How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Clara hesitated. She had no wish to follow Grisini into a dim and empty room, but she could think of no polite way to refuse. Close at hand, she could see how disreputable he looked. His tattered frock glistened with fog, and there was a patch of sticking plaster under his chin. (5.8)
It's clear that Grisini is the sort of man who could be dangerous, even to Clara, who is transfixed by his puppet show. She can tell he has some sort of ulterior motive in talking to her, but she doesn't know how to say no.
Quote #2
"You are weary of mourning, are you not? You want to laugh and to dance … and there is something else, yes? No, do not deny it; I can see into your deepest heart. You carry a secret, don't you, mia piccina? Something that haunts you and makes you feel you are a very wicked girl … ?" (5.30)
Grisini is a master puppeteer and can manipulate emotions easily, as though people are puppets on strings. He makes Clara feel badly about her siblings' deaths even though it wasn't her fault and she couldn't have done anything to stop it.
Quote #3
"Grisini would kill us," Parsefall said desperately. He dug his fingernails into her hand. "If we peached on him, he'd kill us. You don't know 'im the way I do." He heard his voice rise and lowered it again. "Promise me you won't go to the coppers."
Lizzie Rose gave a little shiver. She wasn't promising anything. (10.58-59)
The children aren't staying away from the cops out of loyalty to Grisini; they're just terrified of him. He has manipulated them over the course of their lives so that they will fear for their lives if they ever cross him.
Quote #4
He understood that the arrangements gave every advantage to the kidnapper. Until the next morning, Dr. Wintermute could not leave the cemetery. He would not catch so much as a glimpse of his daughter's captor; he had only the kidnapper's word that Clara would be released after the ransom was paid. Nevertheless, he had determined to follow the instructions in the letter. It had come with a spiral of glossy hair: one of Clara's ringlets. The sight of that curl had robbed Dr. Wintermute of his last shred of common sense. (12.5)
Dr. Wintermute knows that the kidnapper is playing on his fear and worry, but he can't defy him—he's too worried about Clara's safety and well-being. He'll go along with this sick game if it means he can get his daughter back.
Quote #5
He congratulated himself on the excellence of his plan. He had chosen his victim well. Dr. Wintermute could be relied upon to pay Clara's ransom; a man who had lost four children and would stop at nothing to rescue the fifth. Not until the following morning would the doctor understand that his daughter was never coming home. (14.5)
Grisini is so terrible. He plays with people and their emotions like they're his puppets, and he doesn't even feel guilty about causing the Wintermutes so much distress. He doesn't even intend to give Clara back, even though she's all that they have left in life.
Quote #6
He selected his words carefully. "To me, you are as beautiful as you ever were."
It was a double insult. She bared her teeth at him, the unhealthy color in her cheeks deepening. "How dare you, Gaspare! I could have let you die—" (19.14-15)
Grisini likes to rub in the fact that he once manipulated Cassandra into teaching him magic by pretending to love her, and he hurts her feelings even now when he suggests that she was never beautiful to him. He only used her for his own personal gain.
Quote #7
He spoke her name as he once had, lingering over each syllable. He remembered how her eyes used to kindle when he spoke like that. She had fought against her love for him like a fish on the hook, but he had once had the power to soften her.(19.26)
Seeing Grisini again brings back all of the pain and humiliation of their shared past. Cassandra hates to think about how she fell in love with him when he didn't return her feelings at all. He was pretending the whole time they were "together."
Quote #8
An idea flashed through his mind like a comet. He wanted to clap his hands and crow with laughter and drum his heels with joy. In one flash of inspiration, he saw how he might gain the power of the fire opal—the power, not the doom of it. He thought of the children he had planned to discard as useless. They would not be useless now. (19.56)
Even when he's bedridden and in pain, Grisini can't help but think about how he can manipulate the people around him to become even more powerful. He doesn't care about Lizzie Rose and Parsefall at all—he just wants them to come to Strachan's Ghyll and steal the phoenix-stone for him.
Quote #9
And whichever it is, he thought, will be my puppet and my slave. If Parsefall steals it, he will use it according to my commands. And if it is Lizzie Rose … She has not yet learned fear, not as the boy has, but I shall enjoy teaching her. (19.69)
Grisini is certain that when Lizzie Rose or Parsefall ends up stealing the phoenix-stone, he will be able to use the child like a puppet. He doesn't ever consider the fact that they might use the stone against him. You know, since they despise him and all.
Quote #10
Cassandra had unearthed treasures from her collections and strewn them about the rooms, hoping to stimulate the children's appetite for plunder. Each day, she had hoped for their arrival, only to be disappointed. Then that morning, she had awakened knowing that the children were on their way. (29.17)
Cassandra sure does delight in setting out a pretty little trap for the children. She wants to show them that there are lots of shiny, valuable things to steal at Strachan's Ghyll—including the best thing of all, the phoenix-stone.