Summary

Prefaced quotes (493): "There is a pain—so utter—

It swallows substance up—

Then covers the Abyss with Trance—

So Memory can step

Around—across—upon it—

As One within a Swoon—

Goes safely - where an open eye—

Would drop Him - Bone by Bone

– Emily Dickinson" (493).

"Sir, what is it that constitutes character, popularity, and power in the United States? Sir, it is property, and that only! – Governor John Hammond of South Carolina" (493).

"For the final consummation, that I might feel less lonely, it was my final wish that as I climbed the scaffold, I would be greeted with cries of execration – Albert Camus" (493).

Chapter 1 (495-558)

District of Devils (495-497) — Book III is a first-person narration by Edgar Watson. The story begins with a six-year-old Watson living in Clouds Creek, South Carolina. His father rode off to fight in the Civil...