{"id":1242,"date":"2007-02-11T01:35:23","date_gmt":"2007-02-11T07:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conradaskland.com\/blog\/2007\/02\/dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-eleven\/"},"modified":"2007-02-11T01:35:23","modified_gmt":"2007-02-11T07:35:23","slug":"dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-eleven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/dracula-by-bram-stoker-chapter-eleven\/","title":{"rendered":"Dracula by Bram Stoker &#8211; Chapter Eleven"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  LUCY WESTENRA&#8217;S DIARY<\/p>\n<p>12 September.&#8211;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  tonight, 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 sleeplessness, or the pain  of the fear of sleep, and 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 tonight, hoping for sleep, and lying like Ophelia in the play, with`virgin crants and maiden strewments.&#8217; I never liked garlic before, but tonight it is delightful!  There is peace in its smell. I feel sleep coming already.  Goodnight, everybody.<\/p>\n<p>DR. SEWARD&#8217;S DIARY<\/p>\n<p>13 September.&#8211;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.<\/p>\n<p>Let all be put down exactly.  Van Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham at eight o&#8217;clock. It was a lovely morning. The bright sunshine and all the fresh feeling  of  early  autumn seemed like  the completion  of  nature&#8217;s  annual work.  The leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colors, 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,<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You  will  be glad  to know  that Lucy is better.  The dear child is still asleep.  I looked  into her room and saw her,  but did not  go  in, lest I  should disturb her.&#8221;  The Professor smiled, and looked  quite jubilant.  He rubbed his hands  together, and said,  &#8220;Aha!  I thought I had diagnosed the case.  My treatment is working.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To which she replied, &#8220;You must not take all the credit to yourself, doctor.  Lucy&#8217;s  state  this morning is due  in part to me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How do you mean, ma&#8217;am?&#8221;  asked the Professor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Well, I was anxious about the dear child in the night, and went into her room. She was sleeping soundly, so soundly that even my coming did not wake her. But the room was awfully stuffy. There were a lot of those horrible, strongsmelling flowers about everywhere, and she had actually a bunch of them round her neck. I feared that the heavy odor would be too much for the dear child in her weak state, so I took them all away and opened a bit of the window to let in a little fresh air. You will be pleased with her, I am sure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She moved off into her boudoir, where she usually breakfasted early.  As she had spoken, I  watched the Professor&#8217;s face, and saw it turn ashen gray. He had been able to retain his self-command  whilst  the  poor lady was present, for he knew her  state and  how mischievous  a  shock would be.  He actually smiled on her as he held open the  door  for her to pass into her room.  But the instant she  had disappeared he pulled me, suddenly and forcibly, into the  dining  room and closed the door.<\/p>\n<p>Then, for the  first time in my life, I saw Van Helsing break  down.  He raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair, and then beat his palms together in a helpless way.  Finally he sat  down on a chair, and putting his hands before his face, began to sob, with loud, dry sobs that seemed to come from the very racking of his heart.<\/p>\n<p>Then he  raised  his arms again, as though appealing to the whole universe.  &#8220;God!  God!  God!&#8221; he said.  &#8220;What have we done, what  has this poor thing done, that we are so sore beset?  Is  there  fate amongst us still, send down from the pagan world of  old,  that  such things must be, and in such way?  This poor mother, all unknowing, and  all for the best as she think, does such thing as lose her daughter  body and soul, and we must not tell her, we must not even  warn  her, or she die, then both die.  Oh, how we  are beset!   How are all the powers of the devils against us!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly he jumped to his feet.  &#8220;Come,&#8221; he said.&#8221;come, we must see and act.  Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not. We must fight him all the same.&#8221; He went to the hall door for his bag, and together we went up to Lucy&#8217;s room.<\/p>\n<p>Once again I drew up the blind, whilst Van Helsing went towards the bed.  This time he did not start as he looked on the poor face with the same awful, waxen pallor as before.  He wore a look of stern sadness and infinite pity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As I expected,&#8221; he murmured, with that hissing inspiration of his which meant so much. Without a word he went and locked  the  door, and  then began to  set out on the little table the instruments for yet another operation of  transfusion of blood.  I had long ago recognized the necessity, and begun to take off my coat, but he stopped me with  a warning hand.  &#8220;No!&#8221; he said.  &#8220;Today you must operate. I shall provide.  You are weakened already.&#8221;  As he  spoke he  took off his coat and rolled up his shirtsleeve.<\/p>\n<p>Again the operation.   Again the narcotic.   Again some return of color to the ashy cheeks, and the regular  breathing of healthy sleep. This time I watched whilst Van Helsing recruited himself and rested.<\/p>\n<p>Presently he  took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that  she  must  not remove  anything  from Lucy&#8217;s room without consulting him.  That the flowers were  of medicinal value, and that the breathing of  their  odor was a  part of the system of cure.  Then he took over the care of the  case himself, saying that he would watch  this night and the next, and would send me word when to come.<\/p>\n<p>After  another hour  Lucy  waked from  her sleep, fresh and bright and  seemingly  not  much the worse  for her terrible ordeal.<\/p>\n<p>What  does it all mean?  I am beginning to wonder if my long habit of  life  amongst the insane is beginning to tell upon my own brain.<\/p>\n<p>LUCY WESTENRA&#8217;S DIARY<\/p>\n<p>17 September.&#8211;Four days and nights of peace. I am getting so strong again that I hardly know myself. It is as if I had passed through some long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful sunshine and feel the fresh air of the morning around me. I have a dim half remembrance of long, anxious times of waiting and fearing, darkness in which there was not even the pain of hope to make present distress more poignant. And then long spells of oblivion, and the rising back to life as a diver coming up through a great press of water. Since, however, Dr. Van Helsing has been with me, all this bad dreaming seems to have passed away. The noises that used to frighten me out of my wits, the flapping against the windows, the distant voices which seemed so close to me, the harsh sounds that came from I know not where and commanded me to do I know not what, have all ceased. I go to bed now without any fear of sleep. I do not even try to keep awake. I have grown quite fond of the garlic, and a boxful arrives for me every day from Haarlem. Tonight Dr. Van Helsing is going away, as he has to be for a day in Amsterdam. But I need not be watched. I am well enough to be left alone.<\/p>\n<p>Thank God for Mother&#8217;s sake, and dear Arthur&#8217;s, and for all our friends who have been so kind! I shall not even feel the change, for last night Dr.  Van Helsing slept in his chair a lot of the time.  I  found  him asleep twice when I awoke. But I did not fear to go to sleep again, although the boughs or bats  or  something  flapped  almost angrily against  the window panes.<\/p>\n<p>THE PALL MALL GAZETTE 18 September.<\/p>\n<p>THE ESCAPED WOLF  PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF OUR INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n<p>INTERVIEW WITH THE KEEPER IN THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS<\/p>\n<p>After  many inquiries and  almost as many refusals, and perpetually using the words  `PALL MALL GAZETTE &#8216; as  a sort of talisman, I managed to find the keeper of the section  of the Zoological Gardens in which the wold department  is  included.  Thomas Bilder lives in one of  the  cottages in the enclosure behind the  elephant house,  and  was just sitting down to his tea when I found him.  Thomas and his  wife  are hospitable folk, elderly, and without  children, and  if the specimen  I  enjoyed  of their hospitality be of the average kind, their  lives must  be  pretty comfortable.  The keeper would not enter on what he called business until the  supper was over, and we were all satisfied. Then when the table was cleared, and he had lit his pipe, he said,<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now,  Sir,  you  can  go on and arsk me what you want. You&#8217;ll excoose me refoosin&#8217; to  talk of perfeshunal subjucts afore  meals.  I  gives  the  wolves and the jackals and the hyenas in all our section their  tea afore  I begins to arsk them questions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How do you mean, ask them questions?&#8221; I queried, wishful to get him into a talkative humor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; `Ittin&#8217; of them over the `ead with a pole is one way. Scratchin&#8217; of their ears  in another, when gents as is flush wants  a  bit of  a show-orf to their gals.  I don&#8217;t so much mind the fust, the `ittin of the pole part afore I chucks in their dinner, but I waits till  they&#8217;ve `ad their sherry and kawffee, so to speak,afore I tries on with the ear scratchin&#8217;. Mind you,&#8221;  he added philosophically, &#8220;there&#8217;s a deal of the same  nature  in  us as  in them theer animiles.  Here&#8217;s you a-comin&#8217; and arskin&#8217; of me questions  about my business, and I that grump-like that only for your bloomin&#8217;  `arf-quid I&#8217;d `a&#8217; seen you blowed fust `fore  I&#8217;d  answer.  Not  even when you  arsked  me  sarcastic like  if I&#8217;d like you to arsk the Superintendent if  you  might  arsk  me  questions.  Without offence did I tell yer to go to `ell?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You did.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;An&#8217;  when  you said  you&#8217;d report me for usin&#8217; obscene language that was  `ittin&#8217; me over  the `ead.  But the `arfquid made that all right.  I weren&#8217;t  a-goin&#8217; to fight, so I waited for the food, and did with my `owl  as the wolves and lions and tigers does. But, lor&#8217; love yer `art, now that the old  `ooman  has  stuck  a  chunk of her tea-cake in me, an&#8217; rinsed me out with her bloomin&#8217; old teapot, and I&#8217;ve lit hup, you may scratch my ears for all you&#8217;re worth, and won&#8217;t even get a growl out of me.  Drive along with  your questions.  I know what yer a-comin&#8217; at, that `ere escaped wolf.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Exactly.  I want you to give me your view of it.  Just tell me how it happened, and when I know  the facts I&#8217;ll get you to say what you consider was the cause  of  it, and  how you think the whole affair will end.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All right, guv&#8217;nor. This `ere is about the `ole story. That`ere wolf what we called Bersicker was one of three gray ones that came from Norway to Jamrach&#8217;s, which we bought off him four  years ago.  He  was a nice well-behaved wolf, that never gave no trouble to talk of.  I&#8217;m more surprised at `im for wantin&#8217; to get out nor  any  other animile in the place. But, there, you can&#8217;t trust wolves no more nor women.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you mind him, Sir!&#8221;  broke  in  Mrs. Tom, with a cheery laugh.  &#8221; `E&#8217;s got mindin&#8217; the animiles  so long that blest if he ain&#8217;t like a old wolf `isself!  But there  ain&#8217;t no `arm in `im.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Well, Sir,  it  was about two hours after feedin&#8217; yesterday when I first hear my  disturbance.  I was makin&#8217; up a litter in the monkey house for  a  young puma  which is ill. But when I heard the yelpin&#8217; and `owlin&#8217; I kem away straight. There was Bersicker a-tearin&#8217; like a mad thing at  the  bars as if he wanted to get out.  There  wasn&#8217;t much people about that day, and close at hand was  only  one man, a tall, thin chap, with a  `ook nose  and  a  pointed  beard,  with a few white hairs runnin&#8217; through it.  He  had  a `ard, cold  look and red eyes, and I took a sort of mislike  to  him,  for it seemed as if it was `im as they was  hirritated at.  He  `ad white kid gloves on `is `ands, and he  pointed  out the animiles to me and says, `Keeper,  these wolves  seem  upset at something.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;`Maybe  it&#8217;s you,&#8217; says I, for I did not like the airs as he give  `isself.  He  didn&#8217;t  get  angry, as I  `oped he would, but he smiled a kind of insolent smile, with a  mouth full of white, sharp teeth. `Oh no, they wouldn&#8217;t like  me,&#8217; `e says.<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; `Ow yes, they would,&#8217; says I, a-imitatin&#8217;of him.`They always like a bone or two to clean their teeth on  about tea time, which you `as a bagful.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us a-talkin&#8217; they lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let me stroke his ears same as ever.  That there man kem over, and blessed but if he didn&#8217;t put in his hand and  stroke the old wolf&#8217;s ears too!<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; `Tyke care,&#8217; says I. `Bersicker is quick.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; `Never mind,&#8217; he says.  I&#8217;m used to `em!&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; `Are you in the business yourself?&#8221;I says, tyking off my `at, for a man what trades in wolves, anceterer, is a good friend to keepers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; `Nom&#8217;  says  he,  `not exactly in the business, but I `ave made pets of several.&#8217;  and  with that he lifts his `at as perlite  as  a lord,  and walks away.  Old Bersicker kep&#8217; a-lookin&#8217; arter `im till  `e was out of sight, and then went and  lay down  in  a  corner and wouldn&#8217;t come hout the `ole hevening.  Well,  larst  night, so soon as the moon was hup, the  wolves  here all  began a-`owling. There warn&#8217;t nothing for them to `owl at.  There  warn&#8217;t no one near, except some one that was evidently a-callin&#8217;  a  dog somewheres out back of the gardings in the Park road.  Once  or twice I went out to see that all was right, and it was, and  then the `owling stopped.  Just  before  twelve  o&#8217;clock I just took  a  look round afore  turnin&#8217;  in, an&#8217;, bust me, but when I kem opposite  to  old  Bersicker&#8217;s  cage  I see the rails broken and twisted  about  and  the  cage empty.  And that&#8217;s all I know for certing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Did any one else see anything?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One of our gard`ners was a-comin&#8217; `ome about that time from a `armony, when he  sees  a  big  gray dog  comin&#8217;  out through the garding `edges.  At least, so he says, but I don&#8217;t give much for it myself, for if he did `e never said  a word about it to his missis when `e got `ome, and it was only after the escape of the wolf was made known, and we had been up all night a-huntin&#8217; of the Park for Bersicker, that he remembered seein&#8217; anything.  My own belief was that  the  `armony `ad got into his `ead.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now,  Mr. Bilder,  can  you account in any way for the escape of the wolf?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Well, Sir,&#8221;he said, with a suspicious sort of modesty, &#8220;I think I  can, but I  don&#8217;t know as `ow you&#8217;d be satisfied with the theory.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Certainly  I  shall.  If a man like you, who knows the animals from  experience, can&#8217;t  hazard  a good guess at any rate, who is even to try?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;well then, Sir, I  accounts for it this way.  It seems to me that  `ere  wolf  escaped&#8211;simply because he wanted to get out.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>From the hearty way that both Thomas and his wife laughed at  the joke I could see that it had done service before, and that the whole explanation was simply an elaborate sell. I  couldn&#8217;t  cope in  badinage with the worthy Thomas, but I thought I knew a surer way to his heart, so I said,&#8221;Now, Mr. Bilder, we&#8217;ll consider that first half-sovereign worked off, and this brother of his is waiting to be claimed when you&#8217;ve told me what you think will happen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Right y`are, Sir,&#8221; he said briskly. &#8220;Ye`ll excoose me, I know, for a-chaffin&#8217; of ye, but the  old woman her  winked at me, which was as much as telling me to go on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Well, I never!&#8221; said the old lady.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My  opinion  is  this.  That  `ere wolf is a`idin&#8217; of, somewheres.  The  gard`ner  wot  didn&#8217;t remember said he was a-gallopin&#8217; northward faster than  a  horse  could go, but I don&#8217;t believe him, for,  yer see,  Sir, wolves don&#8217;t  gallop no more nor dogs does, they not bein&#8217; built that way. Wolves is fine things in  a  storybook, and I dessay when they gets in packs and  does be chivyin&#8217; somethin&#8217; that&#8217;s more afeared than  they  is  they can make a devil of a noise and chop it up, whatever it is. But, Lor&#8217; bless you, in real life a wolf is only a low creature, not half so clever or bold as a good dog, and not half a  quarter so much fight in `im.  This one ain&#8217;t been used to fightin&#8217; or even to providin&#8217; for hisself, and  more  like he&#8217;s  somewhere  round the Park a&#8217;hidin&#8217; an&#8217; a&#8217;shiverin&#8217; of, and if he thinks at  all, wonderin&#8217; where he is to get his breakfast from.  Or  maybe  he&#8217;s got down some area and is in a coal cellar.  My eye,  won&#8217;t  some cook get a rum start when she sees his green  eyes a-shinin&#8217;  at  her out of  the dark!  If  he  can&#8217;t get food he&#8217;s bound to look for  it,  and mayhap he  may  chance to light on a butcher&#8217;s shop  in time.  If  he  doesn&#8217;t, and some nursemaid goes out walkin&#8217; or orf with a soldier, leavin&#8217; of the hinfant in the perambulator&#8211;well,  then  I  shouldn&#8217;t  be surprised if the census is one babby the less.  That&#8217;s all.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I  was  handing  him the half-sovereign, when something came bobbing  up  against the window,  and Mr. Bilder&#8217;s face doubled its natural length with surprise.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;God bless me!&#8221; he said.  &#8220;If there ain&#8217;t old Bersicker come back by `isself!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He went to the  door  and opened it, a most unnecessary proceeding  it  seemed  to me.  I have always thought that a wild  animal  never  looks  so well as when some obstacle of pronounced durability is between us.  A  personal experience has intensified rather than diminished that idea.<\/p>\n<p>After all, however, there is  nothing  like custom, for neither  Bilder  nor  his  wife thought any more of the wolf than I  should  of  a dog.  The animal itself was a peaceful and well-behaved as that  father  of all picture-wolves, Red Riding  Hood&#8217;s  quondam friend, whilst moving her confidence in masquerade.<\/p>\n<p>The whole scene was a unutterable mixture of comedy and pathos.  The wicked wolf that for a half a day had paralyzed London and set  all  the children in town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine prodigal son.  Old  Bilder examined him all over with most tender solicitude, and  when he had finished with his penitent said,<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There,  I  knew  the poor old chap would get into some kind of  trouble.  Didn&#8217;t  I  say  it all along?  Here&#8217;s his head all cut and full of broken glass.  `E&#8217;s  been a-gettin&#8217; over some bloomin&#8217; wall or other.  It&#8217;s  a shyme that people are allowed to top their walls  with  broken  bottles.  This `ere&#8217;s what comes of it.  Come along, Bersicker.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He took the  wolf  and  locked him up in a cage, with a piece of meat that satisfied, in  quantity at  any rate, the elementary  conditions  of the fatted calf, and went  off to report.<\/p>\n<p>I came off too, to report the only exclusive information that is  given  today  regarding the strange escapade at the Zoo.<\/p>\n<p>DR. SEWARD&#8217;S DIARY<\/p>\n<p>17 September.&#8211;I  was engaged after  dinner in my study posting up my books, which, through press of  other work and the many visits to Lucy, had fallen sadly into arrear.  Suddenly the door was burst open, and in rushed my patient, with his  face  distorted with passion.  I was thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord into the Superintendent&#8217;s study is almost unknown.<\/p>\n<p>Without an instant&#8217;s notice he made straight at me.  He had a dinner knife in his hand, and as I saw he was dangerous, I  tried to keep the table between us.  He was too quick and too strong for me, however, for before I could get my balance he had struck at me and cut my left wrist rather severely.<\/p>\n<p>Before he could strike again, however, I got in my right hand and he was sprawling on his back on the floor. My wrist bled freely, and quite a little pool trickled on to the carpet.  I saw that my friend was not intent on further effort, and occupied myself binding up my wrist,  keeping a wary eye on the prostrate figure all the time.  When  the  attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him,  his  employment positively  sickened me.  He was lying on  his belly on the floor licking up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from  my wounded  wrist.  He  was easily secured, and  to my surprise, went with  the attendants  quite placidly,  simply repeating over and over again,  &#8220;The blood is the life!  The blood is the life!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I cannot afford  to lose blood just at present.  I have lost too much of late for my physical good, and then the prolonged strain of Lucy&#8217;s  illness and its  horrible phases is telling on me. I am over excited and weary, and I need rest, rest,  rest.  Happily  Van Helsing has not summoned me, so I need not forego my sleep.  Tonight I could not well do without it.<\/p>\n<p>TELEGRAM, VAN HELSING, ANTWERP, TO SEWARD, CARFAX<\/p>\n<p>(Sent to Carfax, Sussex,  as no county given, delivered late by twenty-two hours.)<\/p>\n<p>17 September.&#8211;Do not fail to be at Hilllingham tonight. If  not watching all the time, frequently visit and see that flowers are as placed, very important, do not fail. Shall be with you as soon as possible after arrival.<\/p>\n<p>DR. SEWARD&#8217;S DIARY<\/p>\n<p>18 September.&#8211;Just off train to London. The arrival of Van Helsing&#8217;s telegram filled me with dismay.  A whole night lost, and I know by bitter  experience what  may happen in a night.  Of course  it is possible  that all may be well, but what may have happened?  Surely there  is some horrible doom hanging  over us  that every possible accident should thwart us in all we try to do.  I shall take this cylinder with me, and then I can complete my entry on Lucy&#8217;s phonograph.     MEMORANDUM LEFT BY LUCY WESTENRA<\/p>\n<p>17 September, Night.&#8211;I  write  this and leave it to be seen,  so  that  no  one  may by any chance get into trouble through me.  This is an  exact record of what took place tonight.  I  feel  I am  dying  of  weakness,  and have barely strength to write, but it must be done if I die in the doing.<\/p>\n<p>I went to bed as  usual,  taking  care that the flowers were  placed as  Dr. Van  Helsing  directed,  and  soon fell asleep.<\/p>\n<p>I  was waked  by the  flapping at the window, which had begun after  that sleep-walking  on the cliff at Whitby when Mina  saved me,  and  which now I  know  so well.  I was not afraid, but I did wish that Dr. Seward was in the next room, as  Dr. Van Helsing  said  he would be, so that I might have called him.  I tried to  sleep, but I could not.  Then there came to me  the  old fear of sleep, and I determined to keep awake.  Perversely  sleep would  try to come then when I did not want it.  So, as I  feared to be alone, I opened my door and  called out.  &#8220;Is there  anybody  there?&#8221;   There was no answer.  I was afraid to wake mother, and so closed my  door again.  Then outside in the shrubbery I heard a sort of howl like a dog&#8217;s, but more fierce and deeper. I went to the window and looked out, but could see nothing, except a big bat, which  had  evidently  been buffeting  its wings against the window.  So I went back to bed again, but determined  not to go to sleep.  Presently the door opened, and mother looked in. Seeing by my moving that I was not  asleep, she  came in and sat by me.  She said to me even more sweetly and softly than her wont,<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I  was  uneasy  about you, darling, and came in to see that you were all right.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I feared she might  catch cold sitting there, and asked her to come in and sleep with  me, so she came into bed, and lay down beside me.  She did not take off her dressing gown, for she said  she would only stay  a  while and then go back to her own bed.  As she lay there in my  arms, and I in hers the  flapping and  buffeting came to  the window again.  She was startled and a little  frightened, and cried out,  &#8220;What is that?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I  tried to pacify  her, and at last succeeded, and she lay quiet.  But I could hear her poor dear heart still beating terribly.  After a while there was the howl again out in the shrubbery, and shortly after  there was a crash  at  the window, and a lot of broken glass was  hurled on  the floor. The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in, and in the aperture of the broken panes there was the  head of a great, gaunt gray wolf.<\/p>\n<p>Mother  cried  out in a fright, and struggled up into a sitting posture, and  clutched wildly at anything that would help her.  Amongst  other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing  insisted  on my  wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me.  For a second  or two she sat up, pointing at the wolf, and there was  a  strange  and horrible gurgling in her throat.  Then she fell  over, as if struck with lightning, and her head hit my forehead and made me dizzy for a moment or two.<\/p>\n<p>The room and all round seemed to spin round.  I kept my eyes fixed  on the  window, but the wolf drew his head back, and a whole myriad of  little  specks  seems to come blowing in  through the  broken window, and  wheeling  and  circling round  like the pillar of dust that travellers describe when there is a simoon in the desert.  I tried to stir, but there was  some  spell upon me, and dear Mother&#8217;s poor body, which seemed  to grow cold  already, for her dear heart had ceased to  beat, weighed  me down,  and  I remembered no more for a while.<\/p>\n<p>The  time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered  consciousness again.  Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling.  The  dogs all round the neighborhood were howling, and  in our  shrubbery, seemingly just  outside,  a nightingale was singing.  I was dazed  and stupid with  pain and  terror and weakness, but  the  sound of the nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother come back to comfort me.  The sounds seemed to have  awakened the maids, too, for I could hear  their  bare feet pattering outside my door.  I called to them, and they came in, and when they saw what had happened, and what it  was that lay over me on the bed, they screamed out.  The wind rushed in through the broken window, and  the door slammed  to.  They  lifted off the  body of my dear mother, and laid her, covered up  with  a sheet, on the bed after  I had got up.  They  were  all  so frightened and nervous that I  directed them to  go to  the dining room and each have a glass of wine. The door flew open for an instant and closed again.  The  maids shrieked,  and then went  in a body to the dining room, and  I laid  what flowers I  had on my dear mother&#8217;s breast.  When they were  there I remembered what  Dr. Van Helsing  had told me, but I didn&#8217;t like to remove them, and  besides,  I  would have some of the servants to sit  up with me now.  I was  surprised that the maids did not come back.  I called them, but  got no answer, so I went to the dining room to look for them.<\/p>\n<p>My heart sank when  I saw what  had happened.  They all four lay helpless on the floor,  breathing heavily.  The decanter  of  sherry was on the table half full, but there was a queer, acrid  smell about.  I was suspicious, and examined the  decanter.  It  smelt  of laudanum,  and  looking on the sideboard, I found that the bottle which Mother&#8217;s doctor uses for her&#8211;oh! did use&#8211;was empty.  What am I to do? What am I to do? I am back in the room with Mother.  I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for the sleeping  servants,  whom  some one has drugged. Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I  can  hear  the  low  howl  of the wolf through the broken window.<\/p>\n<p>The  air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught  from  the  window, and the lights burn blue and dim.  What am I to do?  God  shield me from harm this night! I shall hide this paper in my breast,  where they shall find it  when  they come to lay me out.  My dear mother gone!  It is time that  I  go too.  Goodbye, dear  Arthur, if I should not survive this night. God keep you, dear, and God help me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LUCY WESTENRA&#8217;S DIARY 12 September.&#8211;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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3C0LX-k2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}