A funsies cold read of Bram Stoker's The Jewel of Seven Stars, told in very small bits, made possible by the support of my patrons at patreon.com/bbwolfe. This is the 3rd part of chapter 5!

 

Read-along text for you to follow along with:

Close under the great safe, where on the two successive nights he had been found, lay Mr. Trelawny with his left arm, bare save for the bandages, stretched out.  Close by his side was a leaf-shaped Egyptian knife which had lain amongst the curios on the shelf of the broken cabinet.  Its point was stuck in the parquet floor, whence had been removed the blood-stained rug.

But there was no sign of disturbance anywhere; nor any sign of any one or anything unusual.  The Policemen and I searched the room accurately, whilst the Nurse and two of the servants lifted the wounded man back to bed; but no sign or clue could we get.  Very soon Miss Trelawny returned to the room.  She was pale but collected. When she came close to me she said in a low voice:

"I felt myself fainting.  I did not know why; but I was afraid!"

The only other shock I had was when Miss Trelawny cried out to me, as I placed my hand on the bed to lean over and look carefully at her father:

"You are wounded.  Look! look! your hand is bloody.  There is blood on the sheets!" I had, in the excitement, quite forgotten Silvio's scratch. As I looked at it, the recollection came back to me; but before I could say a word Miss Trelawny had caught hold of my hand and lifted it up. When she saw the parallel lines of the cuts she cried out again:

"It is the same wound as Father's!"  Then she laid my hand down gently but quickly, and said to me and to Sergeant Daw:

"Come to my room!  Silvio is there in his basket."  We followed her, and found Silvio sitting in his basket awake.  He was licking his paws. The Detective said:

"He is there sure enough; but why licking his paws?" Margaret--Miss Trelawny--gave a moan as she bent over and took one of the forepaws in her hand; but the cat seemed to resent it and snarled. At that Mrs. Grant came into the room.  When she saw that we were looking at the cat she said:

"The Nurse tells me that Silvio was asleep on Nurse Kennedy's bed ever since you went to your Father's room until a while ago.  He came there just after you had gone to master's room.  Nurse says that Nurse Kennedy is moaning and muttering in her sleep as though she had a nightmare.  I think we should send for Dr. Winchester."

"Do so at once, please!" said Miss Trelawny; and we went back to the room.

For a while Miss Trelawny stood looking at her father, with her brows wrinkled. Then, turning to me, as though her mind were made up, she said:

"Don't you think we should have a consultation on Father?  Of course I have every confidence in Doctor Winchester; he seems an immensely clever young man.  But he is a young man; and there must be men who have devoted themselves to this branch of science. 

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