Arabella Kenealy and menopausal vampirism

A Beautiful Vampire is a vampire story by the English writer Arabella Kenealy (1864-1938), published in 1896 in The Ludgate Magazine, where most of her fantastic stories would also appear.

In a way, a beautiful vampire explores one of the most unusual sides of the Gothic story, which some scholars have called “menopausal vampirism”; that is, the elderly woman as a reminder of death, sterility and the loss of identity; monstrous notion but common in other genres of Victorian literature.

Arabella Kenealy, who in addition to being a writer was a doctor, was deeply interested in how Victorian society indoctrinated women for motherhood, preparing them for a life of dedicated passivity, almost as the sole and exclusive objective of their lives. In this context, Arabella Kenealy takes advantage of the borders of that supposed ideal state of femininity: fertility, using figures that interpret childhood and old age with horrifying audacity.

a beautiful vampire It belongs to the cycle of detective stories by Lord Syfret, a kind of paranormal investigator in the style of John Silence (Algernon Blackwood), Carnaki (WH Hodgson), Abraham Van Helsing (Bram Stoker), Joseph Rouletabille (Gastón Leroux), Simon Iff (Aleister Crowley), Jules de Grandin (Seabury Quinn), John Thunstone and Judge Pursuivant (Manly Wade Wellman), Professor Challenger (Arthur Conan Doyle), Aylmer Vance (Alice and Claude Askew) and Solar Pons (August Derleth), among others.

a beautiful vampire
A Beautiful VampireArabella Kenealy (1864-1938)

The small town of Argles woke up shocked by the news that Dr. Andrew had attempted to murder Lady Deverish. Andrew was an attractive young man, recently arrived at the firm Byrne & Andrew, a company that brought together the main doctors in the area. Everyone liked him. He was intelligent and kind, and it was true that he put the same enthusiasm into bringing into the world a ninth son of a road laborer as he did the heir of an earl. Some came to think that all this was nothing more than false kindness (that novel creature could well have been spared the suffering of being born, especially if his father gave him to drink. In any case, whether he drank or not, he would never be able to get ahead or not even his other eight offspring). Others even dared to affirm that Andrew was mocking Providence – not to mention what the taxpayers thought – by bringing that ninth being into the world, despite the fifth attack of diphtheria. In any case, his popularity was as great as it can be in a society where the only talk at tea time is gossip and not the impeccable conduct and reputation of this or that person.

“The butler says he heard screams,” they whispered between the fine porcelain cups. Lady Deverish called for help, he ran in and found the doctor strangling her.

–Caught him red-handed. She already had a bruised face!

–Isn’t it terrible? He had always been such a kind man! Was anyone in his family sick in the head?

-I’m not sure. They say her mother was a little strange. That she wrote books and things like that, and she wore huge hats with black feathers. An eyesore. Mrs. Byass told me. She got to know her.

–What have they done with him?

–That’s the strangest thing of all. Lady Deverish is not going to press charges against him. She said it had all been a mistake. So he left in her horse-drawn carriage and continued his round of visits.

–How nice, right?

-I cant believe it.

–His neck was bruised. Old Dr. Byrne went at once to see how she was. He was accompanied by that new nurse he brought from London. They say they don’t stop arguing.

–Yes, but those are just rumors, dear.

–He behaved very naturally. Lady Deverish’s stable boy told the cook that Dr Andrew barely looked at her.

–I didn’t know you admired Lady Deverish.

–Well, it’s not surprising, it happens to almost everyone.

–What I don’t quite understand is why she wants a nurse, with that iron health she has.

–They say he has a bad nerve.

–Of course, and if all of us with bad nerves had to have a nurse, there wouldn’t be enough for everyone.

–Yes, but not all of us are widows with the pension of two rich deceased people, dear.

And of course, since I knew both the lady and Andrew, I was curious to find out why he had tried to strangle that beautiful neck, in an act that had little to do with kindness. For this sole purpose, the week following the event in question, I met up to have tea with a series of acquaintances. Everything I heard was nothing more than gossip and, since nothing was clear to me, I started to investigate. Without wasting a moment, I called the house. I found it difficult to believe the strangulation story, but knowing as I did the strength of Andrew’s hands, I knew that he would leave and that only his nurse, Mrs. Lyall, would remain in the house.

–My God, how bad he looks! –I couldn’t help but exclaim when she saw her enter.

I had been introduced to it a few months ago; She was a plump woman, very plump, by the way, and now she remembered an old woman. Exhaustion and tiredness were visible on her face. She dropped into the chair, and her hands and legs shook as if she had paralysis. For several minutes she was unable to speak.

“You must have had a very bad time,” I told him.

In reality, she was a sweet and undecided person, one of those plump women who seem to have horchata blood. But, as she spoke to him, the expression on her face changed. She jumped to her feet and raised her arm stiffly.

–If I had killed her! “She,” she screamed madly, “yes, thanks to her Providence, he would have killed her…!”

I had before me a different, unknown being. It was as if a sheep suddenly grew claws. Trembling, she sank back into the chair.

“Dear Mrs. Lyall,” I added in protest, “if I had killed her, the world would have lost one of the most beautiful and perfect specimens of the female sex, and Andrew’s career would have had a sad end.

“I’m sure no jury would have convicted her,” she continued, “not if they knew the truth.”

Suddenly he fell silent and looked around the room with an uneasy look. Then she whispered:

–She is the devil!

I knew that there are good and honest women, that women have the ugly habit of believing that any member of the same sex with a certain attractiveness has something evil, but it seemed that it was something more than envy that had provoked the lady’s words. Lyall.

All this aroused my curiosity, but she didn’t add anything else; She just looked around her as if scared.

–For God’s sake, Lord Syfret, don’t tell a single word of this to anyone! –He told me stuttering–. I feel bewildered. I don’t even know what I’m telling myself. Poor Miss Deverish has done all she can.

From then on, he didn’t say another word, even though I promised to maintain the greatest discretion. She told him she was sorry and I left. Byrne didn’t know anything.

“Andrew won’t say a word,” he told me. He felt overwhelmed. He had gone several nights without sleep. She must have upset him with something. Who knows what was going through his head! He has always been the kindest person.

–And what does she say about all this?

–He laughs it off, although he doesn’t seem very friendly. She gives the impression that she doesn’t want anything else to be known.

-You mean…?

–Dear, I’m not going to tell you what I want to say.

Whatever the circumstances that had brought that event before me, throughout my life I had always tried to take the bull by the horns, and I decided to do it once again. After all, Andrew was a pretty meek all around, despite his latest onslaught.

“I’m not going to hide the real reason for my visit from you,” I told him. You know me quite well and you know that nothing you tell me is going to come out of here. I will not be the one to say a single word about the Argles ball scandal. But I delight in exploring the human mind and you must admit that the situation is, to say the least, suggestive.

He smiled when he heard me speak; It was a nervous smile. She had never seen him so restless. She nodded her head.

“She has me tied hand and foot,” he said. If she had left me, she would have strangled her.

“I’m not surprised that you feel this way,” I ventured to say without stopping to look at him. She is a first-class woman.

He laughed.

“Dear Scott,” he replied, “is that what they say about her?” Do you think I aspire to have Deverish’s hand and take over his lands? No no. I’m not that crazy.

Just then, someone was heard running up the stairs. After knocking on the door, he entered the room.

“Please, doctor, come down immediately,” said a servant without further introduction. Lady Deverish’s nurse has fallen in the middle of the street, and they say she is dying.

Suddenly, I saw Andrew undergo the same transformation he had seen with Mrs. Lyall. The expression on his face contorted and he raised his fist.

–Damn his image! –She screamed, and ran away.

That exclamation had all the signs of being directed at the nurse and revealed such a degree of insensitivity on Andrew’s part, even more so, if we take into account that the unfortunate young woman was about to die, unlike him. Therefore, I want to clarify to the reader that that phrase referred only and exclusively to his wife. I have to say that it is the most terrible and brutal imprecation that I remember ever hearing, but it served to clarify any type of doubt that I might have had regarding the fact that her lady owed her life to the timely appearance of the servant. her. That only alerted my interest.

I followed Andrew. A group of curious onlookers had gathered on the next street.

“Stay away,” the doctor shouted as we approached. Let her breathe.

The circle opened and I could see the body of a young woman dressed as a nurse lying unconscious on the floor. She had the features of a tired person, although her features were those of a young woman, and her curly hair fell over her face.

“For a nurse, she doesn’t seem to be in very good health,” I commented to Byrne, who arrived at that moment.

“He doesn’t seem to be in very good health,” he repeated in a bad mood. Well, a week ago she was a robust and strong woman. Mrs. Deverish took great care to see that it was so. And now she can’t even stand up.

And he continued speaking to himself:

–It must be because the house has poor ventilation or something similar. The same thing as this one has happened to all of them, one after the other.

The girl begins to show signs of consciousness. She opens her eyes and, seeing Andrew, she smiles. She then sits up.

“Next time you feel unwell, my dear,” said Dr. Byrne, “I will escort you to my carriage and you may return.”

-Back to where? –the young woman repeated scared.

–To your wife’s house. You have to…

She interrupted him and took his hand.

-No no!…