It was almost as if I were playing the childhood game of Hide and Seek, one in which the inner sense was saying ‘Cold’, ‘Cold’ ‘Warm’, ‘Very Warm’.
Edward returns to Iyot Lock after forty years. He had spent most of his childhood living there with his aunt. He is feeling a sensation of Déjà vu, after seeing places that he had visited when he was very young. Among these places, were he graveyard, where he begins to feel strange sensations related to temperature as is associated with paranormal activities. He subconsciously begins to compare this to a childhood game he played where children would chase each other blindfolded guided only by words like ‘warm’ and ‘cold’.
She was much too like Violet
Kestrel was the middle sister of Dora and Violet, the mothers of Edward and Leonora respectively. While Dora was calm, while Violet had a violent temper. She was impulsive and selfish. When Kestrel invited Leonora, she believed that her daughter might be different due to lack of siblings, but as she discovers Leonora had the same impulsive rage as her mother.
Say, Leonora is not afraid of anything...
Leonora is not just haughty and arrogant, but highly competitive. She plays games to win and is a bad loser. When Edward confronts her that she was afraid of her own reflection in the water, she grows angry and starts hurting him to a point where she forces him to say that she is not afraid of anything.
I was determined that she should have the wretched doll.
When Kestrel’s solicitor explains the terms of Kestrel’s will to Leonora and Edward, both of them are shocked on hearing the contents. She names everything to Edward much to disbelief and anger of Leonora who believes she should inherit the property even though she did not want it, simply because she was elder. Kestrel also asks Leonora to have the doll which she bought on her ninth birthday, which Leonora throws away in devilish anger. Edward becomes determined to honor Kestrel’s wishes even if it meant bribing Leonora.
Take it. Hideous thing. What possessed you to leave it here?
When Leonora asks Edward to take his doll with him, he is surprised. He wanted Leonora to have the Royal Indian Bride doll that she wanted for her ninth birthday. However, he meant for her daughter to have it now that both of them were quite middle-aged. He believes that she calls the doll ugly due to its fine features in comparison to her daughter who was suffering from Progeria, a condition which causes a child to age pre-maturely leaving her looking like and old person. However, as he learns the truth later, she meant in an entirely different way.
