"Generously built, with gray hair worn in a neat bun, our housekeeper treated us with a mixture of the respect due from a servant to young mistresses and the benign discipline of a mother cat bringing up a brood of unruly kittens." Chapter 2

"We're safe, I told myself as always. But it seemed to me that although we had crossed the margin to our own world and were on our way home once more, this was no longer true." Chapter 3

"It was interesting that our aunt never raised one obvious possibility: That one of us should wed Cezar. Not that any of us would want to." Chapter 4

"A friend is a friend, whatever form he may take." Chapter 5

"And I can't tell Father that Cezar's gradually easing himself into his place, that the valley is full of fear, that I no longer have control of his business interests...