They were married at last in 1669, and fourteen years of perfect happiness began for Rachel. The only real sorrow that came to her was the death of her sister, whom she described as “a delicious friend.” Her other sorrows were her brief separations from her husband when he had to visit his father at Woburn. William Russell’s elder brother had died, and he was now heir to the dukedom of Bedford. He was not a brilliant man, but he was a very good man, devotedly attached to his family and his friends, and very anxious to do his duty. When they were separated, Lady Russell wrote constantly to him, telling him all she heard that might interest him. When he had only been gone a few hours she wrote that she could not “let this first post night pass, without giving my dear man a little talk.” Once, when she had gone over to Tunbridge Wells to drink the waters, she wrote: “After a toilsome day, there is some refreshment to be telling our story to our best friends. I have seen your girl well laid in bed, and ourselves have made our suppers upon biscuits, a bottle of white wine, and another of beer mingled my uncle’s way, with nutmeg and sugar. Beds and things are all very well here: our want is yourself and good weather.” They had three children, two girls and a boy, and her letters are full of allusions to the eldest: “Our little girl is very well, and extremely merry and often calls Papa. She gets new pretty tricks every day.” And another time: “Your girls are very well; Miss Rachel has prattled a long story, but I must omit it. She says Papa has sent for her to Woburn, and then she gallops and says she has been there, and a great deal more.”