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 in the home paper , other correspondents in Exeter would write him of it . Alma grew sick at heart thinking of the complications in front of her . When Gilbert 's letter came she left it for a whole day before she could summon courage to open it . But it was a harmless epistle after all ; he had not yet heard of Anna 's marriage . Alma had at first no thought of answering it , yet her fingers ached to do so . Now that Anna was gone , her loneliness was unbearable . She realized how much Gilbert 's letters had meant to her , even when written to another woman . She could bear her life well enough , she thought , if she only had his letters to look forward to . No more letters came from Gilbert for six weeks .
Then came one , alarmed at Anna 's silence , anxiously asking the reason for it ; Gilbert had heard no word XXXXX the marriage .
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