Letter from Marianne Durand
Rosemont
OH, my dear Lydia!
We are in an uproar. Everyone keeps things from me, so I do not know all. I wish I could tell you exactly what has happened, but the more questions I ask, the more violently I am dismissed. Neither Mama nor Louisa will explain, but Louisa is in her room all day every day, sobbing. She has made herself ill with crying, and Mama has been quite unlike herself, shouting at Louisa that she is a lucky girl and must stop sulking.
It has something to do with that awful man Mama tried to have you marry, the one you refused. You were wise to do so. Howard and I both thought he had a dirty secret, and I believe this is proof that he was never the man Mama thought he was. She was deceived, alas. While in London, he offered for Louisa, and Lou
