"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