5 May 1820

5 May 1820 is the date of an epilogue entry in Glynis Wright’s journal, written at the Golden Krone Hotel in Bistriţa. It fixes a new moment in Glynis’s life after her departure from Dracula’s castle: she is preparing to go to Buda, and now uses the authority and identity once imposed upon her as tools of her own design.

Date and Setting

The entry is dated 5 May 1820 and located at the Golden Krone Hotel in Bistriţa. Its position in the epilogue makes the date a coda to the castle narrative rather than a record of the events that brought Glynis there. The preceding scene describes the castle receding from view as Glynis recognizes that she is finally free; the dated journal then turns from that departure toward what she intends to do next.

The Epilogue Entry

Glynis writes that she will soon leave for Buda and that the arrangements are complete. She has sent letters to Sir Stephen Sheridan and the Baroness, written as though they came from Count Vlad Dracula and claiming that he has reconsidered his actions and wants to see them at once. Glynis expects them to believe the deception.

The forgery is carefully staged. Glynis signs the letters with Vlad’s elaborate initial, seals them with red wax, and uses his signet. These details show that she is not merely borrowing his name: she reproduces the visible marks of his authority so that his former associates will respond to a summons she controls. Her smile as she completes the letters signals her satisfaction with the reversal.

Meaning in Glynis’s Timeline

The date records a practical expression of the freedom announced just before it. Glynis’s next move is not passive escape or withdrawal: she sets a plan in motion by manipulating the network Vlad once used for his own purposes. Her words also retain an element of identification with him, since she imagines that he would be proud of her skill. The epilogue therefore places independence beside an unsettling inheritance: Glynis is free of Vlad’s immediate command, but she can still wield the methods and symbols of power she learned under him.