In keeping with Linda's background in poetry and other literature, Stewart employs chapter epigraphs with quotes from the works of numerous poets, playwrights, and authors, that fit the themes or actions of each scene.

A good example is the epigraph from King John that introduces Chapter VIII: Thou art more deep damn'd than Prince Lucifer.

And the final epigraph (at Chapter XXI): Look you, the stars shine still.Cinderella is referred to by Linda, as is Jane Eyre, for obvious reasons.

Philippe lives with his aunt and uncle in the vast and ornate Château Valmy in the alpine French countryside not far from Geneva, Switzerland.

Léon de Valmy, Philippe's uncle, runs the estate on behalf of his under-age nephew until the boy inherits in 6 years.

When Linda arrives at the imposing eighteenth-century château—a great mansion with its "four-square classic grace" that makes it less than a romantic castle with turrets and pinnacles[5] but far more than a mere country house—she is at once enchanted by its beauty and history, but is also immediately struck by the sense of menace and doom surrounding its inhabitants.

As she becomes closer to Philippe and Raoul, Linda draws ever nearer to putting her finger on the source of the threat, and suspects the “English governess” who supposedly does not speak fluent French is being set up as the scapegoat to a nefarious plot.

The title 'Nine Coaches Waiting' is derived from the play The Revenger's Tragedy attributed to Thomas Middleton: Oh, think upon the pleasure of the palace: Secured ease and state, the stirring meats, Ready to move out of the dishes, That e'en now quicken when they're eaten, Banquets abroad by torch-light, musics, sports, Bare-headed vassals that had ne'er the fortune To keep on their own hats but let horns [wear] 'em, Nine coaches waiting.

Used by Mary Stewart as follows on page 1 (as the first epigraph, and incorporated, in part, into the first chapter): Oh, think upon the pleasure of the palace: Securèd ease and state!