Andrew Wright’s departure from Buda separates Lady Glynis Wright from the brother whose companionship has briefly restored her hope, while sharpening her resolve to escape Vlad Dracula’s control. Recorded in Glynis’s journal on 20 April 1820, the farewell is outwardly framed as a temporary parting before a planned family reunion in England. Its private meaning is darker: Andrew leaves believing that Glynis will follow, while she decides that she must kill Vlad before that journey can happen.

Background and Stakes

Glynis and Andrew had spent almost a month walking together each night beside the Danube, looking across the water toward Pesth. Their conversations returned to the life they had shared and cautiously turned toward a future in which the family might be together again. The riverbank gives their reunion a recurring, intimate setting; on this last evening, the familiar walk becomes a farewell.

Andrew imagines the move to England as a practical route to restoration. He expects to help Glynis’s husband make arrangements, then to welcome her into the company of his wife, Angeline Wright, and their infant son, Johnny. He assures Glynis that they will soon be together, and urges her not to grieve as though they will never meet again. His confidence rests on a future he believes can be organized through family affection and travel.

Glynis, however, inhabits a life Andrew does not understand. She is bound to Vlad as his bride, and his power over her makes the proposed relocation a threat as well as a promise of reunion. In her own account, Andrew has made her feel human again and restored her faith in life and God. That renewed attachment does not persuade her to accept the plan; it makes her see more clearly what Vlad could endanger. She resolves to kill him while he remains in Eastern Europe, because she fears his threats against Andrew would carry even greater force once they were on British soil. Her decision also fulfills a promise to her mother and defines freedom as something she must seize before the journey begins.

The Last Evening Together

The farewell unfolds between private grief and Andrew’s reassurance. Glynis tries to conceal her tears as she tells him that their time together has meant the world to her. Andrew resists the finality in her words: he is only returning to England to clear the way for her, he says, and expects the family to be reunited. The same proposed future therefore carries opposite meanings. For Andrew, England is the place where separation will end; for Glynis, it is where Vlad’s leverage over her brother could become more dangerous.

They return to the house together, where Vlad waits with Doctor Emil Baum in the sitting room. Glynis notices Vlad’s tapping foot and bored expression and understands that he is eager to leave. Sir Stephen enters hesitantly and seeks his master’s gaze before Vlad motions him to sit. Against these signs of Vlad’s impatience, the siblings’ leave-taking remains affectionate: Andrew and Glynis exchange declarations of love, and Andrew asks Vlad to take care of his sister, calling her a handful.

Vlad answers with a reassuring manner, promising that Andrew can rest easy because Glynis will be well cared for. The assurance is undercut by the power imbalance already governing their lives. Glynis longs to remain with her brother, but Vlad’s eagerness to depart makes the end of the visit unmistakable. At the foyer, Vlad escorts her while Andrew takes her other hand; a servant opens the front door, and Vlad steps out into the night. Glynis turns to Andrew and throws her arms around him. They embrace again, kiss, and exchange wishes for a safe journey and future reunion. She asks him to give her love to Angeline and Johnny; Andrew promises to do so and urges Glynis to write until she comes home.

Departure from Buda

The physical separation comes when Glynis must release Andrew’s hand and sit beside Vlad in their carriage. As it lurches forward and carries her away from her brother and his friend, she lowers her head and weeps. Vlad scolds her for behaving like a child and promises that they will see Andrew again. Glynis turns away and cries into the folds of her veil. The carriage makes the change in their circumstances concrete: the siblings’ shared walk and handclasp give way to Glynis’s return to the world controlled by her husband.

Andrew leaves Buda believing the separation will be temporary. Glynis shares the outward hope of reunion but cannot share his confidence in the means by which it will be achieved. Her journal places his thoughts of the journey home, his wife and infant son, and a future reunion beside her own thoughts of darkness and murder. The farewell’s emotional force comes from that divergence: the two siblings love one another, yet only Glynis knows that the future Andrew expects depends on a danger she has decided to confront.

Immediate Aftermath and Significance

After Andrew has gone, Glynis asks Vlad whether he liked her brother. Vlad says that Andrew was much like her and calls him a worthy servant and ally. Glynis hears the words as a threat, whether or not Vlad intended them that way. The possibility that Andrew could be drawn into Vlad’s service turns her private fear into immediate action: she decides she cannot bear to let Vlad wield power over him.

Glynis changes out of her blue silk dress for a lightweight black gown that will allow her to move without restraint. She loosens her long hair, removes her ornate jewelry except for the ruby ring Vlad gave her, wraps herself in a long black cloak, and draws its hood over her head. Then she flees into the night, determined to save Andrew. The departure thus marks more than a separation between siblings: it is the trigger for Glynis’s attempt to act on her own decision. Andrew’s hopeful journey toward England and Glynis’s flight into danger begin from the same farewell, but move in opposite directions.