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’s
account of the night’s transaction; an 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, and 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
favour 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 at 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 would,” 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 anybody 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 from 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 assisted Mr. Slop’s invention and general talents upon the
interesting occasion.