"It was hot and humid on this August night and Judge Britton tossed in his bed. A heavy court schedule had kept him on the go and thoughts of his only child, Fanny, lay as lead in a corner of his busy mind. During her years away at boarding school, he was often jerked up short by a letter from a headmistress recounting some disconcerting trial with the stubborn child. Now, at seventeen, she seemed to be making little progress."