| These things do occur, you, knowOnly ten days ago... 158 |
[Jan. 27th, 2010|02:08 am] |
These things do occur, you, knowOnly ten days ago a wolf got out, and was, I believe, traced up in this directionFor a week after, the children were playing nothing but Red Riding Hood on the Heath and in every alley in the place until this 'bloofer lady' scare came along, since then it has been quite a gala time with themEven this poor little mite, when he woke up today, asked the nurse if he might go awayWhen she asked him why he wanted to go, he said he wanted to play with the 'bloofer lady'
"I hope," said Van Helsing, "that when you are sending the child home you will caution its parents to keep strict watch over itThese fancies to stray are most dangerous, and if the child were to remain out another night, it would probably be fatalBut in any case I suppose you will not let it away for some days?"
"Certainly not, not for a week at least, longer if the wound is not healed
Our visit to the hospital took more time than we had reckoned on, and the sun had dipped before we came outWhen Van Helsing saw how dark it was, he said,
"There is not hurryIt is more late than I thoughtCome, let us seek somewhere that we may eat, and then we shall go on our way
We dined at 'Jack Straw's Castle' along with a little crowd of bicyclists and others who were genially noisyAbout ten o'clock we started from the innIt was then very dark, and the scattered lamps made the darkness greater when we were once outside their individual radiusThe Professor had evidently noted the road we were to go, for he went on unhesitatingly, but, as for me, I was in quite a mixup as to localityAs we went further, we met fewer and fewer people, till at last we were somewhat surprised when we met even the patrol of horse police going their usual suburban roundAt last we reached the wall of the churchyard, which we climbed overWith some little difficulty, for it was very dark, and the whole place seemed so strange to us, we found the Westenra tombThe Professor took the key, opened the creaky door, and standing back, politely, but quite unconsciously, motioned me to precede himThere was a delicious irony in the offer, in the courtliness of giving preference on such a ghastly occasionMy companion followed me quickly, and cautiously drew the door to, after carefully ascertaining that the lock was a falling, and not a spring oneIn the latter case we should have been in a bad plightThen he fumbled in his bag, and taking out a matchbox and a piece of candle, proceeded to make a lightThe tomb in the daytime, and when wreathed with fresh flowers, had looked grim and gruesome enough, but now, some days afterwards, when the flowers hung lank and dead, their whites turning to rust and their greens to browns, when the spider and the beetle had resumed their accustomed dominance, when the time-discoloured stone, and dust-encrusted mortar, and rusty, dank iron, and tarnished brass, and clouded silver-plating gave back the feeble glimmer of a candle, the effect was more miserable and sordid than could have been imaginedIt conveyed irresistibly the idea that life, animal life, was not the only thing which could pass away
Van Helsing went about his work systematicallyHolding his candle so that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal, he made assurance of Lucy's coffinAnother search in his bag, and he took out a turnscrew
"What are you going to do?" I asked
"To open the coffinYou shall yet be convinced
Straightway he began taking out the screws, and finally lifted off the lid, showing the casing of lead beneathThe sight was almost too much for meIt seemed to be as much an affront to the dead as it would have been to have stripped off her clothing in her sleep whilst livingI actually took hold of his hand to stop him
He only said, "You shall see," and again fumbling in his bag took out a tiny fret sawStriking the turnscrew through the lead with a swift downward stab, which made me wince, he made a small hole, which was, however, big enough to admit the point of the sawI had expected a rush of gas from the week-old corpseWe doctors, who have had to study our dangers, have to become accustomed to such things, and I drew back towards the |
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