by Bram Stoker
CHAPTER XX--METABOLISM
"Am I looking grave?" asked Sir Nathaniel inconsequently when here-entered the room.
"You certainly are, sir."
"We little thought when first we met that we should be drawn into such avortex. Already we are mixed up in robbery, and probably murder, but--athousand times worse than all the crimes in the calendar--in an affair ofghastly mystery which has no bottom and no end--with forces of the mostunnerving kind, which had their origin in an age when the world wasdifferent from the world which we know. We are going back to the originof superstition--to an age when dragons tore each other in their slime.We must fear nothing--no conclusion, however improbable, almostimpossible it may be. Life and death is hanging on our judgment, notonly for ourselves, but for others whom we love. Remember, I count onyou as I hope you count on me."
"I do, with all confidence."
"Then," said Sir Nathaniel, "let us think justly and boldly and fearnothing, however terrifying it may seem. I suppose I am to take as exactin every detail your account of all the strange things which happenedwhilst you were in Diana's Grove?"
"So far as I know, yes. Of course I may be mistaken in recollection ofsome detail or another, but I am certain that in the main what I havesaid is correct."
"You feel sure that you saw Lady Arabella seize the negro round the neck,and drag him down with her into the hole?"
"Absolutely certain, sir, otherwise I should have gone to herassistance."
"We have, then, an account of what happened from an eye-witness whom wetrust--that is yourself. We have also another account, written by LadyArabella under her own hand. These two accounts do not agree. Thereforewe must take it that one of the two is lying."
"Apparently, sir."
"And that Lady Arabella is the liar!"
"Apparently--as I am not."
"We must, therefore, try to find a reason for her lying. She has nothingto fear from Oolanga, who is dead. Therefore the only reason which couldactuate her would be to convince someone else that she was blameless.This 'someone' could not be you, for you had the evidence of your owneyes. There was no one else present; therefore it must have been anabsent person."
"That seems beyond dispute, sir."
"There is only one other person whose good opinion she could wish tokeep--Edgar Caswall. He is the only one who fills the bill. Her liespoint to other things besides the death of the African. She evidentlywanted it to be accepted that his falling into the well was his own act.I cannot suppose that she expected to convince you, the eye-witness; butif she wished later on to spread the story, it was wise of her to try toget your acceptance of it."
"That is so!"
"Then there were other matters of untruth. That, for instance, of theermine collar embroidered with emeralds. If an understandable reason berequired for this, it would be to draw attention away from the greenlights which were seen in the room, and especially in the well-hole. Anyunprejudiced person would accept the green lights to be the eyes of agreat snake, such as tradition pointed to living in the well-hole. Infine, therefore, Lady Arabella wanted the general belief to be that therewas no snake of the kind in Diana's Grove. For my own part, I don'tbelieve in a partial liar--this art does not deal in veneer; a liar is aliar right through. Self-interest may prompt falsity of the tongue; butif one prove to be a liar, nothing that he says can ever be believed.This leads us to the conclusion that because she said or inferred thatthere was no snake, we should look for one--and expect to find it, too.
"Now let me digress. I live, and have for many years lived, inDerbyshire, a county more celebrated for its caves than any other countyin England. I have been through them all, and am familiar with everyturn of them; as also with other great caves in Kentucky, in France, inGermany, and a host of other places--in many of these are tremendouslydeep caves of narrow aperture, which are valued by intrepid explorers,who descend narrow gullets of abysmal depth--and sometimes never return.In many of the caverns in the Peak I am convinced that some of thesmaller passages were used in primeval times as the lairs of some of thegreat serpents of legend and tradition. It may have been that suchcaverns were formed in the usual geologic way--bubbles or flaws in theearth's crust--which were later used by the monsters of the period of theyoung world. It may have been, of course, that some of them were wornoriginally by water; but in time they all found a use when suitable forliving monsters.
"This brings us to another point, more difficult to accept and understandthan any other requiring belief in a base not usually accepted, or indeedentered on--whether such abnormal growths could have ever changed intheir nature. Some day the study of metabolism may progress so far as toenable us to accept structural changes proceeding from an intellectual ormoral base. We may lean towards a belief that great animal strength maybe a sound base for changes of all sorts. If this be so, what could be amore fitting subject than primeval monsters whose strength was such as toallow a survival of thousands of years? We do not know yet if brain canincrease and develop independently of other parts of the livingstructure.
"After all, the mediaeval belief in the Philosopher's Stone which couldtransmute metals, has its counterpart in the accepted theory ofmetabolism which changes living tissue. In an age of investigation likeour own, when we are returning to science as the base of wonders--almostof miracles--we should be slow to refuse to accept facts, howeverimpossible they may seem to be.
"Let us suppose a monster of the early days of the world--a dragon of theprime--of vast age running into thousands of years, to whom had beenconveyed in some way--it matters not--a brain just sufficient for thebeginning of growth. Suppose the monster to be of incalculable size andof a strength quite abnormal--a veritable incarnation of animal strength.Suppose this animal is allowed to remain in one place, thus being removedfrom accidents of interrupted development; might not, would not thiscreature, in process of time--ages, if necessary--have that rudimentaryintelligence developed? There is no impossibility in this; it is onlythe natural process of evolution. In the beginning, the instincts ofanimals are confined to alimentation, self-protection, and themultiplication of their species. As time goes on and the needs of lifebecome more complex, power follows need. We have been long accustomed toconsider growth as applied almost exclusively to size in its variousaspects. But Nature, who has no doctrinaire ideas, may equally apply itto concentration. A developing thing may expand in any given way orform. Now, it is a scientific law that increase implies gain and loss ofvarious kinds; what a thing gains in one direction it may lose inanother. May it not be that Mother Nature may deliberately encouragedecrease as well as increase--that it may be an axiom that what is gainedin concentration is lost in size? Take, for instance, monsters thattradition has accepted and localised, such as the Worm of Lambton or thatof Spindleston Heugh. If such a creature were, by its own process ofmetabolism, to change much of its bulk for intellectual growth, we shouldat once arrive at a new class of creature--more dangerous, perhaps, thanthe world has ever had any experience of--a force which can think, whichhas no soul and no morals, and therefore no acceptance of responsibility.A snake would be a good illustration of this, for it is cold-blooded, andtherefore removed from the temptations which often weaken or restrictwarm-blooded creatures. If, for instance, the Worm of Lambton--if suchever existed--were guided to its own ends by an organised intelligencecapable of expansion, what form of creature could we imagine which wouldequal it in potentialities of evil? Why, such a being would devastate awhole country. Now, all these things require much thought, and we wantto apply the knowledge usefully, and we should therefore be exact. Wouldit not be well to resume the subject later in the day?"
"I quite agree, sir. I am in a whirl already; and want to attendcarefully to what you say; so that I may try to digest it."
Both men seemed fresher and better for the "easy," and when they met inthe afternoon each of them had something to contribute to the generalstock of information. Adam, who was by
nature of a more militantdisposition than his elderly friend, was glad to see that the conferenceat once assumed a practical trend. Sir Nathaniel recognised this, and,like an old diplomatist, turned it to present use.
"Tell me now, Adam, what is the outcome, in your own mind, of ourconversation?"
"That the whole difficulty already assumes practical shape; but withadded dangers, that at first I did not imagine."
"What is the practical shape, and what are the added dangers? I am notdisputing, but only trying to clear my own ideas by the consideration ofyours--"
So Adam went on:
"In the past, in the early days of the world, there were monsters whowere so vast that they could exist for thousands of years. Some of themmust have overlapped the Christian era. They may have progressedintellectually in process of time. If they had in any way so progressed,or even got the most rudimentary form of brain, they would be the mostdangerous things that ever were in the world. Tradition says that one ofthese monsters lived in the Marsh of the East, and came up to a cave inDiana's Grove, which was also called the Lair of the White Worm. Suchcreatures may have grown down as well as up. They _may_ have grown into,or something like, human beings. Lady Arabella March is of snake nature.She has committed crimes to our knowledge. She retains something of thevast strength of her primal being--can see in the dark--has the eyes of asnake. She used the nigger, and then dragged him through the snake'shole down to the swamp; she is intent on evil, and hates some one welove. Result . . . "
"Yes, the result?"
"First, that Mimi Watford should be taken away at once--then--"
"Yes?"
"The monster must be destroyed."
"Bravo! That is a true and fearless conclusion. At whatever cost, itmust be carried out."
"At once?"
"Soon, at all events. That creature's very existence is a danger. Herpresence in this neighbourhood makes the danger immediate."
As he spoke, Sir Nathaniel's mouth hardened and his eyebrows came downtill they met. There was no doubting his concurrence in the resolution,or his readiness to help in carrying it out. But he was an elderly manwith much experience and knowledge of law and diplomacy. It seemed tohim to be a stern duty to prevent anything irrevocable taking place tillit had been thought out and all was ready. There were all sorts of legalcruxes to be thought out, not only regarding the taking of life, even ofa monstrosity in human form, but also of property. Lady Arabella, be shewoman or snake or devil, owned the ground she moved in, according toBritish law, and the law is jealous and swift to avenge wrongs donewithin its ken. All such difficulties should be--must be--avoided forMr. Salton's sake, for Adam's own sake, and, most of all, for MimiWatford's sake.
Before he spoke again, Sir Nathaniel had made up his mind that he musttry to postpone decisive action until the circumstances on which theydepended--which, after all, were only problematical--should have beentested satisfactorily, one way or another. When he did speak, Adam atfirst thought that his friend was wavering in his intention, or "funking"the responsibility. However, his respect for Sir Nathaniel was so greatthat he would not act, or even come to a conclusion on a vital point,without his sanction.
He came close and whispered in his ear:
"We will prepare our plans to combat and destroy this horrible menace,after we have cleared up some of the more baffling points. Meanwhile, wemust wait for the night--I hear my uncle's footsteps echoing down thehall."
Sir Nathaniel nodded his approval.