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 of such repentance , although Alma looked for it anxiously . Anna was having the time of her life . She was the acknowledged beauty of five settlements , and she went forward on her career of conquest quite undisturbed by the jealousies and heart-burnings she provoked on every side . One moonlight night she went for a sleigh-drive with Charlie Moore of East Exeter -- and returned to tell Alma that they were married ! `` I knew you would make a fuss , Alma , because you do n't like Charlie , so we just took matters into our own hands . It was so much more romantic , too . I 'd always said I 'd never be married in any of your dull , commonplace ways . You might as well forgive me and be nice right off , Alma , because you 'd have to do it anyway , in time . Well , you do look surprised ! '' * * * * * Alma accepted the situation with an apathy that amazed Anna . The truth was that Alma was stunned by a thought that had come to her even while Anna was speaking . `` Gilbert will find out about the letters now , and despise me . '' Nothing else , not even the fact that Anna had married shiftless Charlie Moore , seemed worth while considering beside this . The fear and shame of it haunted her like a nightmare ; she shrank every morning from the thought of all the mail that was coming that day , fearing that there would be an angry , puzzled letter from Gilbert .
He must certainly soon hear of Anna 's marriage ; he would see it XXXXX the home paper , other correspondents in Exeter would write him of it .
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