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"Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on me. Why, |
these flowers are only common garlic." |
To my surprise, Van Helsing rose up and said with all his sternness, his |
iron jaw set and his bushy eyebrows meeting:-- |
"No trifling with me! I never jest! There is grim purpose in all I do; |
and I warn you that you do not thwart me. Take care, for the sake of |
others if not for your own." Then seeing poor Lucy scared, as she might |
well be, he went on more gently: "Oh, little miss, my dear, do not fear |
me. I only do for your good; but there is much virtue to you in those so |
common flowers. See, I place them myself in your room. I make myself the |
wreath that you are to wear. But hush! no telling to others that make so |
inquisitive questions. We must obey, and silence is a part of obedience; |
and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait |
for you. Now sit still awhile. Come with me, friend John, and you shall |
help me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem, |
where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass-houses all the year. |
I had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here." |
We went into the room, taking the flowers with us. The Professor's |
actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopoeia |
that I ever heard of. First he fastened up the windows and latched them |
securely; next, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over |
the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get |
in would be laden with the garlic smell. Then with the wisp he rubbed |
all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round |
the fireplace in the same way. It all seemed grotesque to me, and |
presently I said:-- |
"Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but |
this certainly puzzles me. It is well we have no sceptic here, or he |
would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit." |
"Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which |
Lucy was to wear round her neck. |
We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she |
was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her |
neck. The last words he said to her were:-- |
"Take care you do not disturb it; and even if the room feel close, do |
not to-night open the window or the door." |
"I promise," said Lucy, "and thank you both a thousand times for all |
your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such |
friends?" |
As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said:-- |
"To-night I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want--two nights of travel, |
much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to follow, |
and a night to sit up, without to wink. To-morrow in the morning early |
you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much |
more strong for my 'spell' which I have work. Ho! ho!" |
He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two nights |
before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terror. It must |
have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my friend, but |
I felt it all the more, like unshed tears. |
CHAPTER XI |
_Lucy Westenra's Diary._ |
_12 September._--How good they all are to me. I quite love that dear Dr. |
Van Helsing. I wonder why he was so anxious about these flowers. He |
positively frightened me, he was so fierce. And yet he must have been |
right, for I feel comfort from them already. Somehow, I do not dread |
being alone to-night, and I can go to sleep without fear. I shall not |
mind any flapping outside the window. Oh, the terrible struggle that I |
have had against sleep so often of late; the pain of the sleeplessness, |
or the pain of the fear of sleep, with such unknown horrors as it has |
for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no |
dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings |
nothing but sweet dreams. Well, here I am to-night, hoping for sleep, |
and lying like Ophelia in the play, with "virgin crants and maiden |
strewments." I never liked garlic before, but to-night it is delightful! |
There is peace in its smell; I feel sleep coming already. Good-night, |
everybody. |
_Dr. Seward's Diary._ |
_13 September._--Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as usual, |
up to time. The carriage ordered from the hotel was waiting. The |
Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him now. |
Let all be put down exactly. Van Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham at |
eight o'clock. It was a lovely morning; the bright sunshine and all the |
fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the completion of nature's |
annual work. The leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colours, |
but had not yet begun to drop from the trees. When we entered we met |
Mrs. Westenra coming out of the morning room. She is always an early |
riser. She greeted us warmly and said:-- |
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