VARNEY, THE VAMPYRE; OR, THE FEAST OF BLOOD. CHAPTER CLXIV [sic] [Chapter 182] THE WAITER TELLS THE STORY OF THE LAKES' DISTURBANCE TO GEORGE AND FRANCIS. Nothing further occurred during the night to cause any alarm to the inmates of the London Hotel, but we may as well give Miss Annetta'a account of the night's transaction; and account which she gave to Mrs. Lake at the time, and which soon spread all over the hotel, with, no doubt, many additions and embellishments as it was carried. She said, that having retired to rest, she, being fatigued by her journey, soon dropped off asleep. That she, to the best of her belief, fastened her room door, although she certainly could not absolutely swear to having done so, she was so very weary. She did not know how long she had slept, but she had a frightful dream, in which she thought she was pursued by wolves who ran after her through a large tract of country until she took shelter in a wood, and then all the wolves left her and abandoned the pursuit, except one, and that one caught her and fastened his fangs in her throat just as she sunk down exhausted upon a great heap of dried leaves that came in her way in the forest. She then went on to say that in the agony of her dream she actually awoke at that moment, and saw a human face close to her, and that _a man had his mouth close to her neck, and was sucking her blood_. It was then that she uttered the two screams which had so alarmed the whole house; and then she stated that the vampire, for such she named the apparition, left her and she fainted away. Now this story so far as it went, might all be very well accounted for by being called a dream, and the change from a wolf to a man might be but one of those fantastic changes that our sleeping visions so frequently undergo, but -- and in this case this was a serious but -- but _she showed upon her neck the marks of two teeth_, and there was a small wound on which even in the morning was a little portion of coagulated blood. This staggered everybody, as well it might, and the whole hotel was in a state of confusion. Mr. Blue kept his room. Mr. Black got up and declared that he was much better than the day before, attributing his indisposition to bodily fatigue; and the Lakes were in a state of consternation difficult to describe. The landlord, too, was nearly out of his senses at the idea of a vampire being in his house, adn a grand consultation was held in the bar parlour between him, Mr. and Mrs. Lake, and Mr. Black, who was asked if he would step down and give his opinion, which compliment was paid to him on account of his being such a gentlemanly and quiet man. They took it in turns to speak, and the landlord had the first say. "Gentlemen," he said, "and you madam, you can easily conceive how grieved I am about what has taken place, and I can only say that anything in the world that I can do to find out all about it, I will do with the greatest possible pleasure. Command me in any way, but-- but if I have a suspicion of anybody in this house, it is of that Mr. Blue." "And I too," said Mrs. Lake. "I don't know what to say further," remarked Mr. Lake, "than that my suspicions of some foul play on the part of Mr. Blue, are so strong, that if he is not turned out of the Hotel, we will leave to-night." "That's conclusive," said the landlord. "But if you Mr. Black, would favor us with your opinion, I'm sure, sir, we should be all much obliged." "I am afraid," said Mr. Black in his quiet, gentlemanly way, "that my opinion will be of very little importance, as I know nothing of the whole affair, but just what I have heard from one and another; I slept all the while it appears. But there is one circumstance that certainly to me is an unpleasant and a suspicious one, and that is that Mr. Blue, as he calls himself, was up and dressed, and that, with the exception of your night-watchman, he was the only person in the hotel who was so." "That's a fact," said the landlord, "I met him." "Then that settles the business," said Mr. Lake, "send him away. God knows if there be such things as vampires or not, but al all events, the suspicion is horrid, so you had better get rid of him at once." "I will-- I will." "Stop," said Mr. Black. "Before you do so, is it not worth while to make some effort to come at the precise truth, and that in my opinion, would be very desirable indeed." "It would-- it wold," said Mr. Lake, "you must understand, sir, that the young lady is especially under my care, and in fact I esteem her greatly-- very greatly I may say, for a variety of reasons, and therefore anything that I can do, which may have the effect of securing her peace of mind and happiness will be to me a sacred purpose." "Then I should recommend," said Mr. Black, "that this lady and your wife, landlord, keep watch in the young lady's chamber to-night." "Oh, I couldn't-- I couldn't," said the landlady. "Nor I," replied Mrs. Lake, "nor I, I'm sure, I cannot think of such a thing, I could not do it, I should faint away from terror. "And so should I," cried the landlady. "I feel quite ill even now at the thought of the thing." "Then I can say no more, ladies. Of course, gentlemen cannot very well, unless they are very near relatives, undertake such a job. I tell you what we can do, though; suppose we watch in the corridor, you and I, Mr. Lake, and leaving the door of the young lady's chamber just closed we shall hear if there be any alarm given from within and effectually secure her from intrusion without. What say you to this, as a plan of proceedings? There is your son too, might keep watch with us." "I'm afraid he is too nervous." "Yes," said the landlord, "and he might pop into my bed again, as he did last night in his fright. Oh don't have him gentlemen, I beg of you. I would go myself, but I am so sleepy always, that I never can keep my eyes open after twelve o'clock. Not that I am at all afraid of anything, but its downright sleepiness you see, gentlemen. I am on my feet all day, and-- and so you see I'd rather not on the whole." "I am willing," said Mr. Black. "Sir," said Mr. Lake, "I am quite ashamed of giving you so much trouble, but I can only say that I shall be very much obliged indeed, by your company, and I do hope that we shall have the pleasure of catching Mr. Blue if he be guilty." "Or acquitting him if innocent," added Mr. Black. "Let us be just even in the midst of our suspicions. It would be a terrible thing to stigmatise this gentleman as a vampire, when perhaps he may have as great a horror of such gentry as we possibly can." At this moment young Lake made his appearance. He looked rather pale as he apologised to the landlord for his unintentional intrusion into his room over night. "The fact is," said he, "I am as constitutionally brave as a lion, and so whenever anything occurs I run away." "Indeed, sir, an odd way of showing courage," said Mr. Black. "Why do you run away?" "For fear, sir, of doing something rash." "Well, I certainly never heard a better excuse for an undignified retreat in one's shirt, before in my life. But you will not be called upon to do anything to-night. You had better shut yourself up, and let you hear what you will, you need not come out of your room, you know." "Well, do you know, sir, I think that it would be the best way, for if I came out I might do something rash, such as kill somebody, which I should afterwards be sorry for, you know." "Certainly." "Then that's understood, father, that let what will happen I won't come out. I have been speaking to Annetta, but I can't somehow or another get her to be pleasant." "Hush!" said old Lake, and he bent his brows upon his son reprovingly, as if he fancied that he was letting out more of the family secrets than he ought to have done. The young man was silent accordingly, for he seemed to be in great dread of his father, who certainly if not a better man, was a man of much more intellect and courage than the son, who was but a very few degrees removed from absolute silliness. He was fool enough to be wicked, and the father was cunning enough to be so. How strange that vice should usually belong to the two extremes of intellect, that folly and talent should lead to similar results, a disregard of the ordinary moral obligations; but it is so. We may pass over the rest of the day, and we do so the more willingly, because we are anxious that the reader should be possessed of some particulars which George and Francis, the servants of Lord Lake communicated without any reserve at all to Slop, the waiter. Indeed, far from having anything like a wish to conceal anything, they seemed to glory in saying as much as they could with respect to those matters that were uppermost in their mind. This was just the frame of mind that Slop would have wished in his prayers, had he prayed at all upon the subject, to find them in; for although Slop was quite remarkable for neglecting his own affairs, he never neglected anbody [sic] else's and curiosity had been the bane of his existence. Upon arriving at the King's Head, in Chiswell-street, he found that the servants of Lord Lake were there, according as they had said they should be, and glasses of something uncommonly hot and strong having been ordered, they and Slop soon grew quite happy and familiar together. First, though, before they would commence a history of anything they had to tell of the Lake family, they resolved upon hearing form Slop all that had passed at the London Hotel, and you may be quite sure, that it lost nothing in the telling, but was duly made as much of as the circumstances would permit. No doubt the fumes of the something hot materially astisted [sic] Mr. Slop's invention and general talents upn the interesting occasion. -+- Next Time: The Communication of the Servants Respecting the Lake Family. +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ | This Varney the Vampyre e-text was entered by members of the | | Science Fiction Round Table #1 (SFRT1) on the Genie online | | service. | | The Varney Project, a reincarnation of this "penny dreadful" bit | | of fiction, was begun in November of 1993 by James Macdonald and | | should take about four years for re-serialization. | | These chapters are being posted once a week to the Round Table | | Bulletin Board and are also being placed in the Round Table File | | Library. | | For further information concerning Varney e-texts, please send | | email to: | | h.liu@juno.com | +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ ============================================================================== The Varney Project Chapter 182 Ver 1.00 06/22/1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ General notes on this chapter Source: H.Liu entry from the Arno edition, 1970, text is reprint of 1847 edition Drop capital: No Figures in source: 0 Page numbers in source: 741-743 Sections: 1 Approximate number of characters: Number of paragraphs: Comments: Chapter appears mis-numbered as CLXIV. The intense commotion at the London Hotel eventually subsides, but Annetta's account of the events leading up to her shrieking were soon all over the establishment. The account, which she told to Mrs. Lake, was a strange one, in which her nightmare of being pursued and attacked by wolves was suddenly transformed into a terrifying reality. She awoke suddenly from her nightmare to find a human face sucking blood from her neck. However, dismissing this incident as merely a nightmare was not so easy, as Annetta actually showed wounds on her neck. The landlord, the Lakes, and Mr. Black then discuss what their next actions will be. They all suspect Mr. Blue, and it is decided to stand watch over Annetta that night, and hopefully to catch Mr. Blue in the act. Mr. Black agrees to stand watch with Mr. Lake. Meanwhile, that evening, the waiter Slop keeps his appointment with the disgruntled Lake servants, and tells them of the strange happenings at the London Hotel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Modification History Version Date Who What changes made -------- -------- ------------- ---------------------------------- 1.00 06/22/1997 H.Liu Initial gold version, rough proof read. ==================================End of File=================================