Exeter matrons thought this hardly proper , since Alma , in spite of her grave ways , was only twenty-four . The farm was rented , so that Alma 's only responsibilities were the post office which she kept , and that harum-scarum beauty of an Anna . The Murray homestead adjoined theirs . Gilbert Murray had grown up with Alma ; they had been friends ever since she could remember . Alma loved Gilbert with a love which she herself believed to be purely sisterly , and which nobody else doubted could be , since she had been at pains to make a match -- Exeter matrons ' phrasing -- between Gil and Anna , and was manifestly delighted when Gilbert obligingly fell in love with the latter . There was a small mortgage on the Murray place which Mr. Murray senior had not been able to pay off . Gilbert determined to get rid of it , and his thoughts turned to the west . His father was an active , hale old man , quite capable of managing the farm in Gilbert 's absence . Alexander MacNair had gone to the west two years previously and got work on a new railroad . He wrote to Gilbert to come too , promising him plenty of work and good pay . Gilbert went , but before going he had asked Anna to marry him . It was the first proposal Anna had ever had , and she managed it quite cleverly , from her standpoint . She told Gilbert that he must wait until he came home again before settling that , meanwhile , they would be very good friends -- emphasized with a blush -- and that he might write to her . She kissed him goodbye , and Gilbert , honest fellow , was quite satisfied . When an Exeter girl had allowed so much to be inferred , it was understood to be equivalent to an engagement . Gilbert had never discerned that Anna was not like the other Exeter girls , but was a law unto herself . Alma sat down by her window and looked out over the lane where the slim wild cherry trees were bronzing under the autumn frosts . Her lips were very firmly set . Something must be done . But what ?
Alma 's heart was XXXXX on this marriage for two reasons .
believed blush doubted gone got loved managing rented set thought