Chapter 1

• “my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic.”
• “he came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl”
• “Two years after this event Caroline became his wife”
• “He strove to shelter her, as a fair exotic is sheltered by a gardener”
• “My mother’s tender caresses, and my father’s smile of benevolent pleasure while regarding me, are my first recollections.”
• “I was their plaything and their idol and something better – their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by Heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me.”
• “With this deep consciousness of what they owed toward the being to which they had given life”
• “The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little vagrants; this child was very thin and fair. Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction upon her head.”
• as of a different species, a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features’
• I have a pretty present for my Victor
• ‘I looked upon Elizabeth as mine – mine to protect, love and cherish. All praises bestowed upon her I received as made to a possession of my own.
• “my more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only.”
• fairer than a garden rose among dark-leaved brambles