“I did not say she was alive, my child.
I did not think it. I go no further than to
say that she might be UnDead.”
“UnDead! Not alive! What do you
mean? Is this all a nightmare, or what is it?”
“There are mysteries which men can only guess
at, which age by age they may solve only in part.
Believe me, we are now on the verge of one.
But I have not done. May I cut off the head
of dead Miss Lucy?”
“Heavens and earth, no!” cried Arthur
in a storm of passion. “Not for the wide
world will I consent to any mutilation of her dead
body. Dr. Van Helsing, you try me too far.
What have I done to you that you should torture me
so? What did that poor, sweet girl do that you
should want to cast such dishonour on her grave?
Are you mad, that you speak of such things, or am
I mad to listen to them? Don’t dare think
more of such a desecration. I shall not give
my consent to anything you do. I have a duty
to do in protecting her grave from outrage, and by
God, I shall do it!”
Van Helsing rose up from where he had all the time
been seated, and said, gravely and sternly, “My
Lord Godalming, I too, have a duty to do, a duty to
others, a duty to you, a duty to the dead, and by God,
I shall do it! All I ask you now is that you
come with me, that you look and listen, and if when
later I make the same request you do not be more eager
for its fulfillment even than I am, then, I shall do
my duty, whatever it may seem to me. And then,
to follow your Lordship’s wishes I shall hold
myself at your disposal to render an account to you,
when and where you will.” His voice broke
a little, and he went on with a voice full of pity.
“But I beseech you, do not go forth in anger
with me. In a long life of acts which were often
not pleasant to do, and which sometimes did wring
my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as now.
Believe me that if the time comes for you to change
your mind towards me, one look from you will wipe
away all this so sad hour, for I would do what a man
can to save you from sorrow. Just think.
For why should I give myself so much labor and so
much of sorrow? I have come here from my own
land to do what I can of good, at the first to please
my friend John, and then to help a sweet young lady,
whom too, I come to love. For her, I am ashamed
to say so much, but I say it in kindness, I gave what
you gave, the blood of my veins. I gave it, I
who was not, like you, her lover, but only her physician
and her friend. I gave her my nights and days,
before death, after death, and if my death can do her
good even now, when she is the dead UnDead, she shall
have it freely.” He said this with a very
grave, sweet pride, and Arthur was much affected by
it.
He took the old man’s hand and said in a broken
voice, “Oh, it is hard to think of it, and I
cannot understand, but at least I shall go with you
and wait.”
