18 June, 1790
Sir,
I hereby return to you the Trinket with which you most Foolishly sought to purchase My Affections. As I have made clear to you, these are not for Sale.
Believe me,
Your most Obedient, Humble
Serena Bowcastle
* * *
18 June, 1790
Madam,
Obedient? Humble? Those two Descriptors should never be linked with the name Serena Bowcastle.
The Trinket, to which you refer so Carelessly and spurn so Heartlessly, is a symbol of my Regard. Take it, and let this Gem ‘containing the wonders of the skies, sparkling rainbows, fireworks and lightning, shifting and moving in its depths’, recall to your Senses those nights of skin and sighs and sweet breaths mingling that are firmly imprinted on My Soul.
…If you need reminding, that is. If you do not, return the Trinket, and I will know that your Memory is as sharp and clear as Mine.
So in all supplication believe me, Serena,
Your James
* * *
19 June, 1790
Sir,
Those nights of which you write so fluently must have slipped from my Mind, just as your Trinket (alas!) slipped from my Hand not ten minutes past, and found its way to the bottom of the Lake. Thus, (alas, alack and woe is me!) I can neither return the Trinket, nor keep it. And so your attempt to Entrap me by my actions in this regard has failed.
Now this correspondence must cease. You engage in Folly of the worst kind to think to cross Swords with Me.
Believe me, & co.
Serena
* * *
20 June, 1790
Madam,
By quite a startling Coincidence, this very Morning I happened to set a team of my Men to drag that very Lake, but though a Number of Interesting Artefacts were dredged from those murky depths, the Trinket was not found.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered the Trinket secreted in a certain, hidden compartment of a Certain Lady’s Jewel Box.
I am delighted, therefore to reunite you with the Trinket, and indulge the fond hope that Our Reunion must shortly follow.
So in all affection believe me, Serena,
Your most loving,
James
* * *
21 June, 1790
How dare you bribe my servant to gain access to my chamber!!!
* * *
22 June, 1790
Sir,
Your silence on this Subject leads me to infer that you are Guilty of the Crime with which you are charged. Nay, more than that, you are guilty of Gross Duplicity and Unfeeling Conduct towards a Lady who has no reason to think well of you, but on the contrary, every reason to spurn your Advances.
Do you deny that this is the case?
S.
* * *
23 June, 1790
Madam,
When I would speak, you bid me be silent. When I would be silent, you bid me speak. Dear Lady, with all the will in the World to please you, I begin to fear that your Pleasure is a thing quite beyond My Meagre Powers.
So in all regret, believe Me, etc.
James
* * *
23 June, 1790
Sir,
The Pleasure of a Woman is a Mystery and a Delight, the more precious for being hard-won. Just as the Opal in your Trinket absorbs the Light, then shatters and refracts it in a Splendour of Colour to dazzle the beholder’s senses, so, too, does a Woman, when pleased, refract and return that pleasure Tenfold.
S.
* * *
24 June, 1790
Madam,
But if the Gem, or Woman, is kept in a Darkened Room, away from Light and Warmth and Touch, then there is nothing to fuel that brilliant Flash and Fire. Nothing, in fact, to make the Gem, or Woman, more than Stone.
James
* * *
25 June, 1790
My dear sir,
I am lost in Admiration for your Eloquence. And yet, your recent display of Irrational Jealousy convinces me that between the Theory and the Practice there is a Chasm so Vast as to be Unbridgeable. If you believed your words, you would set Me free. If you believed them, there would be nothing but My Heart to constrain Me.
S.
* * *
26 June, 1790
Serena,
Return to Me, My Dearest Love, and I will set you free.
J.
* * *
26 June, 1790
Darling James!
We should begin Afresh as we mean to go on. Therefore, I will meet you precisely Half Way.
Your loving
S.
* * *
26 June, 1790
My Dearest Heart,
You cannot have considered. I believe the Linen Press is located half way between your apartments and Mine.
J.
* * *
26 June, 1790
Sir,
Facetiousness was never a trait I admired in a man.
Serena
P.S. Come to me, then.
* * *
26 June, 1790
Madam,
And if I come, as come I must, where will the Trinket be?
J.B.
* * *
26 June, 1790
It will be here, My Dearest Husband, in the place next to my Heart.
S.B.
