“Van Helsing has come and gone. He came
on with me to Hillingham, and found that, by Lucy’s
discretion, her mother was lunching out, so that we
were alone with her.
“Van Helsing made a very careful examination
of the patient. He is to report to me, and I
shall advise you, for of course I was not present
all the time. He is, I fear, much concerned,
but says he must think. When I told him of our
friendship and how you trust to me in the matter,
he said, ’You must tell him all you think.
Tell him him what I think, if you can guess it, if
you will. Nay, I am not jesting. This
is no jest, but life and death, perhaps more.’
I asked what he meant by that, for he was very serious.
This was when we had come back to town, and he was
having a cup of tea before starting on his return
to Amsterdam. He would not give me any further
clue. You must not be angry with me, Art, because
his very reticence means that all his brains are working
for her good. He will speak plainly enough when
the time comes, be sure. So I told him I would
simply write an account of our visit, just as if I
were doing a descriptive special article for the
daily telegraph. He seemed not to
notice, but remarked that the smuts of London were
not quite so bad as they used to be when he was a
student here. I am to get his report tomorrow
if he can possibly make it. In any case I am
to have a letter.
“Well, as to the visit, Lucy was more cheerful
than on the day I first saw her, and certainly looked
better. She had lost something of the ghastly
look that so upset you, and her breathing was normal.
She was very sweet to the Professor (as she always
is), and tried to make him feel at ease, though I
could see the poor girl was making a hard struggle
for it.
“I believe Van Helsing saw it, too, for I saw
the quick look under his bushy brows that I knew of
old. Then he began to chat of all things except
ourselves and diseases and with such an infinite geniality
that I could see poor Lucy’s pretense of animation
merge into reality. Then, without any seeming
change, he brought the conversation gently round to
his visit, and suavely said,
“’My dear young miss, I have the so great
pleasure because you are so much beloved. That
is much, my dear, even were there that which I do
not see. They told me you were down in the spirit,
and that you were of a ghastly pale. To them
I say “Pouf!"’ And he snapped his fingers
at me and went on. ’But you and I shall
show them how wrong they are. How can he,’
and he pointed at me with the same look and gesture
as that with which he pointed me out in his class,
on, or rather after, a particular occasion which he
never fails to remind me of, ’know anything
of a young ladies? He has his madmen to play
