Then the face of the Moon Rock seemed to smile, and the smile was so cruel that Sisily would turn from the window with a shudder, covering her face with her hands.
Her strange upbringing may have contributed to such morbid fancies.

In his monstrous preoccupation with a single idea Robert Turold had neglected his duty to his daughter.

She counted for nothing in his scheme of life, and there were periods when he seemed to be unconscious of her existence.

She had been allowed to grow up with very little education or training.

She had passed her childhood and girlhood in remote parts of England, without companions, and nobody to talk to except her mother and Thalassa, who accompanied the family everywhere.