~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Just like the girls had hoped, by the next day Anne was allowed out of her chamber and felt and looked like her normal self. It was a hot day, so they were told to keep to the house and not take Anne out into the heat.
The three sat on a settee in the small parlour. Anne was in the middle between Jane and Elizabeth.
“About what did you need to speak to us?” Elizabeth enquired of her best friend. “You know there is nothing we would not do for you.”
“It is about my…mother, you remember what…she was accused of?” Anne revealed.
“We do,” Jane confirmed, “but what has she done?”
“Nothing, yet. It is what she…is asking of me…” Anne, with frequent breaths to take enough air into her lungs, explained how her mother had first begun to write to her on herbirthdays, and then of late more frequently. “This letter,” Anne reached into the pocket of her dress, “is the most…recent one. It arrived at Rosings Park…shortly before we made…for Derbyshire.”
Anne unfolded the letter. “You want us to read it?” Elizabeth verified.
“Yes, and then give…me your advice. I need to decide…if I should speak…to Papa,” Anne explained.
Jane and Elizabeth each leaned a little towards Anne so they were able to easily read the writing.
1 August 1805
12 Littlefield Street
Bath
My dear Anne,
That you have not responded to any of my letters has cut me to the quick, but it will not stop me in my determination to repair the rift between us which is due to my being accused of that which I did not do.
“Uncle Lewis did say there was no proof to connect Lady Catherine to the attempt on his and your life,” Elizabeth recalled. “And she never admitted to any involvement, did she?”
“Yes, that is…all correct,” Anne confirmed.
“Let us read on,” Jane advised. “We need to see what this is about before we are able to make an informed recommendation.”
Anne and Elizabeth nodded. Jane and Elizabeth continued to read.
How do I prove I did not do something? How can anyone believe I would want to harm my own daughter, the only one I have?
We have been cruelly separated these almost five years.I know not how much you have grown or what additional accomplishments you have gained. It is unnatural for a mother and daughter to be kept apart in this fashion.
What can I do to prove myself to you, my dear daughter? Tell me and it will be done.
I am always watched, even when I go to sleep there are 2 men in the hall outside my door and another on guard under my window. I am sure the guards have sent their reports to your father which will show I have done nothing I am not allowed to do.
I beg your pardon for whatever I did to make you believe me capable of the heinous thing of which I have been accused. I know I was not the warmest of mothers, but the time away from you has shown me what I am risking if I do not repair the relationship between us.
Is it too much to hope I will be forgiven one day? Is that not why our Lord and Saviour died on the cross? To redeem and forgive us mere mortals? Am I judged beyond redemption?
All I can do is continue my daily prayers that God will soften your and your father’s hearts.
Your loving mother.
“Has Uncle Lewis seen this or any of the other letters your mother has sent you?” Elizabeth queried. Anne shook her head. “My first suggestion is no matter what Janey and I recommend; you need to show your father all of the letters. He knows your mother far better than even you, and he will be a better judge of her sincerity than we are.”
“I agree with Lizzy about Uncle Lewis needing to know about the letters,” Jane added. “However, regardless of what she has, or has not, done in the past, to me at least, her pleas for forgiveness sound genuine.”
“The truth is, that it is our Christian duty to forgive the trespasses of those who have trespassed against us,” Elizabeth used some of the words and imagery from the Lord’s prayer.
