Page "Carmilla" Paragraph 4

Laura begins her tale by relating her childhood in a " picturesque and solitary " castle in the midst of an extensive forest in Styria where she lives with her father, a wealthy English widower, retired from the Austrian Service.

When she is six years old, Laura has a vision of a beautiful visitor in her bedchamber.

She later claims to have been bitten on the chest, although no wounds are found on her.