Andrew travels to Buda to find Glynis

Andrew Wright’s journey to Buda is at once a family search and a passage into Vlad Dracula’s designs. Concern for Glynis Wright brings Andrew across central Europe with Dr. Emil Baum, the family physician, but the visit Vlad anticipates is not simply a reunion: he wants Andrew’s help establishing an estate in England and intends to hide Glynis’s changed appearance from him. The journey therefore arrives at a threshold where Andrew’s devotion to his sister meets a danger he does not yet understand.

Reasons for the Journey

Before Andrew reaches Buda, Vlad tells Glynis that her brother has written to his solicitor and is coming to see her. Andrew is bringing an English physician to examine his sister and assess whether she can travel back to England. Glynis reacts with alarm as well as hope: she believes Andrew is coming to save her, but fears that Vlad will destroy him. Her response makes clear that the journey means something different to the two siblings. Andrew is coming to find and help her; Glynis knows that his presence may place him within reach of her captor.

Vlad, meanwhile, presents Andrew’s arrival as useful to his own ambitions. He wants Andrew to help establish an English estate and secure the family’s entrance into British society as aristocrats. He also explains that Andrew must not recognize Glynis as more than human or expose the household to vampire hunters. The proposed examination is thus surrounded by deception before it begins: Vlad intends to manage what Andrew sees, not simply submit Glynis to an independent assessment.

The preparations make that concealment tangible. Vlad orders Glynis to leave behind dresses, jewelry, and other possessions Andrew would recognize, having told him that everything was lost in an accident. Instead, she is to take dresses her mother bought in Paris and wear jewels that belonged to Erzsébet Dolingen. Vlad says he will have a veil made for her in Buda and insists she wear it around Andrew. He also invokes the Beckoning, requiring Glynis to come whenever he calls, even while promising her more freedom to hunt there. His promise of freedom is therefore conditional on obedience and bound to his hope that she will become his first bride in England.

The Route and Its Delays

Andrew’s account of the arrival appears in his journal under the date 12 March 1820. He and Dr. Emil Baum reach Buda in a weather-beaten carriage after a journey that had begun pleasantly but turned difficult after they left Munich. Terrible storms followed them; in Austria, they were held up for nearly a week because the weather made every form of transportation impossible. The delay repeatedly brings the journey’s uncertainty into focus: Andrew wonders whether he will survive to see his sister at all.

The conditions of travel also register in the arrival scene through the two men’s bodies. Andrew describes himself as sore from the journey and helps Dr. Baum down from the carriage. The physician, whose older body has borne the trip badly, groans that he may never walk again. Their exchange establishes Dr. Baum not as an abstract medical escort but as Andrew’s companion through the same exhausting passage. He has come because he was a good friend of Andrew’s father and for Glynis’s sake.

Arrival at Sir Stephen’s Mansion

The carriage rolls into the courtyard of Sir Stephen Sheridan’s mansion beneath the blazing sun. Andrew leaps down before the driver can dismount and takes in the lush foliage, marble columns, and imposing house. Dr. Baum remarks on the comfort of the residence, but Andrew’s attention is on the reception: he has sent word ahead and expected someone to meet them. The contrast between the mansion’s impressive surroundings and the absence of a welcome leaves his arrival momentarily unsettled.

Maria Ramsay appears from around the side of the house carrying a basket of freshly cut flowers. At first, Andrew’s resemblance to his father startles her; she explains that she thought his father had returned from the dead. Her surprise soon gives way to a smile, and she identifies herself as Sir Stephen’s wife. Andrew greets her courteously, introduces Dr. Baum as the family physician, and explains that the doctor has accompanied him to examine Glynis. Maria welcomes the physician, while Dr. Baum responds with evident relief at being out of the carriage and in the afternoon air.

The scene closes on arrival rather than reunion. Andrew and his companion have reached the house, and Glynis’s examination has been named as their purpose, but Andrew has not yet met his sister. That postponement matters because the reader already knows how much is being arranged around the meeting: Glynis’s face is to be veiled, her familiar possessions withheld, and her true condition concealed. The journey delivers Andrew to Buda, but not yet to the truth.

Significance and Dramatic Irony

The journey is structured by the gap between Andrew’s understanding and Glynis’s circumstances. He has crossed storm-bound roads to reach a sister he hopes to find and help; she anticipates his arrival with longing and dread because his concern may expose him to Vlad. For Vlad, Andrew is both a potential danger and a useful participant in a plan to establish a household in England. The same arrival thus carries familial hope, coercive calculation, and the risk of discovery.

The contrast between the delayed, physically punishing road and the controlled welcome at Sir Stephen’s mansion sharpens that tension. Andrew’s journal records the storm delays and his anxiety in concrete terms, while the preceding preparations show how carefully Vlad has shaped the encounter before it can occur. The event ends at the mansion courtyard, before Andrew sees Glynis, leaving the intended examination—and the deception surrounding it—unresolved.