Eternally Yours: Roxton Letters Volume 1 by Lucinda Brant

Author:Lucinda Brant [Brant, Lucinda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Georgian, romance, Roxton, Series, Eighteenth, Century, England, 18th
Goodreads: 25392432
Publisher: Sprigleaf
Published: 2015-06-04T16:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

The Most Honorable Marquess of Alston, Bess House, Lake Windermere, Cumbria, England, to His Grace The Most Noble Duke of Roxton, Hotel Roxton, Rue St. Honoré, Paris, France

Bess House, Lake Windermere, Cumbria, England

November, 1769

Dearest Papa, I trust this short missive finds you and Mamma in your customary good health, and Harry in better health than your last letter, in which you reported he had suffered two seizures in two weeks.

That was before Jack Cavendish went to stay with you, and I trust that with his best friend for company, he is not worn thin. Jack is a lively boy but also good-natured, as you have no doubt already discovered. I have every faith in him lifting Harry’s spirits, and perhaps diverting him enough from his illness to enjoy just being a boy, and less the introspective invalid. Please give him a kiss and my love. Tell him his big brother has been practicing his archery skills, so that when I come to Paris, he will get his chance to increase his lead against me. I believe he has three bull’s-eyes to my one.

I don’t know when was the last time you had the opportunity to visit Bess House here in Cumbria. As I have no recollection of ever setting foot this far north, and Mamma has never mentioned this place, I can only assume you have never been to the Elizabethan ancestral pile of your father’s mother, the 4th Duchess of Roxton, the Lady Elizabeth Strang Leven as she was at the time she resided here. There is a portrait of her upon the wall, and another of her brother and his two closest male cousins, all fine-looking fellows but for their silly hair. All are wearing those long wigs preferred in the time of the Merry Monarch, with enough hair upon their scalps to cover the bald pates of six maidens! Such poodles. But your grandmother is a fine-looking woman, with dark eyes that hold your attention and thus make her unforgettable. If I am not much mistaken, you inherited your eyes from her.

But I am sure you are not interested in your grandmother’s eyes, or what I can tell you about the estate that you do not already read in the monthly reports sent to you by the estate’s manager. What I will remark upon, as an interested third party, is that the Dunnes keep the place in good order, though despite their slavish devotion, the topiary gardens could do with the advice of a reputable gardener, and the muscle power of a team of his men to clip the leafy structures back to their former glory. Thus, I have given permission for the Dunnes to employ such men, and also to rebuild the jetty that was burned down around the time of the rebellion of ’45, when the house was occupied by rebels and then housed the army for a time.

I request your permission to bring my family here to live. Yes, father, my family. For I am determined to make a success of my marriage.

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