- Agatha Femm: [Knitting] I capture time and space in my stitches. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I stopped.
- Tom Penderel: Happen? To you?
- Agatha Femm: No, no. To the world.
- Roderick Femm: Any member of the family refusing to live here, loses all rights to the fortune.
- Morgana Femm: If any member of the family is not home by midnight, every night, loses all rights to inheritance.
- Cecily Femm: The Femm fortune, all of it, is left to the house. The Will can never be changed unless the house dies.
- Tom Penderel: How can a house die? Did you ever try burning it?
- Morgana Femm: I did once - but you can't burn solid rock.
- Tom Penderel: You, uh... why, you must be very lonely. Well, I mean, uh, all alone...
- Morgana Femm: Oh, you have no idea. Every night in this house, with just a whole family of Femms.
- Cecily Femm: This is Mr. Tom Penderel, he was a friend of Caspar's.
- Roderick Femm: Really? Caspar had some very strange friends. Were you one of them?
- Tom Penderel: No, I'm not strange. I'm American.
- Roderick Femm: [... upon discovering Agatha's body, with knitting needles crossed through her neck] Must have been murder... she always knitted so carefully.
- Cecily Femm: Mr Penderel feels he really must leave Femm Hall now. He really must.
- Roderick Femm: Oh, no, no. Good gracious, no! I wouldn't hear of it. Couldn't possibly let you go now, Mr Penderel. You know, it's not every day that we have an American for dinner. Such a treat for us all. I'm sure the others will be delighted.
- Cecily Femm: [Footsteps are heard outside the door] That's Uncle Morgan. Tom, he's furious you're here. He thinks you're going to take away Morgana. He... he might become dangerous. Again.
- Tom Penderel: What do you mean, "again"?
- Cecily Femm: The last young man that came here tried to take Morgana away.
- Tom Penderel: Yeah? What happened? No, no, don't tell me.
- Cecily Femm: We heard screams in the night and then... He never was found. You'd better get some rest. Do you think you'll be able to sleep?
- Tom Penderel: Yeah, I'll count corpses.
- Tom Penderel: [Wondering how the Femms manage to get by in their big house] So, what do you use for money? I mean, how do you live?
- Roderick Femm: Once a year, we divide the interest of the capital. On the anniversary of great-great-grandfather's hanging.