7 August, 1784

My dear SignorinaAntonacci,

Although a creature of few tender emotions, I can scarce contain my anguish as I consider the peril of your situation and that of the child you carry.

I sit in the comfort of rooms made available by kind souls of Sorrentina to travelers whose journeys have been interrupted by the quarantine and think of you in your sickbed far from your home and the comfort of those who would not wish to see you face this peril alone. Yes, you are currently estranged from your family but the gravity of your illness bids that I send word to your parents in hopes you and they will be reconciled while you still have life. I have sent word to them via the revenue ship that sailed this very day and pray you will forgive my intrusion.

I pray you will also forgive my impertinence in coming forward with an offer to sponsor your child in whatever manner proves most advantageous to that child. I am an orphan, and you could be the spirit of my own mother returned to earth so I could witness the depth of a mothers love as she willingly exchanges her life for her childs in the ordeal of birth. I pray that is not your fate, but you are gravely ill and if God takes you, I offer myself as god-mother and sponsor of the child. I cannot offer your child a home, but I can provide sufficient funds and property to secure a safe and loving home for your child so he or she will never face the shame and isolation of the orphanage.

There are others in Sorrentina also willing to offer assistance. You find yourself in a strange land, yet you are no stranger in our midst. Take strength from knowing that you and your child are a blessing for many.

May God spare your life and that of your child and take comfort that whatever God wills for your life, your child will not face life alone.

Lorsagne de Sade

6 August, Anno 1784

My dearest godfather and confessor,

I continue to be detained in Sorrentina as the yellow fever has come to the island, and all here are under quarantine. The authorities have taken measures to contain the sickness and physicians have tended both the sick and the well with courtesy and efficiency. I was given permission to leave after being examined, but have chosen to stay, missing our planned reunion in Venice within in the coming week.

Our visits are precious to me, yet I feel in my heart you will understand why I have chosen to remain in Sorrentina.

A young woman visiting the island has contracted the fever. I fear she will die very soon which is, of course, a sadness. That this young woman is great with child makes her death doubly painful, especially to an orphan who imagines the cries of the unborn child who will never know its mothers touch and devotion.

The young woman has no husband and no male has stepped forward and claim the child as his own. The woman confronted a gentleman here, a M. Gandt whom she believes to be her childs father, but he denies all knowledge of the woman. After writing M. Gandt in an attempt to persuade him to assume his responsibilities I am inclined to believe the young woman is mistaken. He does not appear to be deceiving when he says he cannot be the father.

So, dearest godfather, after prayers to St. Anne and to your beloved Ignatius of Loyola, I have discerned that God is directing me to give to this child the gift you gave to me at the time of my birth. When my dying mother laid me as an infant in your arms and asked you to oversee my immortal soul as godfather, you did not turn away. I will not turn away from this infant child should it live to be born. I will not leave Sorrentina until I see the baby has a name and a future beyond that of bastard orphan in a convent. I do not wish my own past on this child.

I pray you are safe and that you will forgive my absence. I remain your affectionate and grateful

Lorsagne

5 ^th day of August 1784

My dear Monsieur Gandt,

As one who finds herself inconvenienced and possibly imperiled by the fever that has come to this fair island and whose close proximity with others who also are subject to the quarantine of the Magistrate, I have been made privy to matters normally unobserved and unrecorded. Specifically, I have had occasion to observe your actions and your demeanor these past days and am writing to address matters of grave importance based on what I have observed.

There is no time for either pretty words or gentle remonstrance. Sir, you are behaving very much like a man who would evade his responsibilities to the unborn consequence of past indiscretions. You are soon to have a child. I have no doubt of its paternity as I, too, witnessed your meeting with the childs mother. She is no conniving strumpet. She is undone. Her sole purpose in humbling herself at your feet, subjecting her soul to your scorn, is the love of a mother for the child she carries and her fear for that childs future.

The fever will claim the mother; of this I have no doubt. Will you also see your child die? Perhaps not of the fever, but what future will such a child face? To be grudgingly allowed sustenance and space in an orphanage run by Sisters for whom Charity is most often lacking? To be a bastard, forever denied a place in decent society?

Sir, I know whereof I speak. I am the natural child of two members of the French nobility. But my parents were not allowed to wed. My mother died giving me life. My father was told I had perished as well, and the grief perhaps contributed to a life of infamy that now keeps him a prisoner in the Bastille under the seal of a letter de cachet.

A bastard orphan I was given to the nuns. Save for the intervention of the Jesuit priest who attended my birth and has watched over me as god-father and protector, I would have suffered a fate that you, sir, cannot even imagine at the hands of women whose piety does not see God in the face of every child, no matter the circumstances surrounding its birth.

Is this the fate you wish for your child? A bold and impertinent question from a mere woman, but I will press you in this matter and make you an offer you would do well to consider.

If you acknowledge the child as your own and give it your name, I am prepared to accept all financial responsibility for the child until it is fully-grown and successfully launched in whatever capacity the child chooses according to his or her natural inclinations and talents. I have sufficient wealth and connections with men of position in France to ensure good beginnings for a child of either sex. For your part in this arrangement, you will have the responsibility to provide a home and the security of parental affection and guidance for the child, knowing that I have agents who will report to me should you fail in any aspect of your duty.

Consider my offer proposal carefully, Sir. I am patient, but I will not stand by and see yet another child left at the door of strangers.

I await your decision,

Lorsagne de Sade

5 ^th day of August 1784

My dear Monsieur Gandt,

As one who finds herself inconvenienced and possibly imperiled by the fever that has come to this fair island and whose close proximity with others who also are subject to the quarantine of the Magistrate, I have been made privy to matters normally unobserved and unrecorded. Specifically, I have had occasion to observe your actions and your demeanor these past days and am writing to address matters of grave importance based on what I have observed.

There is no time for either pretty words or gentle remonstrance. Sir, you are behaving very much like a man who would evade his responsibilities to the unborn consequence of past indiscretions. You are soon to have a child. I have no doubt of its paternity as I, too, witnessed your meeting with the childs mother. She is no conniving strumpet. She is undone. Her sole purpose in humbling herself at your feet, subjecting her soul to your scorn, is the love of a mother for the child she carries and her fear for that childs future.

The fever will claim the mother; of this I have no doubt. Will you also see your child die? Perhaps not of the fever, but what future will such a child face? To be grudgingly allowed sustenance and space in an orphanage run by Sisters for whom Charity is most often lacking? To be a bastard, forever denied a place in decent society?

Sir, I know whereof I speak. I am the natural child of two members of the French nobility. But my parents were not allowed to wed. My mother died giving me life. My father was told I had perished as well, and the grief perhaps contributed to a life of infamy that now keeps him a prisoner in the Bastille under the seal of a letter de cachet.

A bastard orphan I was given to the nuns. Save for the intervention of the Jesuit priest who attended my birth and has watched over me as god-father and protector, I would have suffered a fate that you, sir, cannot even imagine at the hands of women whose piety does not see God in the face of every child, no matter the circumstances surrounding its birth.

Is this the fate you wish for your child? A bold and impertinent question from a mere woman, but I will press you in this matter and make you an offer you would do well to consider.

If you acknowledge the child as your own and give it your name, I am prepared to accept all financial responsibility for the child until it is fully-grown and successfully launched in whatever capacity the child chooses according to his or her natural inclinations and talents. I have sufficient wealth and connections with men of position in France to ensure good beginnings for a child of either sex. For your part in this arrangement, you will have the responsibility to provide a home and the security of parental affection and guidance for the child, knowing that I have agents who will report to me should you fail in any aspect of your duty.

Consider my offer proposal carefully, Sir. I am patient, but I will not stand by and see yet another child left at the door of strangers.

I await your decision,

Lorsagne de Sade

18 May 1785

Rocca Sorrentina

Godfather, I write in haste to warn you that one of Calonnes men calling himself Lord Ian has presented himself at The Haven on the pretext of leaving a painting for my inspection and consideration.

I assure you that Fanny knows nothing of his real purpose or his identity, so there is little chance that she revealed any news of your whereabouts or even your existence. Still, I have the gravest of concerns. He has said he would return, knowingI am certain--that Fanny would convey that message without awareness of the threat behind it. She lives in her own world and takes little notice of ours--that is to our advantage and the protection of all who seek shelter at the Haven.

You must not attempt passage to France! Yours and Luciens rooms are ready for you here; it would give your godchild a peace beyond any she has known in the past two years to know that you will remain in Rocca Sorrentina until the danger is dealt with by our friends in Marseilles. I have already sent them news of this Lord Ians appearance, as well as the most generous of donations to ensure their attention to our needs.

A fast packet ship scheduled to leave Rocca Sorrentina this day will carry my instructions to Pieter to increase the safeguards at the catacombs entrance. For the rest, I will endeavor to trust in our God who you continue to serve with such serenity and with whom I confess I continue to struggle.

Godfather, there is much here in this pleasant island to give you comfort and ease, as well as stimulation your intellect craves, so I beg you as humbly as I am able to remain here.

Your godchild,

Lorsagne

Prior to the Popes formal suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, Lorsagnes godfather Jos-Eusebio Camara, SJ functioned as a Jesuit procurator, those members of the society who represented the orders interests to the outside world, administered its properties and maintained its network. After the orders suppression, Fr. Camara and others both within and without the order went about rendering this service quietly, faithfully and often at great risk to their lives.

Lorsagne has used a few of the orders salvaged possessions that hold sentimental value for her godfather in the apartment in Rocca Sorrentina. Foremost among those souvenirs is a tiger skin. Given to the Jesuit by a Moghul viceroy in Hyderabad when Fr. Camara was in India, the skin stands as a symbol of the Hindu god Shivas role as controller of all powers in the world.

A gift of a tiger skin was a compliment of the highest order. Lorsagne uses the hide to dress a corner of the upstairs, placing it on the floor in hopes that her godfather will not take to wearing it andhis plague doctors disguise simultaneously.

The other end of the room is anchored by another sort of tiger skin: an early-18 ^th century Colonial American hooked rug presented to her companion Lucien Aristide de Robion-Castellane near Yorktown while he was serving as a Lieutenant in a Hussard squadron of the "Legion de Lauzun." Lucien's squadron played a role in deciding the Yorktown campaign in 1781. The pattern of tiger stripes in the hooked wool rug has the same meaning as the hide: courage and strengthcharacteristics of both Camara and Robion-Castellane.

Rocca Sorrentina

14 May 1785

Dearest Fanny,

The scent of the sea breezes and the blue of the Mediterranean sky bring me warmth as I rest from my labors furnishing the new apartments on the island in order to deliver greetings to you from Mrs. Piozzi and her delightful husband Signor Piozzi.

That good lady has asked me to provide entertainment this very day for a gathering of notables in her delightful residence here on the island. I am flattered, for the lady has many in her acquaintance with far greater talents and of wider knowledge of the world than your simple friend. However, I shall endeavor to acquit myself favorably, for I do so wish to be included in her circle.

I had hoped Lucien would accompany me to this evenings soiree, but he is nowhere to be found. Only his infernal maps give evidence that he has even visited his new pied a Terre that I have labored longand with some success I believeto furnish for his and godfathers comfort, as well as their shelter.

When I arrived at the apartment after meeting with yet another draper who wishes to win my trade, the beautiful map of Paris drawn in the year 1600 that I brought from The Haven had been put away. Yet another map showing troop placements during the siege of Yorktown in the new United States had taken its place on Luciens chart table.

Yorktown! Why does it continue to haunt Luciens dreams and disturb his ease? Luciens company of Hussars with Lafayette and de Rochambeau's decisions as his commanders made no small contribution to the victory, yet Lucien takes no satisfaction in victory. I confide to you that on his return I hardly knew him so changed was he in his opinions and his outlook. He now has my fear for his soul, as well as my heart, so I will put my own impatience aside and strive to forbear his moods and his absence.

Still, Lorsagne as the patient Griselda? I think not! Only a man would flatter himself so. Foolish creatures. Perhaps my motives in the choice of decoration for the walls in repaire masculin I have furnished for Lucien and godfather will not be lost on at least one of those good gentlemen.

I close now to make my toilette for todays gathering at Mrs. Ps.

As ever, your devoted friend,

Lorsagne

April of 1785

Rocca Sorrentina

Dearest Fanny,

I write you in haste having only arrived in Rocca Sorrentina the previous day. As you can imagine, I find myself as yet unsettled. Oh, that I could make the journey from The Haven to this lovely island as does a bird, with wings instead of bouncing over waters that invariably roil up to torment my constitution or find my spine jarred by the ruts and rocks as I ride trapped inside a coach that invariably loses at least one wheel in the journey.

Yet, as always, the islands beauty and the company of its residents compensate for these inconveniences.

Since my arrival, I have seen your friend Mrs. Piozzi briefly. She is pale, yet I note that she projects serenity even in her time of loss. I judge her to be a woman great inner strength and look forward to developing cordial relations both with the lady and her husband. I have yet to meet the noted singer, but from the expression on Mrs. Ps face when she speaks of him, he is most obviously the master of her heart, the source of her comfort, and the companion of her intellect.

Capitaine Lucien de Robion-Castellane would do well to emulate the gentleman. I must confide in you that I find myself quite put out with Lucien. He has just arrived on the island on leave from his responsibilities to the Marquis de Lafayette. After the briefest of greetings after a long absence he has commenced to tell me that the costs of furnishings that I have purchased or commissioned for the apartments he and godfather are to share in Rocca Sorrentina are intemperate! Excessive! Immodest!

I assure you I have purchased only the barest of essentials and have exercised admirable frugality. I cannot be faulted. No, and I have not put my hand into the Captains purse for even the smallest of domestic expenses.

Men! They want us to make them homes of beauty, taste, comfort and a certain degree of luxury without expense. They want us to maintain our faces, our figures, and our wardrobes to the standards of the latest court fashions. And they expect us to do it all on a paupers purse. I would ask godfather to intercede, yet my intuition tells me I will not have an ally in the Jesuit in this matter.

That godfather and Lucien will be sharing quarters is both a delight and a something of a worry to me. I can manage each of them to my advantage when they are separated by time and distance. I suspect they will join forces in an attempt to reign in their charge once they are living under the same roof.

You are wise to avoid romantic entanglements, dear Fanny. A papa that holds you tightly is enough of a restriction to your freedom!

Until I can return to enjoy the pleasures your company and my duties at my beloved Haven,

Lorsagne