communion of our minds that she was now definitely unwell, and suffering, I
did not guess the cause.
Whether because of a fortunate compatibility between Holmwood's blood and her
own, or because of some equally lucky failure of the technique to transfuse
much of any blood at all, Lucy not only survived that first operation but by
next day had regained something of the appearance of heath. She had been
narcotized during the operation, and on waking had no clear grasp of what had
happened, although of course there was the small bandaged wound upon her arm
to give her food for thought. When she questioned the men who had her in their
charge they lovingly told her to lie back and rest.
On the night of September ninth she suffered a relapse; or it may have been a
fresh illness, some bloodborne infection from her fiance. Van Helsing's
prescribed treatment for this setback was a second transfusion, this time with
Seward as the donor, as the youngest and sturdiest male available at the
moment. Those who wonder at the girl's surviving this second assault and a
third one, later on at the hands of the indomitable scientist may ponder also
Lower's similar operation, which was also successful or at least nonfatal,
performed in London in 1667. And another in Paris in the same year, by Denis,
who is documented as transfusing the blood of a lamb into the veins of a boy
left anemic by conventional medical treatment that is, bloodletting of the
time. The nineteenth century in England saw the obstetrician Blundell, and
others, attempting the transfusion of blood between humans with increasing
frequency, and often claiming favorable results.
But many unpublicized attempts must have been made that concluded more
unhappily. And Lucy's second transfusion, from Seward who wrote that he was
much weakened by his donation had a bad effect upon her.
As she languished in her bed and I of course unknowingly pursued my own
affairs on September eleventh the house at Hillingham received from Holland
the first of a number of shipments of garlic, including both flowers and whole
plants. These of course were ordered especially by the philosopher and
metaphysician, who by this time knew though he had told no one that a vampire
was lurking about. Now, the powerful smell ofAllium sativumis at least as
discouraging to a suitor of my persuasion as to one of the more common
sort nay, more so, for even bland food can be disgusting to a vampire but it
is not quite the impassable barrier Van Helsing evidently hoped for. Still,
had I really been intent upon effecting the poor girl's ruin, this new tactic
would at least have been better than injecting her with foreign proteins.
On the night of September twelfth Mrs. Westenra, though herself semi-invalid,
roused sufficiently to throw the supposedly medicinal flowers out of her
daughter's room and leave the window open. Perhaps her own life was somewhat
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prolonged by this removal of the irritating stench of diallyl disulfide and
trisulfide and the rest, but Lucy's was thought by the doctors, at least to
suffer. One of the most advanced scientists of his day had of course omitted
to tell Lucy's mother of his theories that her daughter would be better off
with windows shut and stinking blooms in place. Had he spelled out all his
ideas for Lucy's mother, I suppose she might have thrown the flowers out
anyway, and Van Helsing with them, and we should all have been far better off.
However&
Naturally Lucy's vampire visitor was blamed, by Van Helsing then, and by the
whole crew later, for the continued deterioration of her condition. In fact, I
was walking the streets of Whitechapel on the night the flowers were thrown
out, and far into the morning; but I could have produced no witnesses. On that
night I spoke with and joked withaneyewitness to one of the Ripper's shocking
crimes of three years before. I believed her surprising version of that event,
but I doubted that a jury would accept her word on my whereabouts or her
testimony as a character witness for me.
She was welcome company, for during most of that night I walked alone and
nursed a grim, post-midnight kind of thought. The first real doubts were
rising in my mind as to the feasibility of my planned reunion with the
mainstream of humanity. Much as I enjoyed being in London, I was being forced
to the realization that my mere presence there was not changing me as rapidly
as I had hoped.
On September thirteenth, as Seward recorded in his journal which he kept, by
the way, on an early variety of phonograph, nowhere near as efficient as this
admirable machine into which I speak "again the operation; again the narcotic;
again some return of color to the ashy cheeks& "
This time Van Helsing himself was donor, whilst Seward, at the master's
direction, operated. With such an agglomeration of cells in her poor veins, it
is only a wonder that the poor girl lived as long as she did.
I must now recount the events of September seventeenth, which was a most
fateful day for all of us.
Jonathan and Mina Harker, fresh from being married in Budapest, where he had
long lain in hospital, were now prosperously installed in a house in Exeter.
Mina had now read her bridegroom's somewhat feverish journal of his stay at my
castle, but the subject of vampirism had never been discussed between them,
and no doubt at this point neither thought such horrors would touch their
lives again.
Arthur Holmwood still watched at his dying father's bedside in Ring, with
moral support from a young American named Quincey Morris, Arthur's frequent
companion on hunting trips round the world, and the third of Lucy's breathing
suitors.
At the asylum on that evening, Renfield, loose again, came after Dr. Seward
with a kitchen knife. Seward, fortunately for himself, managed to stun his
powerful antagonist with a single punch, and the madman was soon disarmed and
returned to confinement.
Van Helsing, back in Antwerp on one of his habitual commuting journeys, but
still commendably concerned about his patient Lucy, telegraphed to Seward that
it was vital for Seward to stand guard at Hillingham that night to guard
against exactly what, Van Helsing had yet to specify. Seward of course would
have un-questioningly complied, but that telegram for some fateful reason was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]