December 9th, 1864

Dear Bryony,
I am aware that I am no longer in any position to speak so freely as to use your
Christian name, but I must protest the basis for your engagement to the Duke of
Laddington. If money and a rise in the ranks of society had been your goal, I assure you
with the utmost satisfaction that
I
could have easily provided you with both.
Was there any particular reason for why you accepted my courtship in all these
years? Was it simply because I made for an amusing form of entertainment? I believe
even the freshest of widows, in the depths of their grief, laugh at my humiliation.
Since the nullification of our farce of a courtship in the face of your imminent
marriage, I have been invited to soires for the sole purpose of what I realize to be, as
the topic of all manner of gossip. There is no mercy among those who pretend to fool me
with sympathetic smiles and assurances that another bride will be found suitable for me.
Each night I am offered what the ton assumes to be pleasurable company yet I
find that it is not pleasure to lose oneself in one who can never replace another. It is
merely pain disguised as fulfillment, and I have tired of being a tool; forever serving
others without a single gain in return.
If you had accepted my love as what it was, I would have been your faithful
husband for life. You could have been showered with the stones you so admire, or dallied
away your days in the most distinguished shops with not a care to the amount you spent.
You could have been the toast of the ton at my side as the Marchioness of
Hartford, even if my title could never compare to that of the Dukes. I still would have,
and could have, given everything that you sought. Everything with no quarrel, no protest, if
you have simply told me you returned my feelings.
What a fool I was, to think that you wanted my l
ove
rather than my coffers.

Thank you for your

time
and c
onsideration
,
Vyvyan Amare, Marquess of Hartford