Viscount Saul

Viscount Saul presides over his ancestral castle with the easy authority of a man accustomed to being obeyed, and he extends that authority generously to the antiquary who has come to study his family's papers. Yet his hospitality carries an undertow: he is eager, almost too eager, that his guest should see the castle's curiosities and understand its history. His interest in what his visitor might find — or awaken — makes him a host whose kindness the reader learns to distrust.