The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered consciousness again.  Somewhere near, a passing bell was tolling.  The dogs all round the neighbourhood were howling, and in our shrubbery, seemingly just outside, a nightingale was singing.  I was dazed and stupid with pain and terror and weakness, but the sound of the nightingale seemed like the voice of my dead mother come back to comfort me.  The sounds seemed to have awakened the maids, too, for I could hear their bare feet pattering outside my door.  I called to them, and they came in, and when they saw what had happened, and what it was that lay over me on the bed, they screamed out.  The wind rushed in through the broken window, and the door slammed to.  They lifted off the body of my dear mother, and laid her, covered up with a sheet, on the bed after I had got up.  They were all so frightened and nervous that I directed them to go to the dining room and each have a glass of wine.  The door flew open for an instant and closed again.  The maids shrieked, and then went in a body to the dining room, and I laid what flowers I had on my dear mother’s breast.  When they were there I remembered what Dr. Van Helsing had told me, but I didn’t like to remove them, and besides, I would have some of the servants to sit up with me now.  I was surprised that the maids did not come back.  I called them, but got no answer, so I went to the dining room to look for them.

My heart sank when I saw what had happened.  They all four lay helpless on the floor, breathing heavily.  The decanter of sherry was on the table half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell about.  I was suspicious, and examined the decanter.  It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the sideboard, I found that the bottle which Mother’s doctor uses for her—­oh! did use—­was empty.  What am I to do?  What am I to do?  I am back in the room with Mother.  I cannot leave her, and I am alone, save for the sleeping servants, whom some one has drugged.  Alone with the dead!  I dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window.

The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim.  What am I to do?  God shield me from harm this night!  I shall hide this paper in my breast, where they shall find it when they come to lay me out.  My dear mother gone!  It is time that I go too.  Goodbye, dear Arthur, if I should not survive this night.  God keep you, dear, and God help me!

CHAPTER 12

DR. SEWARD’S DIARY