Free Eternally Yours: Roxton Letters Volume 1 by Lucinda Brant

himself, is not for me to speculate or wonder at. My only part in this endeavor is to offer you my opinion, and to keep a protective eye on your daughter-in-law from the distance of my house on the outskirts of Bath.
    In the interim, until such time as Julian arrives in Bath, I propose a novel approach to the replacement of Miss Francis, one that will surprise you and undoubtedly displease Sir Gerald, for it goes against everything Sir Gerald suggests. He would have Miss Francis replaced with a dour sour-faced jailer who has the manly strength to restrain his sister if called to it. In essence, Sir Gerald wants his sister kept prisoner until claimed.
    I could not disagree more with this advice. Replacing Miss Francis with such a person will create great tension and disharmony within the Milsom Street household; it will become a most unhappy place, and one your daughter-in-law will wish to flee at the earliest opportunity.
    Miss Cavendish is of a temperament that requires she feel she has some charge over her person and her house. To employ a female who would seek to restrain or take this from her would lead, I believe, to her taking a most rash action. She would again run away, and this time take her nephew Jack with her. I believe she is most likely to turn to M’sieur Evelyn Ffolkes, who offered his protection and name when she was last in Paris. A repeat of such behavior is the last thing you and your son could wish for, but that is my dire prediction.
    Miss Francis never took it upon herself to accompany Miss Cavendish when she visited the Pump Room, nor was she inclined to be her shadow when she and her nephew strolled or rode through the township. And she never accompanied her on her weekly visits to me. Upon these excursions from the house, your daughter-in-law has been accompanied by Mr. Joseph Jones, her brother Otto’s major domo, and since Otto’s death, he has taken it upon himself to be protector to Deborah and her nephew Jack.
    I would not be incorrect in assuming Joseph’s presence within the Milsom Street household meets with your approval, and that at the very least he, too, has been charged with keeping an eye on Miss Cavendish, and more particularly, an eye out for any trouble that may be lurking near the vicinity of her person, such as the likes of Robert Thesiger.
    Thus, I propose that Miss Francis not be replaced. Not having a chaperone in the short term will make no difference to Miss Cavendish’s life, or change the opinions of those Bath matrons who live to spread spite about others. Bath’s gossips may think your daughter-in-law is lacking a sensible adult eye upon her activities, but such a circumstance makes me smile smugly, for no young lady’s actions, acquaintances and daily routine are more carefully scrutinized and monitored, albeit from afar, than that of your daughter-in-law!
    Yes, having no female companion will set the Bath gossips to whispers and adverse remarks, but what is that to you in the grand scheme of things? What will it matter when Miss Cavendish becomes wife of the Marquis of Alston in more than name only, and she takes her place within the bosom of your family? What then the gossips and spiteful asides? They will be as nothing, and not one woman or man would dare make comment against her then.
    I believe I have now exhausted the topic, and your time on the matter.
    This letter is sent off without delay, and with my faithful assurances of replying to Mme la Duchesse’s letter on the morrow.

    Your most humble and devoted servant,
    Martin Ellicott

T WELVE
    Mme Vallentine, Hotel Roxton, Rue St. Honoré, Paris, France, to Mme la Duchesse d’Roxton, Treat via Alston, Hampshire, England.
    Hotel Roxton, Rue St. Honoré, Paris, France
    April, 1769
    Dearest sister, when did you say you and my brother would be returning to Paris? I know you told me but I have misplaced that letter, and I am too fatigued with worry to go searching for it. I know it is somewhere on this