"Great God! why did I not then expire! Why am I here to relate the destruction of the best hope and the purest creature of earth. She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down, and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair. Every where I turn I see the same figure--her bloodless arms and relaxed form flung by the murderer on its bridal bier."--Mary Shelley, Frankenstein