Dracula, The Hunters' Journals: September Dr. Seward's Telegram to Van Helsing and Letter to Holmwood

Lucy gets worse and Seward summons Van Helsing. Holmwood is informed. 

Telegram, Seward, London, to Van Helsing, Amsterdam.

“6 September.—Terrible change for the worse. Come at once; do not lose an hour. I hold over telegram to Holmwood till have seen you.”

Letter, Dr. Seward to Hon. Arthur Holmwood.

“6 September.

“My dear Art,—

“My news to-day is not so good. Lucy this morning had gone back a bit. There is, however, one good thing which has arisen from it; Mrs. Westenra was naturally anxious concerning Lucy, and has consulted me professionally about her. I took advantage of the opportunity, and told her that my old master, Van Helsing, the great specialist, was coming to stay with me, and that I would put her in his charge conjointly with myself; so now we can come and go without alarming her unduly, for a shock to her would mean sudden death, and this, in Lucy’s weak condition, might be disastrous to her. We are hedged in with difficulties, all of us, my poor old fellow; but, please God, we shall come through them all right. If any need I shall write, so that, if you do not hear from me, take it for granted that I am simply waiting for news. In haste

Yours ever,
“John Seward.”

Notes: Moon Phase: Full Moon

Back when I was reading Dracula for the 6th or 7th time, I came upon the notion that certain things happened for different moon phases. I had a little hand-made calendar with the moon phases of 1892 that was using as a bookmark.  This is one of the dates that had sold me on 1892; Lucy gets worse during the full moon.

The purpose of these entries are of course to show how dire things with Lucy are and to get Van Helsing in a central character. 

These two entries are the start of Chapter 10. I have not been putting in the chapters to keep the flow going. 

Think about this, our two "main" characters, we have not heard from Dracula as a character since the end of Chapter 4. Van Helsing doesn't enter into the tale until Chapter 9 and not properly until Chapter 10. This is one of the reasons I have always said that it is Mina who is the main character of this tale. But more on that later.