see--let me finish
my story as quickly as may be. My father halted at the entrance to
this frightful cell; his hand, with which he held the lamp above his
head, was not steady; and over his shoulder I looked into the place
and saw ... _him_.

"Dr. Cairn, for three years, night and day, that spectacle haunted me;
for three years, night and day, I seemed to have before my eyes the
dreadful face--the bearded, grinning face of Paul Dhoon. He lay there
upon the floor of the dungeon, his fists clenched and his knees drawn
up as if in agony. He had lain there for generations; yet, as God is
my witness, there was flesh on his bones.

"Yellow and seared it was, and his joints protruded through it, but
his features were yet recognisable--horribly, dreadfully,
recognisable. His black hair was like a mane, long and matted, his
eyebrows were incredibly heavy and his lashes overhung his cheekbones.
The nails of his fingers ... no! I will spare you! But his teeth, his
ivory gleaming teeth--with the two wolf-fangs fully revealed by that
death-grin!...

"An aspen stake was driven through his breast, pinning him to the
earthern floor, and there he lay in the agonised attitude of one who
had died by such awful means. Yet--that stake was not driven through
his unhallowed body until a whole year after his death!

"How I regained the library I do not remember. I was unable to rejoin
the guests, unable to face my fellow-men for days afterwards. Dr.
Cairn, for three years I feared--feared the world--feared
sleep--feared myself above all; for I knew that I had in my veins the
blood of a _vampire_!"

CHAPTER IX

THE POLISH JEWESS

There was a silence of some minutes' duration. Lord Lashmore sat
staring straight before him, his fists clenched upon his knees. Then:

"It was after death that the third baron developed--certain
qualities?" inquired Dr. Cairn.

"There were six cases of death in the district within twelve months,"
replied Lashmore. "The gruesome cry of 'vampire' ran through the
community. The fourth baron--son of Paul Dhoon--turned a deaf ear to
these reports, until the mother of a child--a child who had
died--traced a man, or the semblance of a man, to the gate of the
Dhoon family vault. By night, secretly, the son of Paul Dhoon visited
the vault, and found....

"The body, which despite twelve months in the tomb, looked as it had
looked in life, was carried to the dungeon--in the Middle Ages a
torture-room; no