Clifford,

With regret, I must reveal that I remain unmarried still. My darling Mr. Gower was lost in the line of duty just a week before our nuptials were scheduled to take place. I did think, then, of writing to the family—Mother, in particular—but decided I could not rightly return to those who so ardently dismissed my feelings, even if they would have had me. Some days, I do wonder what life might have been like had things been different, but I am happy in my life the way that it is.

Please, tell me something of your own life in the years that we last spoke. I hope you are not yet married, for if you pardon my saying so, you would be quite young to do so, but hope also that you have found yourself in a career that might offer you similar fulfillment. I am, as you might imagine, rather starved for news.

Yours,