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Spoiler: There is a certain backstory to this. Today’s author ran for office ran against a good friend from Massachusetts, and defeated him. During the campaign he secretly employed a writer, a “journalist” who ran a LCHTXRXCB printing the original Steele Dossier, full of fictious libels against his opponent. The truth reached his opponent, and lead to an estrangement between the old friends.

When MCPPCBTSL won office, his “correspondent” expected to be rewarded. He was hoping to become ambassador to France, but was offered the job of local postmaster, which he angrily refused. He continued his “journalism” and alleged that MCPPCBTSL had fathered a child by his slave, who was also his late wife’s half sister. (She was in fact his late wife’s half sister.) This is the only known contemporary account of this situation.

The breach with his former opponent persisted, but when his daughter died, his opponent’s wife, though unschooled, a talented and prolific letter writer, sent our author a note of condolence. MCPPCBTSL’s daughter had lived with his opponent’s family in London when his future opponent was Ambassador to the Court of St. James, and MCPPCBTSL was on a diplomatic mission to France. The letter-writer had grown fond of her at this time. Events lead to the rekindling of the old friendship. Many years later, the old friend and MCPPCBTSL died on the same day, in July, 1826, unbeknownst to each other.