Дракула / Dracula

3 May. Bistritz.[2] – I left Munich at 8:35 P. M. on May 1st, and arrived at Vienna early next morning. The train was an hour late. I could walk through the streets a little; Buda-Pesth[3] seems a wonderful place. We were leaving the West and entering the East. Here I stopped for the night at the Hotel Royale.[4] I had for dinner, or rather supper, chicken with red pepper, which was very good but thirsty. I asked the waiter, and he said it was a national dish. I used German here.

Before my journey, I visited the British Museum, and studied some of the books and maps in the library regarding Transylvania.[5] It was impossible to mark the exact locality of the Castle Dracula, as there were no maps of this country; but I found that Bistritz, the town named by Count Dracula,[6] was a well-known place.

I did not sleep well, though my bed was comfortable enough, for I had queer dreams. Anyway, in the morning the continuous knocking at my door woke me up. My train started at eight.

All day long we were watching beautiful views. Sometimes we saw little towns or castles on top of the hills; sometimes we ran by rivers and streams. At every station there were groups of people, sometimes crowds. The strangest figures we saw were the Slovaks[7] with their big cowboy hats, great trousers, white linen shirts, and enormous heavy leather belts. They looked like real brigands.

We got to Bistritz in the evening. It was a very interesting old place. Earlier, Count Dracula directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel.[8] An elderly woman in the usual peasant dress smiled, and gave me a letter:

4 May. – My landlord got a letter from the Count to give the best place on the coach[11] for me. He and his wife, the old lady who had received me, looked frightened. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, and could tell me anything of his castle, both he and his wife said that they knew nothing at all, and simply refused to speak further. It was all very mysterious and suspicious.

Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room and said in a very hysterical way, “Must you go? Oh! Young Herr, must you go?”

She was very excited, and mixed German with some other language which I did not know at all. When I told her that I must go at once, and that I had important business, she asked again, “Do you know what day it is? It is the eve of St. George’s Day.[12] Do you not know that tonight, when the clock strikes midnight, all the evil things in the world[13] will have full power on the earth? Do you know where you are going, and what you are going to?”

She was in such evident distress that I tried to comfort her, but without effect. Finally she went down on her knees and implored me not to go; at least to wait a day or two. It was all very ridiculous but I did not feel comfortable. However, there was business to be done, and I couldn’t allow anything to interfere. I thanked her, and said that my duty was imperative, and that I must go. She then rose, dried her eyes, and gave me a little cross from her neck. She put the rosary round my neck, and said, “For your mother’s sake,[14]” and went out of the room. I am writing up this part of the diary while I am waiting for the coach, which is, of course, late; the cross is still round my neck. I think about Mina.