- Dr. Seward is totally blown away that Van Helsing could say something like that about Lucy. Besides, she's dead.
- Van Helsing says he'll prove it: They'll go spend the night in the churchyard.
- After dinner, they go into the Westenra tomb. Van Helsing pulls out a screwdriver to open the coffin.
- Lucy's not in it!
- Dr. Seward still has a logical explanation: Someone has stolen the body.
- Van Helsing shrugs, and they go out to the churchyard to wait.
- Several hours later, Dr. Seward sees something white moving among the trees, and Van Helsing finds a child that had been dumped in the leaves.
- They leave the child with the police and go back to London.
Dr. Seward's Diary, September 27
- Van Helsing wants Dr. Seward to come out and check the coffin again.
- This seems pretty stupid to Dr. Seward, who has already seen that the coffin is empty.
- But when they get there, Lucy's body is inside!
- And her body is totally intact, even though she's been dead a week.
- Dr. Seward finally gets it: Lucy is a vampire.
- And he's okay with stabbing a stake through her heart and cutting off her head, if that's what it takes.
- But Van Helsing wants to let Arthur in on the secret, in case he finds out about it later.
A Note from Van Helsing to Dr. Seward, September 27
- Van Helsing leaves a note for Dr. Seward saying that he's going to spend the night in the churchyard watching Lucy. He's leaving the note in case anything happens to him.
- He asks that Dr. Seward take over if he should die, and try to find and kill Dracula.
Dr. Seward's Diary, September 28
- After a good night's sleep, Dr. Seward doesn't believe it anymore—he thinks maybe Van Helsing is crazy.
- Van Helsing has summoned Arthur and Quincey.
- He wants them all to wait up that night in the churchyard, go into Lucy's tomb, and cut off her head. No problem, right?
- Of course, Arthur objects.
- But they agree at least to go with him to the churchyard.