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don't love him. There is so much in persistency. How could your father & brother ever consent? I like Robert, but he isn't your equal or anything like it, and in any case the idea of your having to worry over love affairs, just when you are getting well started with your work, makes me sick[[underlined]]. Do fight it off, & don't imagine yourself in love with Robert! you are both so much too young - 21 seems too young to me for a girl to marry & I have never liked the idea of long engagements, though some turn out successfully. If you get engaged & marry within a short time think what a block it will be to your work. You can't possibly give proper attention to both your work & house-keeping even if you don't at once get a family. You may think that I am meddling in your affairs in a way I have no right to, but you weren't unwilling to discuss the matter last fall & I am so very[[underlined]] much interested that I cannot keep still. Please do you tell me frankly what the situation really is & I will not whisper a syllable of it to anyone[[underlined]].

When Galla told me of Gerry's engagement, I was very much distressed at first. I felt sure, of course, that he was in love with her, but I had had a sort of feeling that it wasn't quite so deep - more of a boy & girl love - and I wasn't expecting an actual engagement. As you know, I didn't like Anna at first & then I grew to like her very much as I knew her better, but I still can't keep feeling that she is not Gerry's equal. I have just been looking at some of the pictures Pairedieu took of the actors, last summer, & Anna certainly has a lovely face! Don't tell Gerry what I have said 

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