The Academy (Prologue)

"My Dearest Sister Evangeline,

I trust this letter finds you well and things in France are blissfull and undisturbed. Your last letter painted such a wonderful picture of life at your academy that I could scarse keep myself from packing up and visiting there and then. Have heart thought dear Sister, it will be a few short months before we are re-united and I can cast my eye once again over the heaven you have created in that most picturesque corner of the world.

I write however on a pressing matter of some excitment. You will recall that when we last spoke I told you of my worry over the enclosure of the commons in the county and the effects this would have on the small-folks. Well this treachery came to pass, that wretched Earl has built up his walls and the folk of the village can no longer graze their cattle on the land. Much noise has been made by thw Whigs in parliament but no satisfactory end is in sight. Such misery I can barely describe but suffice to say many families who have lived in the villages for generations are quite destitute.

Several of them are beholding to me and owe me much in rent & loans, the sum is a trifle given our family estates but foreclosure looms for them and I have struggled to help in any way I can. My estate is quite over-run with staff now and the grounds are the envy of the shire but I fear it is temporary and soon these families will move to the city and who knows what fate.

This is why I write, one family in particular caught my eye. They have a young nephew who depends on them, he is meek, obedient, God-fearing and utterly submissive in his manner. He has such a divine countence that I instantly saw him as perfect for your purposes. I remember seeing the male attendents and attendees and the special qualities you look for. I promise you he will not disappoint.

His family have agreed that he should work for the convent for not less than a year in recompense for his families debt to myself and so he will be despatched on the next coach to Portsmouth and thence to St Malo.

By the time I visit I am certain he shall be transformed into a perfect specimen.

Yours Sincerely,
your ever loving Deborah"