He went, but immediately returned with a letter: "My friend, welcome to the Carpathians. I am looking forward to meeting you. Sleep well tonight. At three o'clock tomorrow the coach will leave for Bukovina; I have reserved a place on it for you. My carriage will wait for you at the Borgo Pass, and it will bring you to me. I hope that your journey from London has been a happy one, and that you will enjoy your stay in my beautiful land. Your friend, Dracula."

4 May: I found that my landlord had got a letter from the Count. It ordered him to keep the best place on the coach for me. But when I asked the landlord to tell me more about this, he didn't want to talk. He pretended that he could not understand my German. This could not be true, because until then he had understood it perfectly; or at least, he had answered my questions exactly as if he understood me.

He and his wife, the old lady who had met me when I arrived, looked at each other in a frightened way. He told me that the money for my coach trip had been sent in a letter, and that he did not know anything else. When I asked him if he knew Count Dracula, or if he could tell me anything about his castle, both he and his wife made the sign of a cross. They said that they knew nothing at all, and would not speak any more. It was so near the time of departure that I had no time to ask anyone else. It was all very mysterious and not comforting at all.

Just before I was leaving, the old lady came up to my room. she was very worried and upset. She said: "Must you go? Oh! Young Herr, must you go?"