I still remember the little poem from Columbella though it's been decades since I read it. It went something like this:

Out to the west near the setting sun
Columbella's golden days be done.

I too loved Victoria Holt back in the day and Andre Norton was one of my best beloved SF authors when I was young. She was also one of the few fantasy writers whose works I would read having OD'd on Lang's fairy books when I was a child.

Shakatany