This is final , Alma , and you need not scold or coax , because it would be a waste of breath . Gilbert is safely out of the way , and now I am going to have a good time with a few other delightful men creatures in Exeter . '' Anna nodded decisively , flashed a smile at Alma , picked up her cat , and went out . At the door she turned and looked back , with the big black cat snuggled under her chin . `` If you think Gilbert will feel very badly over his letter not being answered , you might answer it yourself , Alma , '' she said teasingly . `` There it is '' -- she took the letter from the pocket of her ruffled apron and threw it on a chair . `` You may read it if you want to ; it is n't really a love letter . I told Gilbert he was n't to write silly letters . Come , pussy , I 'm going to get ready for prayer meeting . We 've got a nice , new , young , good-looking minister in Exeter , pussy , and that makes prayer meeting very interesting . '' Anna shut the door , her departing laugh rippling mockingly through the dusk . Alma picked up Gilbert Murray 's letter and went to her room . She wanted to cry , since she could not shake Anna . Even if she could have shook her , it would only have made her more perverse . Anna was in earnest ; Alma knew that , even while she hoped and believed that it was but the earnestness of a freak that would pass in time . Anna had had one like it a year ago , when she had cast Gilbert off for three months , driving him distracted by flirting with Charlie Moore . Then she had suddenly repented and taken him back . 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 XXXXX do anything was a very sure and effective way of preventing her from doing it .
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