"Already?" I remonstrated"You took a great deal more from Art To which he smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied, "He is her lover, her fianceYou have work, much work to do for her and for others, and the present will suffice When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied digital pressure to my own incisionI laid down, while I waited his leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sickBy and by he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine for myselfAs I was leaving the room, he came after me, and half whispered "Mind, nothing must be said of thisIf our young lover should turn up unexpected, as before, no word to himIt would at once frighten him and enjealous him, tooSo!" When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said, "You are not much the worseGo into the room, and lie on your sofa, and rest awhile, then have much breakfast and come here to me I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they wereI had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my strengthI felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at what had occurredI fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign any where to show for itI think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, sleeping and waking my thoughts always came back to the little punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their edges, tiny though they were Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly well and strong, though not nearly so much so as the day beforeWhen Van Helsing had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge, with strict injunctions that I was not to leave her for a momentI could hear his voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest telegraph office Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that anything had happenedI tried to keep her amused and interestedWhen her mother came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any change whatever, but said to me gratefully, "We owe you so much, DrSeward, for all you have done, but you really must now take care not to overwork yourselfYou are looking pale yourselfYou want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit, that you do!" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only momentarily, for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long an unwonted drain to the headThe 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 shop kindness

Clare took the same kind of amusement in the child that a man might in the tricks of a parrot or a pointerTopsy, whenever her sins brought her into disgrace in other quarters, always took refuge behind his chair; and StClare, in one way or other, would make peace for herFrom him she got many a stray picayune, which she laid out in nuts and candies, and distributed, with careless generosity, to all the children in the family; for Topsy, to do her justice, was good-natured and liberal, and only spiteful in self-defenceShe is fairly introduced into our corps be ballet, and will figure, from time to time, in her turn, with other performers Chapter 21 Kentuck Our readers may not be unwilling to glance back, for a brief interval, at Uncle Tom?s Cabin, on the Kentucky farm, and see what has been transpiring among those whom he had left behind It was late in the summer afternoon, and the doors and windows of the large parlor all stood open, to invite any stray breeze, that might feel in a good humor, to enterShelby sat in a large hall opening into the room, and running through the whole length of the house, to a balcony on either endLeisurely tipped back on one chair, with his heels in another, he was enjoying his after-dinner cigarShelby sat in the door, busy about some fine sewing; she seemed like one who had something on her mind, which she was seeking an opportunity to introduce ?Do you know,? she said, ?that Chloe has had a letter from Tom?? ?Ah! has she? Tom ?s got some friend there, it seemsHow is the old boy?? ?He has been bought by a very fine family, I should think,? said MrsShelby,??is kindly treated, and has not much to do ?Ah! well, I?m glad of it,?very glad,? said Mr?Tom, I suppose, will get reconciled to a Southern residence;?hardly want to come up here again ?On the contrary he inquires very anxiously,? said MrsShelby, ?when the money for his redemption is to be raised ?I?m sure I don?t know,? said Mr?Once get business running wrong, there does seem to be no end to itIt?s like jumping from one bog to another, all through a swamp; borrow of one to pay another, and then borrow of another to pay one,?and these confounded notes falling due before a man has time to smoke a cigar and turn round,?dunning letters and dunning messages,?all scamper and hurry-scurry ?It does seem to me, my dear, that something might be done to straighten mattersSuppose we sell off all the horses, and sell one of your farms, and pay up square?? ?O, ridiculous, Emily! You are the finest woman in Kentucky; but still you haven?t sense to know that you don?t understand business;?women never do, and never can ?But, at least,? said MrsShelby, ?could not you give me some little insight into yours; a list of all your debts, at least, and of all that is owed to you, and let me try and see if I can?t help you to economize ?O, bother! don?t plague me, Emily!?I can?t tell exactlyI know somewhere about what things are likely to be; but there?s no trimming and squaring my affairs, as Chloe trims crust off her piesYou don?t know anything about business, I tell youShelby, not knowing any other way of enforcing his ideas, raised his voice,?a mode of arguing very convenient and convincing, when a gentleman is discussing matters of business with his wifeShelby ceased talking, with something of a sighThe fact was, that though her husband had stated she was a woman, she had a clear, energetic, practical mind, and a force of character every way superior to that of her husband; so that it would not have been so very absurd a supposition, to have allowed her capable of managing, as MrHer heart was set on performing her promise to Tom and Aunt Chloe, and she sighed as discouragements thickened around her ?Don?t you think we might in some way contrive to raise that money? Poor Aunt Chloe! her heart is so set on it!? ?I?m sorry, if it isI think I was premature in promisingI?m not sure, now, but it?s the best way to tell Chloe, and let her make up her mind to itTom?ll have another wife, in a year or two; and she had better take up with somebody elseShelby, I have taught my people that their marriages are as sacred as oursI never could think of giving Chloe such advice ?It?s a pity, wife, that you have burdened them with a morality above their condition and prospects ?It?s only the morality of the Bible, Mr ?Well, well, Emily, I don?t pretend to interfere with your religious notions; only they seem extremely unfitted for people in that shop condition

Are we all armed, as we were on that night when first we visited our enemy's lairArmed against ghostly as well as carnal attack?" We all assured himNow, Madam Mina, you are in any case quite safe here until the sunsetAnd before then we shall return? if? We shall return! But before we go let me see you armed against personal attackI have myself, since you came down, prepared your chamber by the placing of things of which we know, so that He may not enterNow let me guard yourselfOn your forehead I touch this piece of Sacred Wafer in the name of the Father, the Son, and?" There was a fearful scream which almost froze our hearts to hearAs he had placed the Wafer on Mina's forehead, it had seared it? had burned into the flesh as though it had been a piece of white-hot metalMy poor darling's brain had told her the significance of the fact as quickly as her nerves received the pain of it, and the two so overwhelmed her that her overwrought nature had its voice in that dreadful scream But the words to her thought came quicklyThe echo of the scream had not ceased to ring on the air when there came the reaction, and she sank on her knees on the floor in an agony of abasementPulling her beautiful hair over her face, as the leper of old his mantle, she wailed out "Unclean! Unclean! Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh! I must bear this mark of shame upon my forehead until the Judgement DayI had thrown myself beside her in an agony of helpless grief, and putting my arms around held her tightFor a few minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together, whilst the friends around us turned away their eyes that ran tears silentlyThen Van Helsing turned and said gravelySo gravely that I could not help feeling that he was in some way inspired, and was stating things outside himself "It may be that you may have to bear that mark till God himself see fit, as He most surely shall, on the Judgement Day, to redress all wrongs of the earth and of His children that He has placed thereonAnd oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that red scar, the sign of God's knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we knowFor so surely as we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon usTill then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His WillIt may be that we are chosen instruments of His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through stripes and shameThrough tears and bloodThrough doubts and fear, and all that makes the difference between God and man There was hope in his words, and comfortAnd they made for resignationMina and I both felt so, and simultaneously we each took one of the old man's hands and bent over and kissed itThen without a word we all knelt down together, and all holding hands, swore to be true to each otherWe men pledged ourselves to raise the veil of sorrow from the head of her whom, each in his own way, we lovedAnd we prayed for help and guidance in the terrible task which lay before usIt was then time to startSo I said farewell to Mina, a parting which neither of us shall forget to our dying day, and we set out To one thing I have made up my mindIf we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible land aloneI suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant manyJust as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks We entered Carfax without trouble and found all things the same as on the first occasionIt was hard to believe that amongst so prosaic surroundings of neglect and dust and decay there was any ground for such fear as already we knewHad not our minds been made up, and had there not been terrible memories to spur us on, we could hardly have proceeded with our taskWe found no papers, or any sign of use in the shop house

?I heard the woman say there was one coming along this evening, and that a man was going to cross over in itNeck or nothing, we must go with him,? said Tom ?I s?pose you?ve got good dogs,? said Haley ?First rate,? said Marks?But what?s the use? you han?t got nothin? o? hers to smell on ?Yes, I have,? said Haley, triumphantly?Here?s her shawl she left on the bed in her hurry; she left her bonnet, too ?That ar?s lucky,? said Loker; ?fork over ?Though the dogs might damage the gal, if they come on her unawars,? said Haley ?That ar?s a consideration,? said Marks?Our dogs tore a feller half to pieces, once, down in Mobile, ?fore we could get ?em off ?Well, ye see, for this sort that?s to be sold for their looks, that ar won?t answer, ye see,? said Haley ?I do see,? said Marks?Besides, if she?s got took in, ?tan?t no go, neitherDogs is no ?count in these yer up states where these critters gets carried; of course, ye can?t get on their trackThey only does down in plantations, where niggers, when they runs, has to do their own running, and don?t get no help ?Well,? said Loker, who had just stepped out to the bar to make some inquiries, ?they say the man?s come with the boat; so, Marks?? That worthy cast a rueful look at the comfortable quarters he was leaving, but slowly rose to obeyAfter exchanging a few words of further arrangement, Haley, with visible reluctance, handed over the fifty dollars to Tom, and the worthy trio separated for the night If any of our refined and Christian readers object to the society into which this scene introduces them, let us beg them to begin and conquer their prejudices in timeThe catching business, we beg to remind them, is rising to the dignity of a lawful and patriotic professionIf all the broad land between the Mississippi and the Pacific becomes one great market for bodies and souls, and human property retains the locomotive tendencies of this nineteenth century, the trader and catcher may yet be among our aristocracy While this scene was going on at the tavern, Sam and Andy, in a state of high felicitation, pursued their way home Sam was in the highest possible feather, and expressed his exultation by all sorts of supernatural howls and ejaculations, by divers odd motions and contortions of his whole systemSometimes he would sit backward, with his face to the horse?s tail and sides, and then, with a whoop and a somerset, come right side up in his place again, and, drawing on a grave face, begin to lecture Andy in high-sounding tones for laughing and playing the foolAnon, slapping his sides with his arms, he would burst forth in peals of laughter, that made the old woods ring as they passedWith all these evolutions, he contrived to keep the horses up to the top of their speed, until, between ten and eleven, their heels resounded on the gravel at the end of the balconyShelby flew to the railings ?Is that you, Sam? Where are they?? ?Mas?r Haley ?s a-restin? at the tavern; he?s drefful fatigued, Missis ?And Eliza, Sam?? ?Wal, she?s clar ?cross JordanAs a body may say, in the land o? Canaan ?Why, Sam, what do you mean?? said MrsShelby, breathless, and almost faint, as the possible meaning of these words came over her ?Wal, Missis, de Lord he persarves his ownLizy?s done gone over the river into ?Hio, as ?markably as if de Lord took her over in a charrit of fire and two hosses Sam?s vein of piety was always uncommonly fervent in his mistress? presence; and he made great capital of scriptural figures and images ?Come up here, Sam,? said MrShelby, who had followed on to the verandah, ?and tell your mistress what she wantsCome, come, Emily,? said he, passing his arm round her, ?you are cold and all in a shiver; you allow yourself to feel too much ?Feel too much! Am not I a woman,?a mother? Are we not both responsible to God for this poor girl? My God! lay not this sin to our charge ?What sin, Emily? You see yourself that we have only done what we were obliged shop to

I wonder when it will beI wish she were with me again, for I feel so unhappyLast night I seemed to be dreaming again just as I was at WhitbyPerhaps it is the change of air, or getting home againIt is all dark and horrid to me, for I can remember nothingBut I am full of vague fear, and I feel so weak and worn outWhen Arthur came to lunch he looked quite grieved when he saw me, and I hadn't the spirit to try to be cheerfulI wonder if I could sleep in mother's room tonightI shall make an excuse to tryMother did not seem to take to my proposalShe seems not too well herself, and doubtless she fears to worry meI tried to keep awake, and succeeded for a while, but when the clock struck twelve it waked me from a doze, so I must have been falling asleepThere was a sort of scratching or flapping at the window, but I did not mind it, and as I remember no more, I suppose I must have fallen asleepI wish I could remember themThis morning I am horribly weakMy face is ghastly pale, and my throat pains meIt must be something wrong with my lungs, for I don't seem to be getting air enoughI shall try to cheer up when Arthur comes, or else I know he will be miserable to see me so LETTER, ARTHUR TO DRSEWARD "Albemarle Hotel, 31 August "My dear Jack, "I want you to do me a favourLucy is ill, that is she has no special disease, but she looks awful, and is getting worse every dayI have asked her if there is any cause, I not dare to ask her mother, for to disturb the poor lady's mind about her daughter in her present state of health would be fatalWestenra has confided to me that her doom is spoken, disease of the heart, though poor Lucy does not know it yetI am sure that there is something preying on my dear girl's mindI am almost distracted when I think of herTo look at her gives me a pangI told her I should ask you to see her, and though she demurred at first, I know why, old fellow, she finally consentedIt will be a painful task for you, I know, old friend, but it is for her sake, and I must not hesitate to ask, or you to actYou are to come to lunch at Hillingham tomorrow, two o'clock, so as not to arouse any suspicion in MrsWestenra, and after lunch Lucy will take an opportunity of being alone with youI am filled with anxiety, and want to consult with you alone as soon as I can after you have seen herDo not fail! "Arthur TELEGRAM, ARTHUR HOLMWOOD TO SEWARD 1 September "Am summoned to see my father, who is worseWrite me fully by tonight's post to Ring LETTER FROM DRSEWARD TO ARTHUR HOLMWOOD 2 September "My dear old fellow, "With regard to Miss Westenra's health I hasten to let you know at once that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady that I know ofAt the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with her appearanceShe is woefully different from what she was when I saw her lastOf course you must bear in mind that I did not have full opportunity of examination such as I should wishOur very friendship makes a little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can bridge shop over