DR. SEWARD'S DIARY
3 October.--Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as well as I can remember, since last I made an entry.
Not a detail that I can recall must be forgotten.
In all calmness I must proceed.
When I came to Renfield's room I found him lying on the floor on his left side in a glittering pool of blood. When I went to move him, it became at once apparent that he had received some terrible injuries.
There seemed none of the unity of purpose between the parts of the body which marks even lethargic sanity. As the face was exposed I could see that it was horribly bruised, as though it had been beaten against the floor.
Indeed it was from the face wounds that the pool of blood originated.
The attendant who was kneeling beside the body said to me as we turned him over, "I think, sir, his back is broken. See, both his right arm and leg and the whole side of his face are paralysed."
How such a thing could have happened puzzled the attendant beyond measure. He seemed quite bewildered, and his brows were gathered in as he said, "I can't understand the two things.
He could mark his face like that by beating his own head on the floor.
I saw a young woman do it once at the Eversfield Asylum before anyone could lay hands on her. And I suppose he might have broken his neck by falling out of bed, if he got in an awkward kink.
But for the life of me I can't imagine how the two things occurred.
If his back was broke, he couldn't beat his head, and if his face was like that before the fall out of bed, there would be marks of it."
I said to him, "Go to Dr. Van Helsing, and ask him to kindly come here at once. I want him without an instant's delay."
The man ran off, and within a few minutes the Professor, in his dressing gown and slippers, appeared. When he saw Renfield on the ground, he looked keenly at him a moment, and then turned to me.
I think he recognized my thought in my eyes, for he said very quietly, manifestly for the ears of the attendant, "Ah, a sad accident!
He will need very careful watching, and much attention.
I shall stay with you myself, but I shall first dress myself.
If you will remain I shall in a few minutes join you."
The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that he had suffered some terrible injury.
Van Helsing returned with extraordinary celerity, bearing with him a surgical case. He had evidently been thinking and had his mind made up, for almost before he looked at the patient, he whispered to me, "Send the attendant away.
We must be alone with him when he becomes conscious, after the operation."
I said, "I think that will do now, Simmons. We have done all that we can at present. You had better go your round, and Dr. Van Helsing will operate.
Let me know instantly if there be anything unusual anywhere."
The man withdrew, and we went into a strict examination of the patient.
The wounds of the face were superficial. The real injury was a depressed fracture of the skull, extending right up through the motor area.
The Professor thought a moment and said, "We must reduce the pressure and get back to normal conditions, as far as can be.
The rapidity of the suffusion shows the terrible nature of his injury. The whole motor area seems affected.
The suffusion of the brain will increase quickly, so we must trephine at once or it may be too late."
As he was speaking there was a soft tapping at the door.
I went over and opened it and found in the corridor without, Arthur and Quincey in pajamas and slippers, the former spoke, "I heard your man call up Dr. Van Helsing and tell him of an accident.
So I woke Quincey or rather called for him as he was not asleep.
Things are moving too quickly and too strangely for sound sleep for any of us these times. I've been thinking that tomorrow night will not see things as they have been.
We'll have to look back, and forward a little more than we have done.
May we come in?"
I nodded, and held the door open till they had entered, then I closed it again. When Quincey saw the attitude and state of the patient, and noted the horrible pool on the floor, he said softly, "My God!
What has happened to him? Poor, poor devil!"
I told him briefly, and added that we expected he would recover consciousness after the operation, for a short time, at all events.
He went at once and sat down on the edge of the bed, with Godalming beside him. We all watched in patience.
"We shall wait," said Van Helsing, "just long enough to fix the best spot for trephining, so that we may most quickly and perfectly remove the blood clot, for it is evident that the haemorrhage is increasing."
The minutes during which we waited passed with fearful slowness.
I had a horrible sinking in my heart, and from Van Helsing's face I gathered that he felt some fear or apprehension as to what was to come. I dreaded the words Renfield might speak.
I was positively afraid to think. But the conviction of what was coming was on me, as I have read of men who have heard the death watch. The poor man's breathing came in uncertain gasps.
Each instant he seemed as though he would open his eyes and speak, but then would follow a prolonged stertorous breath, and he would relapse into a more fixed insensibility. Inured as I was to sick beds and death, this suspense grew and grew upon me.
I could almost hear the beating of my own heart, and the blood surging through my temples sounded like blows from a hammer.
The silence finally became agonizing. I looked at my companions, one after another, and saw from their flushed faces and damp brows that they were enduring equal torture.
There was a nervous suspense over us all, as though overhead some dread bell would peal out powerfully when we should least expect it.
At last there came a time when it was evident that the patient was sinking fast. He might die at any moment.
I looked up at the Professor and caught his eyes fixed on mine.
His face was sternly set as he spoke, "There is no time to lose.
His words may be worth many lives. I have been thinking so, as I stood here. It may be there is a soul at stake!
We shall operate just above the ear."
