Dracula's castle is described, like almost everything else, in precise detail. Harker notes the castle's great round arches, the immense iron-studded stone doors, the rattling chains, and the clanking of massive bolts, and he compares the scene with a nightmare. Dracula himself is as mysterious as his castle is. He is an old man and is clean shaven, except for a long white Victorian moustache, and he is clad all in black without "a single speck of color about him anywhere." He speaks in perfect English and welcomes Harker inside, shaking his hand with an ice-cold, vice-like grip. His house, as he guides Harker forward, is seen to be filled with long passageways and heavy doors; finally they come to a room in which a table is laid for dinner, set beside a roaring fire. The Count's greeting is so warm that Harker forgets his fears and gives Dracula the details of the real estate transfer. Dracula explains that, at present, because of gout, he will not be able to make the journey to England himself, but that one of his trusted servants will accompany Harker back to London.
After supper, Harker enjoys a cigar (Dracula does not smoke), and he studies his host: Dracula's face is strong; his high, thin nose is aquiline, and his nostrils seem to arch peculiarly; his shaggy brows almost meet, and his bushy hair seems to curl in profusion. His mouth, thick and white, covers "sharp white teeth which protrude over the lips." His ears are pale and pointed, and his cheeks are firm but extremely thin. His breath is fetid and rank. "The general effect is one of extraordinary pallor."
Both of the men hear wolves howling from far off, and Dracula is the first to speak: "The children of the night," he says, "what music they make!" Shortly, thereafter, the two men retire, and Harker records a final entry for the day: "I think strange things which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me."
