" After being abandoned, Mildred returned penniless, ill, and destitute - and now with her baby in tow.An owl""s huge eyes frighten her.Flying bats scare her.Craggy trees seem to reach out and pull at her, snagging her clothes.She falls into a dark pit and a dark body of water, where the shapes of fallen logs change into alligators." When she resists his cold insults and stomps out, he tempts her back with chocolates: "Think of it, Eliza.The second wrong book choice caused the enraged book to attack and flap at him like a bird.It was now obvious that the third book was the correct choice, but he had to remember the exact "words.