Alma thought that this whim would run its course likewise and leave a repentant Anna . But meanwhile everything might be spoiled . Gilbert might not prove forgiving a second time . Alma would have given much if she could only have induced Anna to answer Gilbert 's letter , but coaxing Anna to do anything was a very sure and effective way of preventing her from doing it . * * * * * Alma and Anna had lived alone at the old Williams homestead ever since their mother 's death four years before . Exeter matrons thought this hardly proper , since Alma , in spite of her grave ways , was only twenty-four . The farm was rented , so that Alma 's only responsibilities were the post office which she kept , and that harum-scarum beauty of an Anna . The Murray homestead adjoined theirs . Gilbert Murray had grown up with Alma ; they had been friends ever since she could remember . Alma loved Gilbert with a love which she herself believed to be purely sisterly , and which nobody else doubted could be , since she had been at pains to make a match -- Exeter matrons ' phrasing -- between Gil and Anna , and was manifestly delighted when Gilbert obligingly fell in love with the latter . There was a small mortgage on the Murray place which Mr. Murray senior had not been able to pay off . Gilbert determined to get rid of it , and his thoughts turned to the west . His father was an active , hale old man , quite capable of managing the farm in Gilbert 's absence . Alexander MacNair had gone to the west two years previously and got work on a new railroad . He wrote to Gilbert to come too , promising him plenty of work and good pay . Gilbert went , but before going he had asked Anna to marry him . It was the first proposal Anna had ever had , and she managed it quite cleverly , from her standpoint . She told Gilbert that he must wait until he came home again before settling that , meanwhile , they would be very good friends -- emphasized with a blush -- and that he might write to her . She kissed him goodbye , and Gilbert , honest fellow , was quite satisfied . When an Exeter girl had allowed so much to be inferred , it was understood to be equivalent to an engagement .
Gilbert had never discerned that XXXXX was not like the other Exeter girls , but was a law unto herself .
Alma Anna Exeter Gil Gilbert Murray Williams matrons second years