Dracula

Arthur was so taken aback that he did not for a moment know what to door say; and before any impulse of violence could seize him he realisedthe place and the occasion, and he stood silent, waiting.

I kept my eyes fixed on Lucy, as did Van Helsing, and we saw a spasmas of rage flit like a shadow over her face; the sharp teeth champedtogether. Then her eyes closed, and she breathed heavily.

Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, andputting out her poor pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing's great brownone; drawing it to her, she kissed it. "My true friend," she said, in afaint voice, but with untellable pathos, "My true friend, and his! Oh,guard him, and give me peace!"

"I swear it!" said he solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up hishand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to Arthur, and saidto him: "Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on theforehead, and only once."

Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted.

Lucy's eyes closed; and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, tookArthur's arm, and drew him away.

And then Lucy's breathing became stertorous again, and all at once itceased.

"It is all over," said Van Helsing. "She is dead!"

I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing-room, wherehe sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in a way thatnearly broke me down to see.

I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucy,and his face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over her body.Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and cheeks hadrecovered some of their flowing lines; even the lips had lost theirdeadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the workingof the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude asmight be.

"We thought her dying whilst she slept, And sleeping when she died."

I stood beside Van Helsing, and said:--

"Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!"

He turned to me, and said with grave solemnity:--

"Not so! alas! not so. It is only the beginning!"

When I asked him what he meant, he only shook his head and answered:--

"We can do nothing as yet. Wait and see."

CHAPTER XIII.

/Dr. Seward's Diary/--_continued._

The funeral was arranged for the next succeeding day, so that Lucy andher mother might be buried together. I attended to all the ghastlyformalities, and the urbane undertaker proved that his staff wereafflicted--or blessed--with something of his own obsequious suavity.Even the woman who performed the last offices for the dead remarked tome, in a confidential, brother-professional way, when she had come outfrom the death-chamber:--

"She makes a very beautiful corpse, sir. It's quite a privilege toattend on her. It's not too much to say that she will do credit to ourestablishment!"

I noticed that Van Helsing never kept far away. This was possiblefrom the disordered state of things in the household. There were norelatives at hand; and as Arthur had to be back the next day to attendat his father's funeral, we were unable to notify any one who shouldhave been bidden. Under the circumstances, Van Helsing and I took itupon ourselves to examine papers, etc. He insisted upon looking overLucy's papers himself. I asked him why, for I feared that he, being aforeigner, might not be quite aware of English legal requirements, andso might in ignorance make some unnecessary trouble. He answered me:--

"I know; I know. You forget that I am a lawyer as well as a doctor. Butthis is not altogether for the law. You knew that, when you avoided thecoroner. I have more than him to avoid. There may be papers more--suchas this."

As he spoke he took from his pocket-book the memorandum which had beenin Lucy's breast, and which she had torn in her sleep.

"When you find anything of the solicitor who is for the late Mrs.Westenra, seal all her papers, and write him to-night. For me, I watchhere in the room and in Miss Lucy's old room all night, and I myselfsearch for what may be. It is not well that her very thoughts go intothe hands of strangers."

I went on with my part of the work, and in another half-hour had foundthe name and address of Mrs. Westenra's solicitor and had written tohim. All the poor lady's papers were in order; explicit directionsregarding the place of burial were given. I had hardly sealed theletter, when, to my surprise, Van Helsing walked into the room,saying:--

"Can I help you, friend John? I am free, and if I may, my service is toyou."

"Have you got what you looked for?" I asked, to which he replied:--

"I did not look for any specific thing. I only hoped to find, and find Ihave, all that there was--only some letters and a few memoranda, and adiary new begun. But I have them here, and we shall for the present saynothing of them. I shall see that poor lad to-morrow evening, and, withhis sanction, I shall use some."

When we had finished the work in hand, he said to me:--