‘Gentle Reader,
Today, on this twenty second day of January in 1815 in the Year of Our Lord – MY Lord Byron is now seven and twenty!
In a hasty missive addressed to Cook, the whisper from Henry Opie, a gleefully indiscreet footman from Halanby is that His Lordship’s ‘treaclemoon’ is now most ‘certainly OVER’ and that Her Ladyship has left Yorkshire and returned to her parents at Seaham Hall in County Durham.
Rumour has it that my Lady is in desperate need of a reassuring panacea from her doting parents!
However, I have been reliably informed from Cook that despite the MANY protestations from my Lord to his bride – he too is safely ensconced at the Milbanke family seat.
And as Cook appeared surprisingly hesitant to reveal the closing paragraph from the Halanby missive and she has been seen clutching a distinctive pocket book about her person – what COULD she be about?
Although Cook is not without her foibles and her passion for the gaming tables an open secret – she does make an exceedingly delicious plum cake…
And on that note, I shall enjoy a slice or two in honour of my Lord’s birthday.
Sincerely Yours.
Mrs. S.
‘January 22 1815’