and, perhaps, write you very soon again. I must
stop, for Jonathan is waking—I must attend to my husband!
“Your ever-loving
“Mina Harker.”
“Mina Harker.”
Letter, Lucy Westenra to Mina
Harker.
“Whitby, 30 August.
“My dearest Mina,—
“Oceans of
love and millions of kisses, and may you soon be in your own home with your
husband. I wish you could be coming home soon enough to stay with us here. The
strong air would soon restore Jonathan; it has quite restored me. I have an
appetite like a cormorant, am full of life, and sleep
well. You will be glad to know that I have quite given up walking in my sleep.
I think I have not stirred out of my bed for a week, that is when I once got
into it at night. Arthur says I am getting fat. By the way, I forgot to tell
you that Arthur is here. We have such walks and drives, and rides, and rowing,
and tennis, and fishing together; and I love him more than ever. He tells
me that he loves me more, but I doubt that, for at first he told me that he
couldn’t love me more than he did then. But this is nonsense. There he is,
calling to me. So no more just at present from your loving
“Lucy.
“P. S.—Mother
sends her love. She seems better, poor dear.
“P. P.
S.—We are to be married on 28 September.”
Dr. Seward’s Diary.
20
August.—The case of Renfield grows
even more interesting. He has now so far quieted that there are spells of
cessation from his passion. For the first week after his attack he was
perpetually violent. Then one night, just as the moon rose, he grew quiet, and
kept murmuring to himself: “Now I can wait; now I can wait.” The attendant came
to tell me, so I ran down at once to have a look at him. He was still in the
strait-waistcoat and in the padded room, but the suffused look had gone from
his face, and his eyes had something of their old pleading—I might almost say,
“cringing”—softness. I was satisfied with his present condition, and directed
him to be relieved. The attendants hesitated, but finally carried out my wishes
without protest. It was a strange thing that the patient had humour enough to
see their distrust, for, coming close to me, he said in a whisper, all the
while looking furtively at them:—
“They
think I could hurt you! Fancy me hurting you! The fools!”
It was
soothing, somehow, to the feelings to find myself dissociated even in the mind
of this poor madman from the others; but all the same I do not follow his
thought. Am I to take it that I have anything in common with him, so that we
are, as it were, to stand together; or has he to gain from me some good so
stupendous that my well-being is needful to him? I must find out later on.
To-night he will not speak. Even the offer of a kitten or even a full-grown cat
will not tempt him. He will only say: “I don’t take any stock in cats. I have
more to think of now, and I can wait; I can wait.”
After a
while I left him. The attendant tells me that he was
quiet until just before dawn, and that then he began to get uneasy, and at
length violent, until at last he fell into a paroxysm which exhausted him so
that he swooned into a sort of coma.
... Three
nights has the same thing happened—violent all day then quiet from moonrise to
sunrise. I wish I could get some clue to the cause. It would almost seem as if
there was some influence which came and went. Happy thought! We shall to-night
play sane wits against mad ones. He escaped before without our help; to-night
he shall escape with it. We shall give him a chance, and have the men ready to
follow in case they are required....
23
August.—“The unexpected always
happens.” How well Disraeli knew life. Our bird when he found the cage open
would not fly, so all our subtle arrangements were for nought. At any rate, we
have proved one thing; that the spells of quietness last a reasonable time. We
shall in future be able to ease his bonds for a few hours each day. I have
given orders to the night attendant merely to shut him in the padded room, when
once he is quiet, until an hour before sunrise. The poor soul’s body will enjoy
the relief even if his mind cannot appreciate it. Hark! The unexpected again! I
am called; the patient has once more escaped.
Later.—Another night adventure. Renfield artfully waited
until the attendant was entering the room to inspect. Then he dashed out past
him and flew down the passage. I sent word for the attendants to follow. Again
he went into the grounds of the deserted house, and we found him in the same
place, pressed against the old chapel door. When he saw me he became furious,
and had not the attendants seized him in time, he would have tried to kill me.
As we were holding him a strange thing happened. He suddenly redoubled his
efforts, and then as suddenly grew calm. I looked round instinctively, but
could see nothing. Then I caught the patient’s eye and followed it, but could
trace nothing as it looked into the moonlit sky except a big bat, which was
flapping its silent and ghostly way to the west. Bats usually wheel and flit
about, but this one seemed to go straight on, as if it knew where it was bound
for or had some intention of its own. The patient grew calmer every instant,
and presently said:—
“You
needn’t tie me; I shall go quietly!” Without trouble we came back to the house.
I feel there is something ominous in his calm, and shall not forget this
night....
Lucy Westenra’s Diary
Hillingham,
24 August.—I must imitate Mina, and
keep writing things down. Then we can have long talks when we do meet. I wonder
when it will be. I wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappy. Last
night I seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at Whitby. Perhaps it is the change
of air, or getting home again. It is all dark and horrid to me, for I can
remember nothing; but I am full of vague fear, and I feel so weak and worn out.
When Arthur came to lunch he looked quite grieved when he saw me, and I hadn’t
the spirit to try to be cheerful. I wonder if I could sleep in mother’s room
to-night. I shall make an excuse and try.
25
August.—Another bad night. Mother did
not seem to take to my proposal. She seems not too well herself, and doubtless
she fears to worry me. I tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while; but
when the clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been
falling asleep. There was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I
did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must then have fallen
asleep. More bad dreams. I wish I could remember them. This morning I am
horribly weak. My face is ghastly pale, and my throat pains me. It must be
something wrong with my lungs, for I don’t seem ever to get air enough. I shall
try to cheer up when Arthur comes, or else I know he will be miserable to see
me so.
Letter, Arthur Holmwood to Dr.
Seward.
“Albemarle Hotel, 31 August.
“My dear Jack,—
“I want
you to do me a favour. Lucy is ill; that is, she has no special disease, but
she looks awful, and is getting worse every day. I have asked her if there is
any cause; I do not dare to ask her mother, for to disturb the poor lady’s mind
about her daughter in her present state of health would be fatal. Mrs. Westenra
has confided to me that her doom is spoken—disease of the heart—though poor
Lucy does not know it yet. I am sure that there is something preying on my dear
girl’s mind. I am almost distracted when I think of her; to look at her gives
me a pang. I told her I should ask you to see her, and though she demurred at
first—I know why, old fellow—she finally consented. It will be a painful task
for you, I know, old friend, but it is for her sake, and I must not
hesitate to ask, or you to act. You are to come to lunch
at Hillingham to-morrow, two o’clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in Mrs.
Westenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being alone with
you. I shall come in for tea, and we can go away together; I am filled with
anxiety, and want to consult with you alone as soon as I can after you have
seen her. Do not fail!
“Arthur.”
Telegram, Arthur Holmwood to
Seward.
“1 September.
“Am
summoned to see my father, who is worse. Am writing. Write me fully by
to-night’s post to Ring. Wire me if necessary.”
Letter from Dr. Seward to
Arthur Holmwood.
“2 September.
“My dear old fellow,—
“With
regard to Miss Westenra’s health I hasten to let you know at once that in my
opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady that I know of.
At the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with her appearance; she is
woefully different from what she was when I saw her last. Of course you must
bear in mind that I did not have full opportunity of examination such as I
should wish; our very friendship makes a little difficulty which not even
medical science or custom can bridge over. I had better tell you exactly what
happened, leaving you to draw, in a measure, your own conclusions. I shall then
say what I have done and propose doing.
“I found
Miss Westenra in seemingly gay spirits. Her mother was present, and in a few
seconds I made up my mind that she was trying all she knew to mislead her
mother and prevent her from being anxious. I have no doubt she guesses, if she
does not know, what need of caution there is. We lunched alone, and as we all
exerted ourselves to be cheerful, we got, as some kind of reward for our
labours, some real cheerfulness amongst us. Then Mrs. Westenra went to lie
down, and Lucy was left with me. We went into her boudoir, and till we got
there her gaiety remained, for the servants were coming and going. As soon as
the door was closed, however, the mask fell from her face, and she sank down
into a chair with a great sigh, and hid her eyes with her hand. When I saw that
her high spirits had failed, I at once took advantage of her reaction to make a
diagnosis. She said to me very sweetly:—
“ ‘I
cannot tell you how I loathe talking about myself.’ I reminded
her that a doctor’s confidence was sacred, but that you were grievously anxious
about her. She caught on to my meaning at once, and settled that matter in a
word. ‘Tell Arthur everything you choose. I do not care for myself, but all for
him!’ So I am quite free.
“I could
easily see that she is somewhat bloodless, but I could not see the usual anæmic
signs, and by a chance I was actually able to test the quality of her blood,
for in opening a window which was stiff a cord gave way, and she cut her hand
slightly with broken glass. It was a slight matter in itself, but it gave me an
evident chance, and I secured a few drops of the blood and have analysed them.
The qualitative analysis gives a quite normal condition, and shows, I should
infer, in itself a vigorous state of health. In other physical matters I was
quite satisfied that there is no need for anxiety; but as there must be a cause
somewhere, I have come to the conclusion that it must be something mental. She
complains of difficulty in breathing satisfactorily at times, and of heavy,
lethargic sleep, with dreams that frighten her, but regarding which she can
remember nothing. She says that as a child she used to walk in her sleep, and
that when in Whitby the habit came back, and that once she walked out in the
night and went to East Cliff, where Miss Murray found her; but she assures me
that of 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, but 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, an 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 to-morrow 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.”
“John Seward.”
Letter, Abraham Van Helsing,
M. D., D. Ph., D. Lit., etc., etc., to Dr. Seward.
“2 September.
“My good Friend,—
“When I
have 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 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 then rooms for me at the Great Eastern Hotel, so that I may be near
to hand, and please it so arrange that we may see the young lady not too late
on to-morrow, 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 good-bye, 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 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 in London were not quite so
bad as they used to be when he was a student here. I am to get his report
to-morrow 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 that
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 suavely said:—
“ ‘My
dear young miss, I have the so great pleasure because you are so much beloved.
That is much, my dear, ever 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 once he pointed me out to 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 madams 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 presently the professor came to the window and called
me in. He looked grave, but said: ‘I have made careful
examination, but there is no functional cause. With you I agree that there has
been much blood lost; it has been, but is not. But the conditions of her are in
no way anæmic. I have asked her to send me her maid, that I may ask just one or
two question, that so I may not chance to miss nothing. I know well what she
will say. And yet there is cause; there is always cause for everything. I must
go back home and think. You must send to me the telegram every day; and if
there be cause I shall come again. The disease—for not to be all well is a
disease—interest me, and the sweet young dear, she interest me too. She charm
me, and for her, if not for you or disease, I come.’
“As I tell
you, he would not say a word more, even when we were alone. And so now, Art,
you know all I know. I shall keep stern watch. I trust your poor father is
rallying. It must be a terrible thing to you, my dear old fellow, to be placed
in such a position between two people who are both so dear to you. I know your
idea of duty to your father, and you are right to stick to it; but, if need be,
I shall send you word to come at once to Lucy; so do not be over-anxious unless
you hear from me.”
Dr. Seward’s Diary.
4
September.—Zoöphagous patient still
keeps up our interest in him. He had only one outburst and that was yesterday
at an unusual time. Just before the stroke of noon he began to grow restless.
The attendant knew the symptoms, and at once summoned aid. Fortunately the men
came at a run, and were just in time, for at the stroke of noon he became so
violent that it took all their strength to hold him. In about five minutes,
however, he began to get more and more quiet, and finally sank into a sort of
melancholy, in which state he has remained up to now. The attendant tells me
that his screams whilst in the paroxysm were really appalling; I found my hands
full when I got in, attending to some of the other patients who were frightened
by him. Indeed, I can quite understand the effect, for the sounds disturbed
even me, though I was some distance away. It is now after the dinner-hour of
the asylum, and as yet my patient sits in a corner brooding, with a dull,
sullen, woe-begone look in his face, which seems rather to indicate than to
show something directly. I cannot quite understand it.
Later.—Another change in my patient. At five o’clock I
looked in on him, and found him seemingly as happy and contented as he used to
be. He was catching flies and eating them, and was
keeping note of his capture by making nail-marks on the edge of the door
between the ridges of padding. When he saw me, he came over and apologised for
his bad conduct, and asked me in a very humble, cringing way to be led back to
his own room and to have his note-book again. I thought it well to humour him:
so he is back in his room with the window open. He has the sugar of his tea
spread out on the window-sill, and is reaping quite a harvest of flies. He is
not now eating them, but putting them into a box, as of old, and is already
examining the corners of his room to find a spider. I tried to get him to talk
about the past few days, for any clue to his thoughts would be of immense help
to me; but he would not rise. For a moment or two he looked very sad, and said
in a sort of far-away voice, as though saying it rather to himself than to me:—
“All over!
all over! He has deserted me. No hope for me now unless I do it for myself!”
Then suddenly turning to me in a resolute way, he said: “Doctor, won’t you be
very good to me and let me have a little more sugar? I think it would be good
for me.”
“And the
flies?” I said.
“Yes! The
flies like it, too, and I like the flies; therefore I like it.” And there are
people who know so little as to think that madmen do not argue. I procured him
a double supply, and left him as happy a man as, I suppose, any in the world. I
wish I could fathom his mind.
Midnight.—Another change in him. I had been to see Miss
Westenra, whom I found much better, and had just returned, and was standing at
our own gate looking at the sunset, when once more I heard him yelling. As his
room is on this side of the house, I could hear it better than in the morning.
It was a shock to me to turn from the wonderful smoky beauty of a sunset over London,
with its lurid lights and inky shadows and all the marvellous tints that come
on foul clouds even as on foul water, and to realise all the grim sternness of
my own cold stone building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own
desolate heart to endure it all. I reached him just as the sun was going down,
and from his window saw the red disc sink. As it sank he became less and less
frenzied; and just as it dipped he slid from the hands that held him, an inert
mass, on the floor. It is wonderful, however, what intellectual recuperative
power lunatics have, for within a few minutes he stood up quite calmly and
looked around him. I signalled to the attendants not to hold him, for I was anxious to see what he would do. He went straight over to
the window and brushed out the crumbs of sugar; then he took his fly-box, and
emptied it outside, and threw away the box; then he shut the window, and
crossing over, sat down on his bed. All this surprised me, so I asked him: “Are
you not going to keep flies any more?”
“No,” said
he; “I am sick of all that rubbish!” He certainly is a wonderfully interesting
study. I wish I could get some glimpse of his mind or of the cause of his
sudden passion. Stop; there may be a clue after all, if we can find why to-day
his paroxysms came on at high noon and at sunset. Can it be that there is a
malign influence of the sun at periods which affects certain natures—as at
times the moon does others? We shall see.
Telegram, Seward, London, to
Van Helsing, Amsterdam.
“4
September.—Patient still better to-day.”
Telegram, Seward, London, to
Van Helsing, Amsterdam.
“5
September.—Patient greatly improved. Good appetite; sleeps naturally; good
spirits; colour coming back.”
Telegram, Seward, London, to
Van Helsing, Amsterdam.
“6 September.—Terrible
change for the worse. Come at once; do not lose an hour. I hold over telegram
to Holmwood till have seen you.”
To be
continued
