"Have you said anything to our young friend the lover of her?"
"No," I said. "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my telegram.I wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were coming, as MissWestenra was not so well, and that I should let him know if need be."
"Right, my friend," he said, "quite right! Better he not know as yet;perhaps he shall never know. I pray so; but if it be needed, then heshall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution you. You dealwith the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuchas you deal discreetly with your madmen, so deal with God's madmen,too--the rest of the world. You tell not your madmen what you do nor whyyou do it; you tell them not what you think. So you shall keep knowledgein its place, where it may rest--where it may gather its kind around itand breed. You and I shall keep as yet what we know here, and here." Hetouched me on the heart and on the forehead, and then touched himselfthe same way. "I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shallunfold to you."
"Why not now?" I asked. "It may do some good; we may arrive at somedecision." He stopped and looked at me, and said:--
"My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it hasripened--while the milk of its mother-earth is in him, and the sunshinehas not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull theear and rub him between his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff,and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when thetime comes.'" I did not see the application, and told him so. For replyhe reached over and took my ear in his hand and pulled it playfully, ashe used long ago to do at lectures, and said: "The good husbandman tellyou so then because he knows, but not till then. But you do not find thegood husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow; that is forthe children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as ofthe work of their life. See you now, friend John? I have sown my corn,and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all,there's some promise; and I wait till the ear begins to swell." He brokeoff, for he evidently saw that I understood. Then he went on, and verygravely:--
"You were always a careful student, and your case-book was ever morefull than the rest. You were only student then; now you are master,and I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember, my friend, thatknowledge is stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker.Even if you have not kept the good practice, let me tell you that thiscase of our dear miss is one that may be--mind, I say _may be_--of suchinterest to us and others that all the rest may not make him kick thebeam, as your peoples say. Take then good note of it. Nothing is toosmall. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises.Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. Welearn from failure, not from success!"
When I described Lucy's symptoms--the same as before, but definitelymore marked--he looked very grave, but said nothing. He took with him abag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the ghastly paraphernaliaof our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of his lectures,the equipment of a professor of the healing craft. When we were shownin, Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but not nearly so much as Iexpected to find her. Nature in one of her beneficent moods has ordainedthat even death has some antidote to its own terrors. Here, in a casewhere any shock may prove fatal, matters are so ordered that, fromsome cause or other, the things not personal--even the terrible changein her daughter to whom she is so attached--do not seem to reach her.It is something like the way Dame Nature gathers round a foreign bodyan envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evilthat which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an orderedselfishness, then we should pause before we condemn any one for the viceof egoism, for there may be deeper roots for its causes than we haveknowledge of.
I used my knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and laid downa rule that she should not be present with Lucy or think of her illnessmore than was absolutely required. She assented readily, so readily thatI saw again the hand of Nature fighting for life. Van Helsing and I wereshown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I saw her yesterday, Iwas horrified when I saw her to-day. She was ghastly, chalkily pale;the red seemed to have gone even from her lips and gums, and the bonesof her face stood out prominently; her breathing was painful to see orhear. Van Helsing's face grew set as marble, and his eyebrows convergedtill they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless and did notseem to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent. ThenVan Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of the room. Theinstant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along the passage tothe next door, which was open. Then he pulled me quickly in with him andclosed the door. "My God!" he said; "this is dreadful. There is no timeto be lost. She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart'saction as it should be. There must be transfusion of blood at once. Isit you or me?"
"I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me."
"Then get ready at once. I will bring up my bag. I am prepared."
I went downstairs with him and as we were going there was a knock at thehall-door. When we reached the hall the maid had just opened the door,and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up to me, saying in aneager whisper:--
"Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your letter, andhave been in an agony. The dad was better, so I ran down here to see formyself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing? I am so thankful to you,sir, for coming." When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him he hadbeen angry at any interruption at such a time; but now, as he took inhis stalwart proportions and recognised the strong young manhood whichseemed to emanate from him, his eyes gleamed. Without a pause he said tohim gravely as he held out his hand:--
"Sir, you have come in time. You are the lover of our dear miss. Sheis bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that." For hesuddenly grew pale and sat down in a chair almost fainting. "You are tohelp her. You can do more than any that live, and your courage is yourbest help."
"What can I do?" asked Arthur hoarsely. "Tell me, and I shall do it. Mylife is hers, and I would give the last drop of blood in my body forher." The Professor has a strongly humorous side, and I could from oldknowledge detect a trace of its origin in his answer:--
"My young sir, I do not ask so much as that--not the last!"
"What shall I do?" There was fire in his eyes, and his open nostrilsquivered with intent. Van Helsing slapped him on the shoulder. "Come!"he said. "You are a man, and it is a man we want. You are better thanme, better than my friend John." Arthur looked bewildered, and theProfessor went on by explaining in a kindly way:--
"Young miss is bad, very bad. She wants blood, and blood she must haveor die. My friend John and I have consulted; and we are about to performwhat we call transfusion of blood--to transfer from full veins of one tothe empty veins which pine for him. John was to give his blood, as he isthe more young and strong than me"--here Arthur too
k my hand and wrungit hard in silence--"but, now you are here, you are more good than us,old or young, who toil much in the world of thought. Our nerves are notso calm and our blood not so bright than yours!" Arthur turned to himand said:--
"If you only knew how gladly I would die for her you wouldunderstand----"
He stopped, with a sort of choke in his voice.
"Good boy!" said Van Helsing. "In the not-so-far-off you will be happythat you have done all for her you love. Come now and be silent. Youshall kiss her once before it is done, but then you must go; and youmust leave at my sign. Say no word to Madame; you know how it is withher! There must be no shock; any knowledge of this would be one. Come!"
We all went up to Lucy's room. Arthur by direction remained outside.Lucy turned her head and looked at us, but said nothing. She was notasleep, but she was simply too weak to make the effort. Her eyes spoketo us; that was all. Van Helsing took some things from his bag and laidthem on a little table out of sight. Then he mixed a narcotic, andcoming over to the bed, said cheerily:--
"Now, little miss, here is your medicine. Drink it off, like a goodchild. See, I lift you so that to swallow is easy. Yes." She had madethe effort with success.
It astonished me how long the drug took to act. This, in fact, markedthe extent of her weakness. The time seemed endless until sleep began toflicker in her eyelids. At last, however, the narcotic began to manifestits potency; and she fell into a deep sleep. When the Professor wassatisfied he called Arthur into the room, and bade him strip off hiscoat. Then he added: "You may take that one little kiss whiles I bringover the table. Friend John, help to me!" So neither of us looked whilsthe bent over her.
Van Helsing, turning to me, said:--
"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need notdefibrinate it."
Then with swiftness, but with absolute method, Van Helsing performedthe operation. As the transfusion went on something like life seemed tocome back to poor Lucy's cheeks, and through Arthur's growing pallor thejoy of his face seemed absolutely to shine. After a bit I began to growanxious, for the loss of blood was telling on Arthur, strong man as hewas. It gave me an idea of what a terrible strain Lucy's system musthave undergone that what weakened Arthur only partially restored her.But the Professor's face was set, and he stood watch in hand and withhis eyes fixed now on the patient and now on Arthur. I could hear my ownheart beat. Presently he said in a soft voice: "Do not stir an instant.It is enough. You attend him; I will look to her." When all was over Icould see how much Arthur was weakened. I dressed the wound and took hisarm to bring him away, when Van Helsing spoke without turning round--theman seems to have eyes in the back of his head:--
"The brave lover I think deserve another kiss, which he shall havepresently." And as he had now finished his operation, he adjusted thepillow to the patient's head. As he did so the narrow black velvet bandwhich she seemed always to wear round her throat, buckled with an olddiamond buckle which her lover had given her, was dragged a little up,and showed a red mark on her throat. Arthur did not notice it, but Icould hear the deep hiss of indrawn breath which is one of Van Helsing'sways of betraying emotion. He said nothing at the moment, but turned tome, saying: "Now take down our brave young lover, give him of the portwine, and let him lie down a while. He must then go home and rest, sleepmuch and eat much, that he may be recruited of what he has so given tohis love. He must not stay here. Hold! a moment. I may take it, sir,that you are anxious of result. Then bring it with you that in all waysthe operation is successful. You have saved her life this time, and youcan go home and rest easy in mind that all that can be is. I shall tellher all when she is well; she shall love you none the less for what youhave done. Good-bye."
When Arthur had gone I went back to the room. Lucy was sleeping gently,but her breathing was stronger; I could see the counterpane move as herbreast heaved. By the bedside sat Van Helsing, looking at her intently.The velvet band again covered the red mark. I asked the Professor in awhisper:--
"What do you make of that mark on her throat?"