Lucia di Lammermoor
Lord Cain held the envelope in his hands and deliberated about opening it. The loopy writing on the return address indicated that the letter had been sent from the Lammermoor estate. He weighed the envelope in his hands. It felt as though the letter within was written on heavy paper, the kind used to write invitations. Cain shook his head. The Lammermoors were good family friends of the Hargreaves'. At least, they had been. But death followed the Lammermoors the way that death followed the Hargreaves'.
"Milord?"
Cain turned at the sound of Riff's soft voice. Riff stood in the doorway with a slight smile on his face.
"Hello, Riff," he said smiling. Riff returned the smile and looked at the envelope in Cain's hand.
"What's that?"
"Oh? This?"
Riff nodded.
"This is just a letter from the Lammermoors."
Riff narrowed his eyes. "What do they want?"
"I don't know. I haven't opened it. I have a mind not to open it."
Riff nodded, thinking that it may be wiser for his master not to. The Lammermoors were cursed, and this was well-known throughout the nation. The most recent tragedy to strike the Lammermoor family, two years ago, had rocked all of England's aristocracy.
The youngest Lammermoor daughter, Lucy, had been betrothed to a man roughly fourteen years older than she was since she had been born. Rumor had it that Lucy was carrying on an affair with the oldest member of a rival family, Edgar Ravenswood. When Lord Lammermoor found out about the affair, he arranged for Lucy to be married by the end of the month. But, just after the wedding, Edgar broke into the Lammermoor estate, fatally poisoned almost all of the guests at the wedding, then attacked Lucy and her husband, nearly killing both of them. He then killed himself. Lucy's husband annulled the marriage not long after.
Cain seemed to be thinking about that incident also, and he nearly set the letter down when his curiosity got the better of him and he ripped it open.
"Dear Lord Hargreaves,
It has been ages since we have spoken. Indeed, I do not believe that we have seen one another since before my wedding. It is, therefore, my great pleasure to extend to you an invitation to a masked ball which I will be holding in honor of my dearest friend, Edgardo Donizetti. I will understand if you don't want to come. I know that the tragic event at my wedding has cost me many friends...but I would be honored if you could come.
Sincerely yours,
Lucy Lammermoor."
Cain read over the invitation again. The tragedy at Lucy's wedding had cost her a good deal of friends, this was true. Was she trying to make amends, maybe? To keep the few friends she had? And who was Edgardo Donizetti? He looked at Riff.
"Something strange is happening here."
"Are you going to go, Milord?"
Cain set down the invitation. "It would be rude to turn down an invitation...but the Lammermoors..." He looked from the invitation to his loyal servant. "Although...Lucy was quite beautiful...at least, she was the last time I saw her." He pursed his lips. "Anyway, there's something strange about this whole thing. I don't recall the Lammermoors ever being associated with anyone by the name of Donizetti. I know that Lucy's father survived the wedding accident. I can't imagine that he would allow Lucy to associate with anyone from a family he wasn't familiar with...especially a foreign one. I think...I think it's time we paid the Lammermoors a visit."