| NOTE LEFT BY VAN HELSING IN HIS PORTMANTEAU,... 593 |
[Jan. 31st, 2010|02:45 am] |
NOTE LEFT BY VAN HELSING IN HIS PORTMANTEAU, BERKELEY HOTEL DIRECTED TO JOHN SEWARD, M(Not Delivered)
27 September
"Friend John,
"I write this in case anything should happenI go alone to watch in that churchyardIt pleases me that the UnDead, Miss Lucy, shall not leave tonight, that so on the morrow night she may be more eagerTherefore I shall fix some things she like not, garlic and a crucifix, and so seal up the door of the tombShe is young as UnDead, and will heedMoreover, these are only to prevent her coming outThey may not prevail on her wanting to get in, for then the UnDead is desperate, and must find the line of least resistance, whatsoever it may beI shall be at hand all the night from sunset till after sunrise, and if there be aught that may be learned I shall learn itFor Miss Lucy or from her, I have no fear, but that other to whom is there that she is UnDead, he have not the power to seek her tomb and find shelterHe is cunning, as I know from MrJonathan and from the way that all along he have fooled us when he played with us for Miss Lucy's life, and we lost, and in many ways the UnDead are strongHe have always the strength in his hand of twenty men, even we four who gave our strength to Miss Lucy it also is all to himBesides, he can summon his wolf and I know not whatSo if it be that he came thither on this night he shall find meBut none other shall, until it be too lateBut it may be that he will not attempt the placeThere is no reason why he shouldHis hunting ground is more full of game than the churchyard where the UnDead woman sleeps, and the one old man watch
"Therefore I write this in case? Take the papers that are with this, the diaries of Harker and the rest, and read them, and then find this great UnDead, and cut off his head and burn his heart or drive a stake through it, so that the world may rest from him
"If it be so, farewellSEWARD'S DIARY
28 September-It is wonderful what a good night's sleep will do for oneYesterday I was almost willing to accept Van Helsing's monstrous ideas, but now they seem to start out lurid before me as outrages on common senseI have no doubt that he believes it allI wonder if his mind can have become in any way unhingedSurely there must be some rational explanation of all these mysterious thingsIs it possible that the Professor can have done it himself? He is so abnormally clever that if he went off his head he would carry out his intent with regard to some fixed idea in a wonderful wayI am loathe to think it, and indeed it would be almost as great a marvel as the other to find that Van Helsing was mad, but anyhow I shall watch him carefullyI may get some light on the mystery-Last night, at a little before ten o'clock, Arthur and Quincey came into Van Helsing's roomHe told us all what he wanted us to do, but especially addressing himself to Arthur, as if all our wills were centred in hisHe began by saying that he hoped we would all come with him too, "for," he said, "there is a grave duty to be done thereYou were doubtless surprised at my letter?" This query was directly addressed to Lord GodalmingIt rather upset me for a bitThere has been so much trouble around my house of late that I could do without any moreI have been curious, too, as to what you mean
"Quincey and I talked it over, but the more we talked, the more puzzled we got, till now I can say for myself that I'm about up a tree as to any meaning about anything
"Me too," said Quincey Morris laconically
"Oh," said the Professor, "then you are nearer the beginning, both of you, than friend John here, who has to go a long way back before he can even get so far as to |
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