Very shortly after she opened her eyes in all their softness, and
putting out her poor, pale, thin hand, took Van Helsing s great brown
one; drawing it to her, she kissed it. My true friend, she said, in a
faint voice, but with untellable pathos, My true friend, and his! Oh,
guard him, and give me peace!
I swear it! he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his
hand, as one who registers an oath. Then he turned to Arthur, and said
to him: Come, my child, take her hand in yours, and kiss her on the
forehead, and only once.
Their eyes met instead of their lips; and so they parted.
Lucy s eyes closed; and Van Helsing, who had been watching closely, took
Arthur s arm, and drew him away.
And then Lucy s breathing became stertorous again, and all at once it
ceased.
It is all over, said Van Helsing. She is dead!
I took Arthur by the arm, and led him away to the drawing-room, where he
sat down, and covered his face with his hands, sobbing in a way that
nearly broke me down to see.
I went back to the room, and found Van Helsing looking at poor Lucy, and
his face was sterner than ever. Some change had come over her body.
Death had given back part of her beauty, for her brow and cheeks had
recovered some of their flowing lines; even the lips had lost their
deadly pallor. It was as if the blood, no longer needed for the working
of the heart, had gone to make the harshness of death as little rude as
might be.
We thought her dying whilst she slept,
And sleeping when she died.
I stood beside Van Helsing, and said:--
Ah, well, poor girl, there is peace for her at last. It is the end!
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