Deceiving the Viscount

Epilogue

13 July 1817

Dear Lady Healey,

I am very certain that the clocks in the house must be damaged. The hour-hand ticks with a slowness that a tortoise must crawl faster than them. It is torture to have you so far from me as you go about your duties as hostess.

I wait with impatience to have you with me alone once again.

Your loving husband,

Garrett

13 July 1817

Dear loving husband,

Patience is a virtue. Furthermore, these people are your family! Should you not be happier to receive them?

Your loving wife,

Frederica

13 July 1817

Dear loving wife,

I will be happier when they've departed. How can they intrude upon our honeymoon when I've barely returned from London and have been away from your sweet kisses and loving embrace for the better part of the month? Have they no care for a man who has been deprived? I have half a mind to tell my mother that she is preventing me from doing my duty to ensure that the viscountcy have heirs with which to inherit.

Your impatient husband,

Garrett

13 July 1817

Dear impatient husband,

While it would be churlish of me to disallow your mother to continue to witness our happiness, I'm quite certain that your idea might just be the solution. Pray tell her quick. I will see you in bed in an hour. You'd best be divested of all of your clothes when you enter the room.

Your equally deprived wife,

Frederica

Author's Note

1817 was quite a highly charged year, politically and socially. The historic events of the Spa Field Riots, Prince George's (aka Prinny) carriage being mobbed and the Blankeeters March mentioned in the book all happened. And while it isn't part of the timeline of the book, the Pentrich Rising happened on the night of 9 June 1817, just one day after Frederica and Garrett's engagement ball. It was the last armed protest but also the first that was staged by the working class.

As Garrett mentions in the book, the working class resorted to these methods because they were desperate for their lives and livelihoods were at stake. Multiple letters had been written to Parliament calling for reform and changes to be made, but were summarily rejected. The scene in the Commons where Sir Francis spoke of wanting reform in Parliament but was subsequently voted against was constructed from the speeches made that day in the Commons and can be found here - https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1817/may/20/state-of-the-representation 

Garrett's dream of universal suffrage for men and women wouldn't happen until some hundred years later, in 1918. However, in those hundred years, the Reform Act of 1832 was the first big step towards ensuring more fairness in voting and representation in Parliament.