VARNEY, THE VAMPYRE; OR, THE FEAST OF BLOOD. CHAPTER CLXXXIX. [sic] [Chapter 206] THE SIGHT OF TERROR. -- THE DOCTOR'S SUSPICIONS. -- THE NIGHT WATCH. The sight that met the eyes of the father in his daughter's chamber, was, indeed, one calculated in every respect to strike him with horror and misery. Emma was lying insensible at the side of the bed, and Clara seemed to be dead, for she was ghastly pale, and there was blood upon her neck. The father staggered to a seat, but Dr. North at once rushed forward, and held the light to the eyes of Clara, at the same time, that he placed his finger on her wrist to note if there was any pulsation. "Only a fainting fit," he said. "But the blood-- the-- the blood," cried Sir George. ["]That I know nothing about, just at present, but let us see what's the matter here.["] He raised Emma from the floor, and found that she too had fainted, but as she appeared to be perfectly uninjured. She slightly recovered as he lifted her up, and he resigned her at once to the care of some of the female servants, who now made their appearance in the chamber, all terribly alarmed at the shriek that had awakened them. "This is strange," said Dr. North, "here is a small puncture upon the throat of your daughter Clara, that almost looks like the mark of a tooth." "A tooth!" "Yes, but of course that cannot be." "Hear me, oh, hear me," cried Emma, at this moment. "Horror-- horror!" "What would you say-- speak at once, and clear up this mystery if you can. What has happened?" ["]I heard a noise, and came from my own chamber to this. There was some one bending over the bed. 'Twas I who shrieked.["] "You?" "Yes, oh yes! 'Twas I. I know not what then happened, for I either fell or was struck down, and I felt that my senses left me. What has happened? I too ask; oh, Clara! What was it? what was it?" "Imagination, most likely," said the doctor. "You had better go to your room again, Miss Emma, for you are trembling with cold and apprehension. Perhaps in the morning, all this affair will assume a different shape. At present we are all to much flurried to take proper congisance of it. There your sister is rapidly recovering. How do you feel now, Miss Clara?" "I-- I-- am mad!" "Oh, pho! pho! nonsense!" "Oh, God help me! How horrifying ! How more than dreadful! That awful face! Those hideous teeth! -- I am mad! -- I am mad!" "Why, my dear child, you will drive me mad," cried Sir George, "if you talk in such a strain. Oh, let me beg of you not." "Don't heed her," said Dr. North. "This will soon pass away. Come, Miss Clara, you must tell me freely, as your medical man, what has happened. Let us hear the full particulars, and then you know well, that if any human means can aid you, you shall be aided." This calm mode of discourse had evidently a great effect upon her, and after the silence of a few moments, she spoke much more collectedly than before, saying, -- "Oh, no-- no! I cannot think it a dream." "What a dream?" "You-- you shall hear. But do not drag me from my home, and from all I love, if I am mad; I pray you do not-- I implore you!" "You are quite safe. Why, what a ridiculous girl you are, to be sure. Nobody wants to drag you from your home, and nobody will attempt such a thing, I assure you. You have only to tell us all unreservedly, and you will then be quite safe. If you refuse us you confidence how can we act for you in any way?" This argument seemed to be effective, and to reach her understanding quite, so that after a shudder, and a glance around her of great dread and dismay, she spoke, saying in a low, faltering voice, -- "Something came; something not quite human, yet having the aspect of a man. Something that flew at me, and fastened its teeth upon my neck." "Teeth! everbody says 'teeth!'" exclaimed the father. "Hush!" said the doctor, with an admonitory wave of his hand; "keep that a secret from her, whatever you do. I implore you, keep quiet on that head. Well, is that all, Clara?" "Yes-- yes." "Then it was a dream, and nothing else, I can assure you. Nothing but a dream; make yourself comfortable, and think no more of it. I dare say you will have a quiet sleep now, after this. But you had better let your sister Emma lay with you, as your nerves are a little shattered." "Oh, yes, yes." Emma, who truth to tell, was very little better than her sister, professed her readiness to stay, and the doctor giving Sir George a nod, as much as to say, "Let no more be said about it just now," led the way from the room at once. When he reached the corridor, where Varney and the two sons were waiting, he said, -- "We shall none of us after this, I am certain, feel inclined to sleep; suppose we go down stairs at once and think and talk this matter over together; there is more in it, perhaps, than meets the eye; I will follow you in a moment, when I have just seen that my patient is all right." They all proceeded down stairs to the dining-room, and in a few minutes, the doctor followed; lights were procured, and they sat down, all looking at the doctor who had taken the lead in the affair, and who evidently had some very disagreeable, if not very true, ideas upon the subject matter of the evening's disturbance. "Well, doctor," said Sir George, "we rely upon you to give us your opinion upon this business, and some insight into its meaning." "In the first place then," said the doctor, "I don't understand it." "Well, that's coming to the point." "Stop a bit; it was no dream." "You think not." "Certainly not a dream, two people don't dream of the same thing at the same time; I don't of course deny the possibility of such a thing, but it is too remarkable a coincidence to believe all at once; but Emma avows that she saw a somebody in her sister's room." "Ah," said Sir George; "she did, I had in my confusion forgotten that horrible confirmation of Clara's story. She did so, and before Clara was well recovered too, so she could not have put the idea into her head. Good God! what am I to think? For the love of Heaven some of you tell me what are your opinions upon this horrible affair, which looks so romantically unreal, and yet so horrible real." All except the doctor looked at each other in surprise. "Well," he said, "I will tell you what the thing suggests; not what it is, mind you, for the afffair to me is too out of the way of natural causes to induce me to come to a positive conclusion. Before I speak, however, I should like to have your opinion, Mr. Smith; I am convinced it will be valuable." "Really I have formed none," replied Varney; "I am only exceedingly surprised that somebody should have fastened me in my bed-room. I know that that circumstance gave me a terrible fright, for when I heard all the outcry and confusion, I thought the house was on fire." "Ah! the locking of us in our rooms, too," said the doctor, "there's another bit of reality. Who did that?" "It puzzles me beyond all comprehension," said Sir George; "how the doors could be locked I cannot imagine; for as I told you the keys are in a drawer in my library." "At all events, the doors could not lock themselves, with or without keys," said Charles; "and that circumstance shows sufficiently evidently that some one has been at work in the business whom we have still to discover." "True," said Mr. Smith. "Well, gentlemen," added the doctor, "I will tell you what I suggest; and that is contained in a letter, written a long while ago by a distant relation of mine, likewise a surgeon. Mind, I do not of course pledge myself at the present time, for the truth and accuracy of a man who was dead long before I was born; he might too have been a very superstitious man." "But what did he suggest?" "He did more than suggest; he wrote for a medical publication of that day an account, only of course suppressing names, of the appearance of a vampyre." "A what?" "A vampyre!" "I have heard of such horrors," said Mr. Smith, "but really at the present day, no one can think of believing such things. Vampyres indeed! No-- that is too great a claim upon one's credulity. These existences, or supposed existences, have gone the same way as the ghosts, and so on." "One would think so, but you shall hear." Sir George Crofton and his sons looked curious, and thought that the doctor was going to draw upon his memory in the matter to which he alluded, but he took from his pocket a memorandum book, and from it extracted some printed papers. "The communication was so curious," he said, "that I cut it out of the old volume in which it appeared, and kept it ever since." "Pray," said Mr. Smith, "what was the name of your distant relation, the medical man?" "Chillingworth." "Oh, indeed; an odd name rather, I don't recollect ever hearing of it." "No, sir, it is not likely you should. Dr. Chillingworth has been dead many years, and no one else of his name is at present in the medical profession to my knowledge. But you shall hear, at all events, what he says about it." The doctor then opened the folded paper, and read as follows: -- "Notwithstanding the incredulity that has been shown regarding vampyres, I am in a condition from my own knowledge to own the existence of one, I think he is dead now. His name was Varney, at least that was the name he went by, and he came strangely enought under my observation, in connection with some dear friends of mine named B----" "Is that all?" said Mr. Smith. "Not quite," replied Dr. North, "He goes on to say that but for touching the feeling of living persons, he could and would unfold some curious particulars respecting vampyres, and that if he lived long enough he will perhaps do so, by which I suppose he meant if he outlived the parties whose feelings he was afraid of hurting by any premature disclosures." "And-- and," faltered Sir George, "do you draw a conclusion from all that, that my daughter has been visited by one of these persons-- surely not." "May be, Sir George; I draw no conclusions at all, I merely throw out the matter for your consideration. It is always worth while considering these matters in any possible aspect. That is all." "A most horrible aspect," said Sir George. "Truly dreadful," said Mr. Smith. "This shall be settled," said Charles, "Edwin and I will take upon ourselves to-morrow night to set this question completely at rest." At this moment there was a loud cry of "Help, help, help," in the voice of Emma, and they all rushed up stairs with great speed. "Oh, this way, this way," she cried, meeting them at the head of the stairs. "Come to Clara." They followed her, and when they reached the room, they found to their horror and surprise that Clara was dead! -+- Next Time: Family Troubles. -- The House of Mourning. +=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+ | 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 206 Ver 1.00 12/08/1997 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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: 795-797 Sections: 1 Approximate number of characters: Number of paragraphs: Comments: Chapter appears mis-numbered as CLXXXIX. The doctor and Sir George enter Clara's bed-chamber, and to their horror, discover Emma insensible at the side of the bed, on which lay a pale and unconscious Clara. Bloody puncture marks are seen on Clara's neck. Emma recovers somewhat, and said that she had seen a figure bending over Clara's bed, and then she was struck down. Clara eventually comes to, and recounts a more horrible tale of being attacked by a horrible face with hideous teeth. The doctor offers platitudes to calm the terrified girl and then decides to have Emma stay with Clara. Dr. North then leads all the men down to the dining-room to discuss the matter. Scientific reasoning leads the doctor to conclude that the terrible events cannot be passed off as only a bad dream. Mr. Smith offers no opinion when asked, but the locking of him and the doctor in their rooms convince all that someone has been up to mischief. After a time the doctor offers up the alarming possibility that Clara may have been visited by a vampyre. Although he professes not to be a confirmed believer in such creatures, he does tell that a distant relation, a long dead surgeon, had published an article in a medical journal concerning the topic. He even produces the article, and reads Dr. Chillingworth's assertions that his experiences with a vampyre named Varney and a "B" family did occur. Varney, in the guise of Mr. Smith, plays the gambit well, and continues his masquerade. The quiet is now broken a second time by the voice of Emma, crying for help. All rush upstairs to Clara's room again, and this time, to the horror of all, Clara is found to be dead! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Modification History Version Date Who What changes made -------- -------- ------------- ---------------------------------- 1.00 12/08/1997 H.Liu Initial gold version, rough proof read. ==================================End of File=================================