A Phantom Lover Preface

In which the narrator recounts the peculiar and captivating character of Mrs. Oke of Okehurst, whose strange grace defied ordinary understanding, and describes the initial reluctance and sombre expectations upon arriving to paint the portraits of the seemingly uninspiring Okes in their ancient and magnificent English manor. The atmosphere is suffused with a delicate melancholy and an old-world charm, as the narrator’s mood shifts from impatient cynicism to being quietly overwhelmed by the grandeur and silent history of the house itself.