“The young moon shed only a wan and wraithlike radiance over the plain.”

“She flitted from shadow to shadow among the houses, wraithlike, till she reached the edge of the burg.”

“He blew a stream of smoke into the rafters, and being a superstitious lot, they watched until it dissipated, wraithlike, in the firelight.”

“She was a white, thin, wraithy sort of being, with no stiffening in her spine and no real sense in her head. She couldn't be Varina Howell. Varina was not afraid of swamps.”