Andrew’s arrival in Buda is the point at which his search for Glynis becomes a direct encounter with the household where she is staying. Recorded in his journal on 12 March 1820, the scene brings him and Dr. Emil Baum to Sir Stephen Sheridan’s mansion after a difficult journey. Its sunlit courtyard and courteous reception offer an appearance of domestic ease, even as the reader knows that Glynis has been drawn into Vlad Dracula’s vampire household.

Purpose and Journey

Andrew comes to Buda to find his sister and have her examined by the family physician. When he introduces Emil to Maria Ramsay, Sir Stephen’s wife, he identifies the older man as their family doctor and explains that he has accompanied him to examine Glynis. Emil’s reason for making the journey is also personal: he says that Andrew’s father was his good friend and that he came for his sake and for Glynis. The visit therefore carries both a practical purpose and a family obligation.

Reaching Buda has taken more effort than Andrew expected. The journey began pleasantly, but after the travellers left Munich, terrible storms plagued their progress. They were held in Austria for nearly a week because the weather made every mode of transportation impossible. Andrew records that there were times when he wondered whether he would survive to see his sister. By the time the carriage reaches the mansion, he is sore from the journey and anxious to begin the visit; the long delay has made arrival feel less like a routine stop than the hard-won opening of a search.

Arrival at Sir Stephen’s Mansion

Andrew’s journal fixes the moment in bright, specific detail: the sun blazes over Buda as the weather-beaten carriage rolls into Sir Stephen’s courtyard. Before the driver can dismount, Andrew pushes open the carriage door and leaps down onto the cobblestone drive. He takes in the lush foliage, marble columns, and imposing house, while Emil remarks on how well Sir Stephen lives. Andrew agrees, then offers his hand to help his companion down, mindful that the older doctor’s body has probably suffered from the journey.

The mansion’s impressive appearance does not match the reception Andrew had anticipated. He had sent word ahead and expected a better welcome, but no one seems to be about when the two travellers arrive. His impatience is close to breaking through, shaped by the storms, the delay, and the uncertainty of whether he would ever reach Glynis. The gap between the house’s grandeur and its empty arrival point gives the scene a small but consequential uncertainty: Andrew has reached the right destination, yet has not found the welcome or immediate access he expected.

Maria Ramsay’s Welcome

A cry from around the side of the house draws Andrew’s attention to Maria, who appears carrying a basket of freshly cut flowers. Her initial alarm gives way to a smile when she recognizes his resemblance to his father; for a moment, she says, she thought Andrew’s father had returned from the dead. The resemblance makes the Wright family’s history present at the threshold, before Andrew has even explained why he has come.

Maria identifies herself as Sir Stephen’s wife and explains that they expected Andrew later that evening. The timing mismatch helps account for the absence of a formal reception, without erasing Andrew’s disappointment after the arduous trip. He answers graciously, kisses her hand, and introduces himself and Emil. The exchange establishes Maria as the first person from the household to receive the travellers and moves Andrew’s search forward: he can now state plainly that he has come to have Glynis examined.

Dramatic Irony and Narrative Significance

The arrival is narrated through Andrew’s dated journal, so Buda first appears in the terms of his immediate experience: the difficult road, the bright sun, the substantial house, the missing reception, and a friendly encounter with Maria. His purpose is to see Glynis as a sister in need of a medical examination. The reader, however, has already seen the danger that his practical explanation cannot encompass. Vlad has declared that Glynis must undergo the vampire baptism again and join the Brides; later, he offers her blood and names her his bride. Andrew’s arrival thus places a concerned brother at the edge of a crisis whose supernatural nature is not disclosed by the ordinary circumstances of his welcome.

That contrast also gives the scene its structural force. The carriage’s passage into the courtyard completes the physical journey from Munich and Austria, but it does not resolve Andrew’s central uncertainty: what has happened to Glynis? The mansion’s elegance, Maria’s flowers, and the blazing daylight all belong to a recognizable social world; the preceding scenes of vampiric transformation and the desecrated chapel belong to one that Andrew has not yet confronted. His arrival begins the meeting between those worlds, while the journal form preserves the limits of what he can know at this point.