| The child gave a sharp cry, and lay there moaningThere was a cold-bloodedness in the act which wrung a groan from ArthurWhen she advanced to him with outstretched arms and a wanton smile he fell back and hid his face in his hands
She still advanced, however, and with a languorous, voluptuous grace, said, "Come to me, ArthurLeave these others and come to meMy arms are hungry for youCome, and we can rest togetherCome, my husband, come!"
There was something diabolically sweet in her tones, something of the tinkling of glass when struck, which rang through the brains even of us who heard the words addressed to another
As for Arthur, he seemed under a spell, moving his hands from his face, he opened wide his armsShe was leaping for them, when Van Helsing sprang forward and held between them his little golden crucifixShe recoiled from it, and, with a suddenly distorted face, full of rage, dashed past him as if to enter the tomb
When within a foot or two of the door, however, she stopped, as if arrested by some irresistible forceThen she turned, and her face was shown in the clear burst of moonlight and by the lamp, which had now no quiver from Van Helsing's nervesNever did I see such baffled malice on a face, and never, I trust, shall such ever be seen again by mortal eyesThe beautiful colour became livid, the eyes seemed to throw out sparks of hell fire, the brows were wrinkled as though the folds of flesh were the coils of Medusa's snakes, and the lovely, blood-stained mouth grew to an open square, as in the passion masks of the Greeks and JapaneseIf ever a face meant death, if looks could kill, we saw it at that moment
And so for full half a minute, which seemed an eternity, she remained between the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her means of entry
Van Helsing broke the silence by asking Arthur, "Answer me, oh my friend! Am I to proceed in my work?"
"Do as you will, friendThere can be no horror like this ever any more And he groaned in spirit
Quincey and I simultaneously moved towards him, and took his armsWe could hear the click of the closing lantern as Van Helsing held it downComing close to the tomb, he began to remove from the chinks some of the sacred emblem which he had placed thereWe all looked on with horrified amazement as we saw, when he stood back, the woman, with a corporeal body as real at that moment as our own, pass through the interstice where scarce a knife blade could have goneWe all felt a glad sense of relief when we saw the Professor calmly restoring the strings of putty to the edges of the door
When this was done, he lifted the child and said, "Come now, my friendsWe can do no more till tomorrowThere is a funeral at noon, so here we shall all come before long after thatThe friends of the dead will all be gone by two, and when the sexton locks the gate we shall remainThen there is more to do, but not like this of tonightAs for this little one, he is not much harmed, and by tomorrow night he shall be wellWe shall leave him where the police will find him, as on the other night, and then to home
Coming close to Arthur, he said, "My friend Arthur, you have had a sore trial, but after, when you look back, you will see how it was necessaryYou are now in the bitter waters, my childBy this time tomorrow you will, please God, have passed them, and have drunk of the sweet watersSo do not mourn over-muchTill then I shall not ask you to forgive me
Arthur and Quincey came home with me, and we tried to cheer each other on the wayWe had left behind the child in safety, and were tiredSo we all slept with more or less reality of shop sleep |