What happens the next night

Soon after Lucy revealed her information about the red-eyed gent, Mina asked Lucy to have her male servants search the estate for the intruders. Lucy's servants Jeeves, Alfred, Gaston and Baldrick were usually quite efficient in their duties -- well, Baldrick left a bit to be desired but since he was one of the few younger servants who was not obviously chosen for his looks, Mina chose not to make a fuss about that. After all, it wasn't like Baldrick did as much bragging as Gaston and he certainly wasn't followed by a crowd of female admirers every time he accompanied Lucy and Mina on a trip to town like Gaston was.

In any event, Lucy's male servants searched the grounds and failed to find anyone. By then, Lucy had been dressed by her female servants and sent to bed without incident. Mina was hoping that the whole thing was a product of Lucy's imagination brought on by a sudden impulse to indulge in a bit of midnight exhibitionism. Not that Lucy had ever been the sort to indulge in such impulses in the past but then she was not exactly a poster girl for Victorian attitudes either.

Then the next night, Mina found herself again being awakened by Tara.

"Miss Murray," she said, "it's happened again."

"What happened?" asked Mina, still groggy with sleep.

"Miss Westenra, Miss Murray," said Tara. "She's gone out again."

"So?" asked Mina.

Then Mina remembered what had happened the night before and rapidly got up. Sure enough, her friend Lucy was sitting in the living room again, as naked as the day she was born.

If only she had acted this way when she was younger, Mina thought. Then I wouldn't have needed to go through everything I went through to find Jane. I could have --

And then Mina shook her head and banished the thought from her head like a bad dog. After all, Lucy was her friend. How could she think of her in that way?

"Hey, I like you too," said Lucy in a tone so low that Mina was initially unsure she had actually said anything.

Then Lucy opened her arms and smiled. True, it wasn't a normal smile. More the type of smile Lucy got when she had too much to drink. But it was a smile, nonetheless.

Then Lucy opened her legs and said, "Tara needn't know."

And what that meant, Mina had no idea. But the sudden gasp from Tara did give her a slight clue.