To Harold, Duke of Pardloe

Colonel, 46th Regiment of Foot

Savannah, Georgia

Dear Hal—

Yes.

Foxglove leaves. Mash them and make a strong tea, or just put them in the salad and invite the rats to dinner.

Your erstwhile sister-in-law,

C.

PostScriptum: It’s not a good way to die, even for a rat. Shooting is much more efficient.

Jamie had been watching me write, reading the message upside down without difficulty, and looked up with raised brows as I finished and waved the note in the air to dry it. I put it down and laid Hal’s note beside it, in front of him.

The eyebrows didn’t go down as he read. He looked up at me.

“It’s meant to be a joke,” I said. “The bit about the foxgloves, I mean.”

He made a restrained Scottish noise and pushed the notes back toward me.

“Maybe you’re jokin’, Sassenach—but he isn’t. Whatever he said to ye.”

124

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Savannah

May 5, 1780

From Captain M. A. Stubbs, His Majesty’s Army, Ret.

To Mr. John Cinnamon

My dear Mr. Cinnamon,

I cannot tell you with what Emotion I beheld your Portrait. Indeed, my Bosom is so animated with Feeling that I think my Heart must burst, between the Pressures of Guilt and Joy—yet I thank you from the Bottom of that squalid Heart for your gallant Action and the Courage which must lie behind it.

Let me first beg your Forgiveness, though I do not deserve it. I was badly wounded at Quebec and unable to attend to my own Affairs for some Months, by which Time I had been sent back to England. I should have made Inquiries after your Mother, and made some Provision for you both. I did not. I should prefer to think that it was solely Shock and Disability that kept me from this Duty, but the Truth is that I chose to forget, from Selfishness and Sloth. I am not a good Man. I am sorry for it.

And let me next—assuming that your Forgiveness be granted—beg that you will come to me. I am astonished by the Strength of Feeling caused me by the Sight of your Face, captured in Paint and Canvas, and even more by the Need that has grown in me to see your Face truly before me. I can but hope that you would also like to see mine.

If you will so far forgive me as to come, I have sent Instructions to Lord John Grey, who will arrange your Passage to London and provide Funds for your Travel.

I am, sir, your most Humble and Obedient Servant—

and your Father,

Malcolm Armistead Stubbs, Esq.

PostScriptum: Your name is Michel. Your mother had a Medallion, given her by her French Grandmother, with the image upon it of Michael, Archangel, and she wished you to have his Protection.

May 10, 1780

Savannah