It was everywhere, when she lifted her face, massing now with soft insistence. It felt tender almost, like a final kindness, and when the moment came it was not like falling at all. She offered herself, nothing more, and the waiting air was swift and sure. It knew her for its own, and it rushed now to gather her up, to take her, at last, and carry her weightlessly from the earth.
-- Narrator (Prologue)

Importance: This quote describes the moment Esther Cull kills herself by jumping out a window at Strythe House. This use of visual and tactile imagery to describe the air that carries Esther away introduces the theme of the supernatural and the motif of brightness. Esther’s death is the catalyst of the novel, setting the remaining events in motion.

I hope you find her, miss, truly I do. But I’ve seen a good deal of the world, and...
-- Mrs Campion (chapter 12)