The reaction came in excessive pallor as she turned imploring eyes on meI smiled and nodded, and laid my finger on my lipsWith a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me: "Now you go home, and eat much and drink enoughI stay here tonight, and I shall sit up with little miss myselfYou and I must watch the case, and we must have none other to knowDo not fear to think even the most not-improbable In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either of them might not sit up with Miss LucyThey implored me to let them, and when I said it was DrVan Helsing's wish that either he or I should sit up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the 'foreign gentleman'I was much touched by their kindnessPerhaps it is because I am weak at present, and perhaps because it was on Lucy's account, that their devotion was manifestedFor over and over again have I seen similar instances of woman's kindnessI got back here in time for a late dinner, went my rounds, all well, and set this down whilst waiting for sleep-This afternoon I went over to HillinghamFound Van Helsing in excellent spirits, and Lucy much betterShortly after I had arrived, a big parcel from abroad came for the ProfessorHe opened it with much impressment, assumed, of course, and showed a great bundle of white flowers "These are for you, Miss Lucy," he saidVan Helsing!" "Yes, my dear, but not for you to play with Here Lucy made a wry face"Nay, but they are not to take in a decoction or in nauseous form, so you need not snub that so charming nose, or I shall point out to my friend Arthur what woes he may have to endure in seeing so much beauty that he so loves so much distortAha, my pretty miss, that bring the so nice nose all straight againThis is medicinal, but you do not know howI put him in your window, I make pretty wreath, and hang him round your neck, so you sleep wellOh, yes! They, like the lotus flower, make your trouble forgottenIt smell so like the waters of Lethe, and of that fountain of youth that the Conquistadores sought for in the Floridas, and find him all too late Whilst he was speaking, Lucy had been examining the flowers and smelling themNow she threw them down saying, with half laughter, and half disgust, "Oh, Professor, I believe you are only putting up a joke on meWhy, 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 what I do, and I warn you that you do not thwart meTake 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 meI only do for your good, but there is much virtue to you in those so common flowersSee, I place them myself in your roomI make myself the wreath that you are to wearBut hush! No telling to others that make so inquisitive questionsWe must obey, and silence is a part of obedience, and obedience is to bring you strong and well into loving arms that wait for youNow sit still a whileCome 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 shop year

?If Missis would come and look at dis yer lot o? poetry Chloe had a particular fancy for calling poultry poetry,?an application of language in which she always persisted, notwithstanding frequent corrections and advisings from the young members of the family ?La sakes!? she would say, ?I can?t see; one jis good as turry,?poetry suthin good, any how;? and so poetry Chloe continued to call itShelby smiled as she saw a prostrate lot of chickens and ducks, over which Chloe stood, with a very grave face of consideration ?I?m a thinkin whether Missis would be a havin a chicken pie o? dese yer ?Really, Aunt Chloe, I don?t much care;?serve them any way you like Chloe stood handling them over abstractedly; it was quite evident that the chickens were not what she was thinking ofAt last, with the short laugh with which her tribe often introduce a doubtful proposal, she said, ?Laws me, Missis! what should Mas?r and Missis be a troublin theirselves ?bout de money, and not a usin what?s right in der hands?? and Chloe laughed again ?I don?t understand you, Chloe,? said MrsShelby, nothing doubting, from her knowledge of Chloe?s manner, that she had heard every word of the conversation that had passed between her and her husband ?Why, laws me, Missis!? said Chloe, laughing again, ?other folks hires out der niggers and makes money on ?em! Don?t keep sich a tribe eatin ?em out of house and home ?Well, Chloe, who do you propose that we should hire out?? ?Laws! I an?t a proposin nothin; only Sam he said der was one of dese yer perfectioners, dey calls ?em, in Louisville, said he wanted a good hand at cake and pastry; and said he?d give four dollars a week to one, he did ?Well, laws, I ?s a thinkin, Missis, it?s time Sally was put along to be doin? somethingSally ?s been under my care, now, dis some time, and she does most as well as me, considerin; and if Missis would only let me go, I would help fetch up de moneyI an?t afraid to put my cake, nor pies nother, ?long side no perfectioner?s ?Confectioner?s, Chloe ?Law sakes, Missis! ?tan?t no odds;?words is so curis, can?t never get ?em right!? ?But, Chloe, do you want to leave your children?? ?Laws, Missis! de boys is big enough to do day?s works; dey does well enough; and Sally, she?ll take de baby,?she?s such a peart young un, she won?t take no lookin arter ?Louisville is a good way off ?Law sakes! who?s afeard??it?s down river, somer near my old man, perhaps?? said Chloe, speaking the last in the tone of a question, and looking at Mrs ?No, Chloe; it?s many a hundred miles off,? said Mrs Chloe?s countenance fell ?Never mind; your going there shall bring you nearer, ChloeYes, you may go; and your wages shall every cent of them be laid aside for your husband?s redemption As when a bright sunbeam turns a dark cloud to silver, so Chloe?s dark face brightened immediately,?it really shone ?Laws! if Missis isn?t too good! I was thinking of dat ar very thing; cause I shouldn?t need no clothes, nor shoes, nor nothin,?I could save every centHow many weeks is der in a year, Missis?? ?Fifty-two,? said Mrs ?Laws! now, dere is? and four dollars for each on emWhy, how much ?d dat ar be?? ?Two hundred and eight dollars,? said Mrs ?Why-e!? said Chloe, with an accent of surprise and delight; ?and how long would it take me to work it out, Missis?? ?Some four or five years, Chloe; but, then, you needn?t do it all,?I shall add something to it ?I wouldn?t hear to Missis? givin lessons nor nothinMas?r?s quite right in dat ar;??t wouldn?t do, no waysI hope none our family ever be brought to dat ar, while I ?s got hands ?Don?t fear, Chloe; I?ll take care of the honor of the family,? said Mrs?But when do you expect to go?? ?Well, I want spectin nothin; only Sam, he?s a gwine to de river with some colts, and he said I could go long with him; so I jes put my things togetherIf Missis was willin, I?d go with Sam tomorrow morning, if Missis would write my pass, and write me a commendation ?Well, Chloe, I?ll attend to it, if MrShelby has no objectionsShelby went up stairs, and Aunt Chloe, delighted, went out to her cabin, to make her preparation ?Law sakes, Mas?r George! ye didn?t know I ?s a gwine to Louisville tomorrow!? she said to George, as entering her cabin, he found her busy in sorting over her baby?s clothes?I thought I?d jis look over sis?s things, and get ?em straightened shop up

Today he is a drawn, haggard old man, whose white hair matches well with the hollow burning eyes and grief-written lines of his faceHis energy is still intactIn fact, he is like a living flameThis may yet be his salvation, for if all go well, it will tide him over the despairing periodHe will then, in a kind of way, wake again to the realities of lifePoor fellow, I thought my own trouble was bad enough, but his? ! The Professor knows this well enough, and is doing his best to keep his mind activeWhat he has been saying was, under the circumstances, of absorbing interestSo well as I can remember, here it is: "I have studied, over and over again since they came into my hands, all the papers relating to this monster, and the more I have studied, the greater seems the necessity to utterly stamp him outAll through there are signs of his advanceNot only of his power, but of his knowledge of itAs I learned from the researches of my friend Arminius of Buda-Pesth, he was in life a most wonderful manSoldier, statesman, and alchemist--which latter was the highest development of the science knowledge of his timeHe had a mighty brain, a learning beyond compare, and a heart that knew no fear and no remorseHe dared even to attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay "Well, in him the brain powers survived the physical deathThough it would seem that memory was not all completeIn some faculties of mind he has been, and is, only a childBut he is growing, and some things that were childish at the first are now of man's statureHe is experimenting, and doing it wellAnd if it had not been that we have crossed his path he would be yet, he may be yet if we fail, the father or furtherer of a new order of beings, whose road must lead through Death, not Life Harker groaned and said, "And this is all arrayed against my darling! But how is he experimenting? The knowledge may help us to defeat him!" "He has all along, since his coming, been trying his power, slowly but surelyThat big child-brain of his is workingWell for us, it is as yet a child-brainFor had he dared, at the first, to attempt certain things he would long ago have been beyond our powerHowever, he means to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait and to go slowFestina lente may well be his motto "I fail to understand," said Harker wearily"Oh, do be more plain to me! Perhaps grief and trouble are dulling my brain The Professor laid his hand tenderly on his shoulder as he spoke, "Ah, my child, I will be plainDo you not see how, of late, this monster has been creeping into knowledge experimentallyHow he has been making use of the zoophagous patient to effect his entry into friend John's homeFor your Vampire, though in all afterwards he can come when and how he will, must at the first make entry only when asked thereto by an inmateBut these are not his most important experimentsDo we not see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by othersHe knew not then but that must be soBut all the time that so great child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he might not himself move the boxAnd then, when he found that this be all right, he try to move them all aloneAnd so he progress, and he scatter these graves of himAnd none but he know where they are hidden "He may have intend to bury them deep in the shop ground

Now was Sam?s hour of gloryThe story of the day was rehearsed, with all kinds of ornament and varnishing which might be necessary to heighten its effect; for Sam, like some of our fashionable dilettanti, never allowed a story to lose any of its gilding by passing through his handsRoars of laughter attended the narration, and were taken up and prolonged by all the smaller fry, who were lying, in any quantity, about on the floor, or perched in every cornerIn the height of the uproar and laughter, Sam, however, preserved an immovable gravity, only from time to time rolling his eyes up, and giving his auditors divers inexpressibly droll glances, without departing from the sententious elevation of his oratory ?Yer see, fellow-countrymen,? said Sam, elevating a turkey?s leg, with energy, ?yer see, now what dis yer chile ?s up ter, for fendin? yer all,?yes, all on yerFor him as tries to get one o? our people is as good as tryin? to get all; yer see the principle ?s de same,?dat ar?s clarAnd any one o? these yer drivers that comes smelling round arter any our people, why, he?s got me in his way; I?m the feller he?s got to set in with,?I?m the feller for yer all to come to, bredren,?I?ll stand up for yer rights,?I?ll fend ?em to the last breath!? ?Why, but Sam, yer telled me, only this mornin?, that you?d help this yer Mas?r to cotch Lizy; seems to me yer talk don?t hang together,? said Andy ?I tell you now, Andy,? said Sam, with awful superiority, ?don?t yer be a talkin? ?bout what yer don?t know nothin? on; boys like you, Andy, means well, but they can?t be spected to collusitate the great principles of action Andy looked rebuked, particularly by the hard word collusitate, which most of the youngerly members of the company seemed to consider as a settler in the case, while Sam proceeded ?Dat ar was conscience, Andy; when I thought of gwine arter Lizy, I railly spected Mas?r was sot dat wayWhen I found Missis was sot the contrar, dat ar was conscience more yet,?cause fellers allers gets more by stickin? to Missis? side,?so yer see I ?s persistent either way, and sticks up to conscience, and holds on to principlesYes, principles,? said Sam, giving an enthusiastic toss to a chicken?s neck,??what?s principles good for, if we isn?t persistent, I wanter know? Thar, Andy, you may have dat ar bone,?tan?t picked quite clean Sam?s audience hanging on his words with open mouth, he could not but proceed ?Dis yer matter ?bout persistence, feller-niggers,? said Sam, with the air of one entering into an abstruse subject, ?dis yer ?sistency ?s a thing what an?t seed into very clar, by most anybodyNow, yer see, when a feller stands up for a thing one day and night, de contrar de next, folks ses (and nat?rally enough dey ses), why he an?t persistent,?hand me dat ar bit o? corn-cake, AndyBut let?s look inter itI hope the gen?lmen and der fair sex will scuse my usin? an or?nary sort o? ?parisonHere! I?m a trying to get top o? der hayWal, I puts up my larder dis yer side; ?tan?t no go;?den, cause I don?t try dere no more, but puts my larder right de contrar side, an?t I persistent? I?m persistent in wantin? to get up which ary side my larder is; don?t you see, all on yer?? ?It?s the only thing ye ever was persistent in, Lord knows!? muttered Aunt Chloe, who was getting rather restive; the merriment of the evening being to her somewhat after the Scripture comparison,?like ?vinegar upon nitre ?Yes, indeed!? said Sam, rising, full of supper and glory, for a closing effort?Yes, my feller-citizens and ladies of de other sex in general, I has principles,?I?m proud to ?oon ?em,?they ?s perquisite to dese yer times, and ter all timesI has principles, and I sticks to ?em like forty,?jest anything that I thinks is principle, I goes in to ?t;?I wouldn?t mind if dey burnt me ?live,?I?d walk right up to de stake, I would, and say, here I comes to shed my last blood fur my principles, fur my country, fur de gen?l interests of society ?Well,? said Aunt Chloe, ?one o? yer principles will have to be to get to bed some time tonight, and not be a keepin? everybody up till mornin?; now, every one of you young uns that don?t want to be cracked, had better be scase, mighty sudden ?Niggers! all on yer,? said Sam, waving his palm-leaf with benignity, ?I give yer my blessin?; go to bed now, and be good boys And, with this pathetic benediction, the assembly dispersed Chapter 9 In Which It Appears That a Senator Is But a Man The light of the cheerful fire shone on the rug and carpet of a cosey parlor, and glittered on the sides of the tea-cups and well-brightened tea-pot, as Senator Bird was drawing off his boots, preparatory to inserting his feet in a pair of new handsome slippers, which his wife had been working for him while away on his senatorial tourBird, looking the very picture of delight, was superintending the arrangements of the table, ever and anon mingling admonitory remarks to a number of frolicsome juveniles, who were effervescing in all those modes of untold gambol and mischief that have astonished mothers ever since the flood ?Tom, let the door-knob alone,?there?s a man! Mary! Mary! don?t pull the cat?s tail,?poor pussy! Jim, you mustn?t climb on that table,?no, no!?You don?t know, my dear, what a surprise it is to us all, to see you here tonight!? said she, at last, when she found a space to say something to her husband ?Yes, yes, I thought I?d just make a run down, spend the night, and have a little comfort at homeI?m tired to death, and my head aches!? MrsBird cast a glance at a camphor-bottle, which stood in the half-open closet, and appeared to meditate an approach to it, but her husband interposed ?No, no, Mary, no doctoring! a cup of your good hot tea, and some of our good home living, is what I wantIt?s a tiresome business, this legislating!? And the senator smiled, as if he rather liked the idea of considering himself a sacrifice to his country ?Well,? said his wife, after the business of the tea-table was getting rather slack, ?and what have they been doing in the Senate?? Now, it was a very unusual thing for gentle little MrsBird ever to trouble her head with what was going on in the house of the state, very wisely considering that she had enough to do to mind her ownBird, therefore, opened his eyes in surprise, and said, ?Not very much of importance ?Well; but is it true that they have been passing a law forbidding people to give meat and drink to those poor colored folks that come along? I heard they were talking of some such law, but I didn?t think any Christian legislature would pass it!? ?Why, Mary, you are getting to be a politician, all at once ?No, nonsense! I wouldn?t give a fip for all your politics, generally, but I think this is something downright cruel and unchristianI hope, my dear, no such law has been passed ?There has been a law passed forbidding people to help off the slaves that come over from Kentucky, my dear; so much of that thing has been done by these reckless Abolitionists, that our brethren in Kentucky are very strongly excited, and it seems necessary, and no more than Christian and kind, that something should be done by our state to quiet the shop excitement

"Yes! The flies like it, too, and I like the flies, therefore I like it And there are people who know so little as to think that madmen do not argueI procured him a double supply, and left him as happy a man as, I suppose, any in the worldI wish I could fathom his mind-Another change in himI had been to see Miss Westenra, whom I found much better, and had just returned, and was standing at our own gate looking at the sunset, when once more I heard him yellingAs his room is on this side of the house, I could hear it better than in the morningIt was a shock to me to turn from the wonderful smoky beauty of a sunset over London, with its lurid lights and inky shadows and all the marvellous tints that come on foul clouds even as on foul water, and to realize all the grim sternness of my own cold stone building, with its wealth of breathing misery, and my own desolate heart to endure it allI reached him just as the sun was going down, and from his window saw the red disc sinkAs it sank he became less and less frenzied, and just as it dipped he slid from the hands that held him, an inert mass, on the floorIt is wonderful, however, what intellectual recuperative power lunatics have, for within a few minutes he stood up quite calmly and looked around himI signalled to the attendants not to hold him, for I was anxious to see what he would doHe went straight over to the window and brushed out the crumbs of sugarThen he took his fly box, and emptied it outside, and threw away the boxThen he shut the window, and crossing over, sat down on his bedAll this surprised me, so I asked him, "Are you going to keep flies any more?" "No," said he"I am sick of all that rubbish!" He certainly is a wonderfully interesting studyI wish I could get some glimpse of his mind or of the cause of his sudden passionThere may be a clue after all, if we can find why today his paroxysms came on at high noon and at sunsetCan it be that there is a malign influence of the sun at periods which affects certain natures, as at times the moon does others? We shall seeSEWARD, LONDON, TO VAN HELSING, AMSTERDAM "4 September-Patient still better today TELEGRAM, SEWARD, LONDON, TO VAN HELSING, AMSTERDAM "5 September-Patient greatly improvedGood appetite, sleeps naturally, good spirits, colour coming back TELEGRAM, SEWARD, LONDON, TO VAN HELSING, AMSTERDAM "6 September-Terrible change for the worseI hold over telegram to Holmwood till have seen you CHAPTER 10 LETTER, DRARTHUR HOLMWOOD 6 September "My dear Art, "My news today is not so goodLucy this morning had gone back a bitThere is, however, one good thing which has arisen from itWestenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me professionally about herI took advantage of the opportunity, and told her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge conjointly with myselfSo now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in Lucy's weak condition, might be disastrous to herWe are hedged in with difficulties, all of us, my poor fellow, but, please God, we shall come through them all rightIf any need I shall write, so that, if you do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for news, In haste, "Yours ever," John Seward DRSEWARD'S DIARY 7 September-The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met at Liverpool Street was, "Have you said anything to our young friend, to lover of her?" "No," I said"I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my shop telegram