"...Bearelaw Point supported the towered mass of Rynhook, the fortress-home that had been a Van Ryn command post for almost two centuries. ". . . the tall, wrought-iron portals were freshly-painted and free of rust; the lawns had been mowed, and the once-famous Van Ryn boxwoods were neatly trimmed, though they had lost their resemblance to dragons and pagodas and jousting knights. Behind their screen, the turreted mansion rose against the sunset on the river. In that light, there was something primeval about its stony bulk: the square granite Gate House—where the Van Ryn factors had once dwelt—was part of that bleak image, an outpost of a special universe that obeyed no laws but its own."
