Boodles Club,

London

27th April 1817

 

Dear Clarke

 

I write in the fervent hope that this epistle will convince you, as I suspect my spoken words have not, that you must at once give up all thought of the lady. From what you told me this evening she is in no mind to accept you. I beg you to take her at her word and abandon the diabolical plan you imparted to me over our port. I fear that our earlier dinner conversation of books and matters theological had lulled me into believing you had long since given up that evil tome. Instead, I was shocked to learn that you had spent these past six months immersed in it.

 

Even I, during those brash weeks of exploration while at Tonbridge School, never dared go beyond the merest acquaintance with the rituals and incantations detailed within that volume’s dark pages. You spoke tonight with such eager authority that I must again implore you to give up this impious scheme, accept the lady’s refusal, and leave her be. I warn you that, should you persist in this iniquitous endeavour, I shall have no choice but to apprise Bishop Brownlow North of your evil intent. Though not a truly devout prelate, North is nonetheless a man of principle and as Bishop of Winchester would never consent to your using the cathedral crypt for a purpose that must be unacceptable to any right-thinking Christian.

 

Heed my warning, Clarke, and turn your feet from the sinner’s path, for I shall not hesitate to do whatever I deem necessary to prevent you from executing your malignant plot.

 

Believe me, sir, to be one who has your future welfare at heart.

 

Yours, etc.,

Vicesimus Knox