`` Oh , that is the postmaster 's son , '' said Alan disappointedly . `` That puts us further off the scent than ever . The letter was probably dropped in the box at the office and there will consequently be no way of tracing the writer . '' `` Well , I ca n't tell you anything more , '' said Emily . `` You 'll have to ask Lynde for the truth . '' This Alan was determined to do whenever he should meet her . He did not go to the house with Emily but wandered about the shore , watching for Lynde and not seeing her . At length he went home , a prey to stormy emotions . He realized at last that he loved Lynde Oliver . He wondered how he could have been so long blind to it . He knew that he must have loved her ever since he had first seen her . The discovery amazed but did not shock him . There was no reason why he should not love her -- should not woo and win her for his wife if she cared for him . She was good and sweet and true . Anything of doubt in her antecedents could not touch her . Probably the world would look upon Captain Anthony as a somewhat undesirable father-in-law for a minister , but that aspect of the question did not disturb Alan . As for the trouble of the letter , he felt sure he would easily be able to clear it away . Probably some malicious busybody had become aware of his frequent calls at Four Winds and chose to interfere in his private affairs thus . For the first time it occurred to him that there had been a certain lack of cordiality among his people of late . If it were really so , doubtless this was the reason .
XXXXX any other time this would have been of moment to him .
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