4th April 1848

Allestree Hall

Lydia,

Your daughters, I thought you should know, arrived at Allestree Hall around a week ago, mercifully unharmed. They traveled unaccompanied by stagecoach to escape the tyrannies of their grandmother, looking like bedraggled orphans by the time they reached our doorstep.

They are welcome here. In fact, upon hearing of your proceedings at Great Barr Hall, William and I must insist that this become, for the foreseeable future, their home. Bessy and Mary are good, honest girls, with fine futures before them. Mind you do nothing to jeopardize their prospects further.

Sending prayers for your soul and for our cousin Catherine’s recovery,

I remain, your sister,

Mary Evans