Chapter 4
Sir Christmas,
I am all anxiety. It has been nearly three long years since I last saw you and I am full of lamentation and entreaties, for I must confess I cannot know whether you are alive or dead, or whether you have received my letters.
One dispatch we received from the Admiralty states that you were last seen at the Battle of the Basque Roads, where Lord Cochrane triumphed and was knighted.
They say that Cochrane, annoyed with his commander, charged Lord Gambier with negligence, but Gambier was exonerated?
It pays to have friends in the right places, does it not?
Construction has begun on a new Hoy and Anchor Inn.
Erosion has come within twelve feet of St. Mary’s.
The soft sandy base of the bluff continues to recede and we fear the worst. My dearest love, like the centuries old church, I grieve for your safety.
Rest assured, your mother and father are well, and have been extremely generous, treating me as if I was already their daughter.
Every advantage has been given to my parents, and my cousin—you remember him, Ansell Ransome—has entered into a profitable business with Mama to help the sick and starving in Kent.
I support Mama fully. No greater humanitarian has Kent ever seen.
I only lament that poor Mama has exhausted herself in her endeavors, and I worry about her state of being.
As always, I await news of you and pray each day for your safe return. I am not without apprehension.
As ever,
Emma