But I made the mistake in thinking we were to go and live where my lord did. It turned out that the family had left Furnivall Manor House fifty years or more. I could not hear that my poor young mistress had ever been there, though she had been brought up in the family; and I was sorry for that, for I should have liked Miss Rosamond's youth to have passed where her mother's had been.
-- Hester

Importance: This quote is important because it is the first indicator that something about Furnivall Manor does not align with what Hester hopes it will be. That the family has not lived there for fifty years is a subtle hint toward the house's haunted nature, though it will be long before Hester knows exactly what is going on within its walls.

At the opposite end of the hall, to the left as you went in...
-- Hester