The afternoon was just getting dark when we got to Bistritz, which is a very interesting old place. It is almost exactly on the border, because the Borgo Pass leads from this town into Bukovina. Bistritz has had a very troubled history, and it certainly shows the signs of it. Fifty years ago there were five separate great fires each of which which did terrible damage to the town. At the very beginning of the seventeenth century the city was attacked by an enemy army for three weeks. About 13,000 people died, some from the war itself but others from famine and disease.

Count Dracula had directed me to go to the Golden Krone Hotel. When I got there I was delighted to find that it was a really old-fashioned building, because I wanted to find out as miuch as I could about the traditional life of the country.

The people at the hotal must have been told I was coming, for when I got near the door I was met by a cheerful elderly woman in the usual peasant dress. This has a long apron, front, and back. The apron was made of coloured material and was so tight it showed more of her body than it should have. When I came toward her she bowed and said, "The Herr Englishman?"

"Yes," I said, "Jonathan Harker." She smiled, and gave some message to an elderly man in a white shirt, who had come with her to the door.