"Wysteria did not care where I had come from or where I had been. Nor did she care that I was small and delicate in nature and easily carried off by the wind. She cared only that I stay with her in the great house she occupied on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain." (Chapter 1, p. 1).

"The lost and aimless: to these Bourne Manor gave its shelter." (Chapter 1, p. 3).

"The Manor's only value came from the secret that lay within it." (Chapter 2, p. 11).

"From that height, everything seemed possible, and the oppressive and mournful nature of the house fell away from me." (Chapter 3, p. 17).

"Try as I might, I could not see Wysteria as truly beautiful, for she possessed a cold, hardened quality. I certainly could not see her hair set free and roaming down her shoulders." (Chapter 4, p. 23).

"From now on, it is the safety of the...