3 October.—Let me put down with exactness all that happened, as
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.
T