lavinia

''it was in the township of dunwich, in a large and partly inhabited farmhouse... that wilbur whateley was born... the mother was one of the decadent whateleys, a somewhat deformed, unattractive albino woman of thirty-five, living with an aged and half-insane father about whom the most frightful tales of wizardry had been whispered in his youth.

''lavinia whateley had no known husband, but according to the custom of the region made no attempt to disavow the child; ... on the contrary, she seemed strangely proud of the dark, goatish-looking infant who formed such a contrast to her own sickly and pink-eyed albinism, ... she had never been to school, but was filled with disjointed scraps of ancient lore that old whateley had taught her.

''the remote farm house had always been feared because of old whateley's reputation for black magic, and the unexplained death by violence of mrs. whateley when lavinia was twelve years old had not helped to make the place popular...

''lavinia was fond of wild and gradiose daydreams and singular occupations; nor was her leisure much taken up by household cares in a home from which all standards of order and cleanliness had long since disappeared.''

h.p.lovecraft, the dunwich horror