"Aye quite a lot of them. You're free to borrow what you like," said Tobias.

He felt comfortable saying that because he had already browsed through the collection of books and taken out sensationalist novels and anything else he deemed inappropriate, after he had caught Alice reading 'Wuthering Heights'. He hadn't even realized he had that novel in the home. He assumed it had belonged to Bess and wondered if their father had known his daughter read such novels.

Alice had not taken kindly to Tobias confiscating the book mid-story. But if he already deemed the book inappropriate in itself due to its stirring portrayal of passion and depravity, he certainly deemed it inappropriate for a young woman with such excitable nerves as his wife's. He feared she had already taken inspiration from its main characters, for she was increasingly obstinate, scornful and melodramatic.