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1Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood. "6 September. "My dear Art,-- "My news to-day is not so good. Lucy this
2morning had gone back a bit. There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it; Mrs. Westenra was naturally
3anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity, and told
4her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to stay with me, and that I would put her in his
5charge conjointly with myself; so now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a shock to her would mean
6sudden death, and this, in Lucy's weak condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in with difficulties, all of
7us, my poor old fellow; but, please God, we shall come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so that, if
8you do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for news. In haste "Yours ever, "JOHN SEWARD." Dr.
9Seward's Diary. 7 September.--The first thing Van Helsing said to me when we met at Liverpool Street was:-- "Have you
10said anything to our young friend the lover of her?" "No," I said. "I waited till I had seen you, as I said in my
11telegram. I wrote him a letter simply telling him that you were coming, as Miss Westenra was not so well, and that I
12should let him know if need be." "Right, my friend," he said, "quite right! Better he not know as yet; perhaps he shall
13never know. I pray so; but if it be needed, then he shall know all. And, my good friend John, let me caution you. You
14deal with the madmen. All men are mad in some way or the other; and inasmuch as you deal discreetly with your madmen, so
15deal with God's madmen, too--the rest of the world. You tell not your madmen what you do nor why you do it; you tell
16them not what you think. So you shall keep knowledge in its place, where it may rest--where it may gather its kind
17around it and breed. You and I shall keep as yet what we know here, and here." He touched me on the heart and on the
18forehead, and then touched himself the same way. "I have for myself thoughts at the present. Later I shall unfold to
19you." "Why not now?" I asked. "It may do some good; we may arrive at some decision." He stopped and looked at me, and
20said:-- "My friend John, when the corn is grown, even before it has ripened--while the milk of its mother-earth is in
21him, and the sunshine has not yet begun to paint him with his gold, the husbandman he pull the ear and rub him between
22his rough hands, and blow away the green chaff, and say to you: 'Look! he's good corn; he will make good crop when the
23time comes.'" I did not see the application, and told him so. For reply he reached over and took my ear in his hand and
24pulled it playfully, as he used long ago to do at lectures, and said: "The good husbandman tell you so then because he
25knows, but not till then. But you do not find the good husbandman dig up his planted corn to see if he grow; that is for
26the children who play at husbandry, and not for those who take it as of the work of their life. See you now, friend
27John? I have sown my corn, and Nature has her work to do in making it sprout; if he sprout at all, there's some promise;
28and I wait till the ear begins to swell." He broke off, for he evidently saw that I understood. Then he went on, and
29very gravely:-- "You were always a careful student, and your case-book was ever more full than the rest. You were only
30student then; now you are master, and I trust that good habit have not fail. Remember, my friend, that knowledge is
31stronger than memory, and we should not trust the weaker. Even if you have not kept the good practise, let me tell you
32that this case of our dear miss is one that may be--mind, I say may be--of such interest to us and others that all the
33rest may not make him kick the beam, as your peoples say. Take then good note of it. Nothing is too small. I counsel
34you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess.
35We learn from failure, not from success!" When I described Lucy's symptoms--the same as before, but infinitely more
36marked--he looked very grave, but said nothing. He took with him a bag in which were many instruments and drugs, "the
37ghastly paraphernalia of our beneficial trade," as he once called, in one of his lectures, the equipment of a professor
38of the healing craft. When we were shown in, Mrs. Westenra met us. She was alarmed, but not nearly so much as I expected
39to find her. Nature in one of her beneficent moods has ordained that even death has some antidote to its own terrors.
40Here, in a case where any shock may prove fatal, matters are so ordered that, from some cause or other, the things not
41personal--even the terrible change in her daughter to whom she is so attached--do not seem to reach her. It is something
42like the way Dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil
43that which it would otherwise harm by contact. If this be an ordered selfishness, then we should pause before we condemn
44any one for the vice of egoism, for there may be deeper root for its causes than we have knowledge of. I used my
45knowledge of this phase of spiritual pathology, and laid down a rule that she should not be present with Lucy or think
46of her illness more than was absolutely required. She assented readily, so readily that I saw again the hand of Nature
47fighting for life. Van Helsing and I were shown up to Lucy's room. If I was shocked when I saw her yesterday, I was
48horrified when I saw her to-day. She was ghastly, chalkily pale; the red seemed to have gone even from her lips and
49gums, and the bones of her face stood out prominently; her breathing was painful to see or hear. Van Helsing's face grew
50set as marble, and his eyebrows converged till they almost touched over his nose. Lucy lay motionless, and did not seem
51to have strength to speak, so for a while we were all silent. Then Van Helsing beckoned to me, and we went gently out of
52the room. The instant we had closed the door he stepped quickly along the passage to the next door, which was open. Then
53he pulled me quickly in with him and closed the door. "My God!" he said; "this is dreadful. There is no time to be lost.
54She will die for sheer want of blood to keep the heart's action as it should be. There must be transfusion of blood at
55once. Is it you or me?" "I am younger and stronger, Professor. It must be me." "Then get ready at once. I will bring up
56my bag. I am prepared." I went downstairs with him, and as we were going there was a knock at the hall-door. When we
57reached the hall the maid had just opened the door, and Arthur was stepping quickly in. He rushed up to me, saying in an
58eager whisper:-- "Jack, I was so anxious. I read between the lines of your letter, and have been in an agony. The dad
59was better, so I ran down here to see for myself. Is not that gentleman Dr. Van Helsing? I am so thankful to you, sir,
60for coming." When first the Professor's eye had lit upon him he had been angry at his interruption at such a time; but
61now, as he took in his stalwart proportions and recognised the strong young manhood which seemed to emanate from him,
62his eyes gleamed. Without a pause he said to him gravely as he held out his hand:-- "Sir, you have come in time. You are
63the lover of our dear miss. She is bad, very, very bad. Nay, my child, do not go like that." For he suddenly grew pale
64and sat down in a chair almost fainting. "You are to help her. You can do more than any that live, and your courage is
65your best help."
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