- [first lines]
- Victoria Winters: My name is Victoria Winters. I began my search in Collinwood, there in the great mansion on Widows' Hill, surrounded by the ghosts of the past. I'd hoped to unlock the secrets of my beginning. But the key has not yet been found. And the search goes on. Carrying me to a meeting with a man I wasn't sure I could trust.
- Burke Devlin: You know, I never figured you for the sherry type.
- Victoria Winters: I didn't know there was such a thing.
- Burke Devlin: Oh, yes. Now Mrs. Stoddard, she's the sherry type. Her daughter, Carolyn, that's strictly soda. But she'd like to think it was something stronger, but it's always soda.
- Victoria Winters: And what am I?
- Burke Devlin: I'm not sure. It's a toss up between a chocolate malt and champagne.
- Victoria Winters: Well, that's quite a range.
- Burke Devlin: Well, maybe we can find out which it is over dinner.
- Burke Devlin: Miss Winters, you amaze me.
- Victoria Winters: I want to see that report, Mr. Devlin. And if we have to go to your hotel room, then that's where we'll go.
- Burke Devlin: [helping Victoria with her coat] Champagne. Definitely champagne.
- Joe Haskell: All right, and what did I say to your mother?
- Carolyn Stoddard: Oh, a few friendly little things like, she ruined my life by bringing me up in this house.
- Joe Haskell: Oh boy, I think I'll kill myself.
- Carolyn Stoddard: Finish that coffee first.
- Victoria Winters: I haven't had time to breathe since I got here. It's as though I've walked into a whirlpool.
- Burke Devlin: Maybe you have. Vicki, how important is this to you? Really?
- Victoria Winters: Why?
- Burke Devlin: Well, there are some things that are going to be happening up at Collinwood. Unpleasant things.
- Victoria Winters: They couldn't get any worse.
- Burke Devlin: What you've seen is just a ripple. You haven't touched the whirlpool, but it is there.
- Victoria Winters: Are you telling me I should leave?
- Burke Devlin: Yes.