Dearest friend,
It is late, and I am very tired. But something has happened, dear Booke. I need to spill this out onto your pages or I will burst.
Lady Durand has sent a letter. She says she has found me a husband and that I shall be married.
I need to run away, and quickly.
I have always sworn that I will not be married. Perhaps this sounds foolish, or even mad. Perhaps I should be afraid of starving or of being alone in the world without a protector. But I am more terrified of being under yet another person’s control, this time for my entire life. I am terrified of being told where to go and what to do and how to live. And I am terrified of being taken away from the one person who is my friend.
Catherine has become so important to me. She makes me laugh, and she tells me things that
