She had always been desirous , even in the old , childish play-days , that Gilbert should get just exactly what he wanted . She had always taken a keen , strange delight in furthering his wishes . Anna 's falseness would surely break his heart , and Alma winced at the thought of his pain . There was one thing she could do . Anna 's tormenting suggestion had fallen on fertile soil . Alma balanced pros and cons , admitting the risk . But she would have taken a tenfold larger risk in the hope of holding secure Anna 's place in Gilbert 's affections until Anna herself should come to her senses . When it grew quite dark and Anna had gone lilting down the lane on her way to prayer meeting , Alma lighted her lamp , read Gilbert 's letter -- and answered it . Her handwriting was much like Anna 's . She signed the letter `` A. Williams , '' and there was nothing in it that might not have been written by her to Gilbert ; but she knew that Gilbert would believe Anna had written it , and she intended him so to believe . Alma never did a thing halfway when she did it at all . At first she wrote rather constrainedly but , reflecting that in any case Anna would have written a merely friendly letter , she allowed her thoughts to run freely , and the resulting epistle was an excellent one of its kind . Alma had the gift of expression and more brains than Exeter people had ever imagined she possessed . When Gilbert read that letter a fortnight later he was surprised to find that Anna was so clever . He had always , with a secret regret , thought her much inferior to Alma in this respect , but that delightful letter , witty , wise , fanciful , was the letter of a clever woman . When a year had passed Alma was still writing to Gilbert the letters signed `` A. Williams . '' She had ceased to fear being found out , and she took a strange pleasure in the correspondence for its own sake . At first she had been quakingly afraid of discovery . When she smuggled the letters addressed in Gilbert 's handwriting to Miss Anna Williams out of the letter packet and hid them from Anna 's eyes , she felt as guilty as if she were breaking all the laws of the land at once . To be sure , she knew that she would have to confess to Anna some day , when the latter repented and began to wish she had written to Gilbert , but that was a very different thing from premature disclosure .
But Anna had as yet given no sign XXXXX such repentance , although Alma looked for it anxiously .
at down for like of than that to until with