Lord Joss, trembling with trepidation, unsealed the letter with hands that betrayed his fragile emotional state. His initial relief at the correspondence was quickly supplanted by a tumultuous mix of shame and anger as he perused its contents.
In response to the ducal letter, Lord Joss instructed a maid to summon Edwin. As the servant hurried off, Maria, her feverish slumber interrupted by the commotion, refused to heed her son's pleas for her to rest. Draping a shawl around herself, she followed Edwin to her husband's study, her eyes filled with a foreboding trepidation as they met with her husband\s eyes.
Maria, her voice trembling, asked in hushed tones, "Joss, please tell me... our daughter, Sylvette, is she...?"
Lord Joss struggled to meet his wife's gaze, the shame he felt evident in his eyes. He sighed heavily, his voice a mixture of sorrow and frustration. "I wish, Maria, I truly wish that Sylvette had never been born."
