At six o’clock Van Helsing came to relieve me.  Arthur had then fallen into a doze, and he mercifully let him sleep on.  When he saw Lucy’s face I could hear the hissing indraw of breath, and he said to me in a sharp whisper.  “Draw up the blind.  I want light!” Then he bent down, and, with his face almost touching Lucy’s, examined her carefully.  He removed the flowers and lifted the silk handkerchief from her throat.  As he did so he started back and I could hear his ejaculation, “Mein Gott!” as it was smothered in his throat.  I bent over and looked, too, and as I noticed some queer chill came over me.  The wounds on the throat had absolutely disappeared.

For fully five minutes Van Helsing stood looking at her, with his face at its sternest.  Then he turned to me and said calmly, “She is dying.  It will not be long now.  It will be much difference, mark me, whether she dies conscious or in her sleep.  Wake that poor boy, and let him come and see the last.  He trusts us, and we have promised him.”

I went to the dining room and waked him.  He was dazed for a moment, but when he saw the sunlight streaming in through the edges of the shutters he thought he was late, and expressed his fear.  I assured him that Lucy was still asleep, but told him as gently as I could that both Van Helsing and I feared that the end was near.  He covered his face with his hands, and slid down on his knees by the sofa, where he remained, perhaps a minute, with his head buried, praying, whilst his shoulders shook with grief.  I took him by the hand and raised him up.  “Come,” I said, “my dear old fellow, summon all your fortitude.  It will be best and easiest for her.”

When we came into Lucy’s room I could see that Van Helsing had, with his usual forethought, been putting matters straight and making everything look as pleasing as possible.  He had even brushed Lucy’s hair, so that it lay on the pillow in its usual sunny ripples.  When we came into the room she opened her eyes, and seeing him, whispered softly, “Arthur!  Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!”

He was stooping to kiss her, when Van Helsing motioned him back.  “No,” he whispered, “not yet!  Hold her hand, it will comfort her more.”

So Arthur took her hand and knelt beside her, and she looked her best, with all the soft lines matching the angelic beauty of her eyes.  Then gradually her eyes closed, and she sank to sleep.  For a little bit her breast heaved softly, and her breath came and went like a tired child’s.

And then insensibly there came the strange change which I had noticed in the night.  Her breathing grew stertorous, the mouth opened, and the pale gums, drawn back, made the teeth look longer and sharper than ever.  In a sort of sleep-waking, vague, unconscious way she opened her eyes, which were now dull and hard at once, and said in a soft, voluptuous voice, such as I had never heard from her lips, “Arthur!  Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come!  Kiss me!”