Her first letter began, "My Coatless Friend," a reference to the loss of
a linen coat or duster, when the last ride at Harrisville was taken. The
second letter began "Friend George," and the third, "My dear Friend."
Gertrude and George never addressed each other twice alike in their
whole correspondence. The weekly letters were always torn open by each in
haste, and both noticed a gradual increase of warmth in these addresses.
The fact that Gertrude was an heiress neither hindered nor helped his
devotion. His heart was attracted by her many charms.
At Smith College Gertrude occupied rooms in the Morris Cottage among the
apple tree blossoms. Much of her spare time was spent in the scientific
library and laboratory of Lilly Hall, or with the professor and his
telescope in the observatory.
On clear nights, aided by the telescope, Gertrude gazed into the
immensity of space, whispering sometimes to her own soul, "How grand this
vast world-making, this frightful velocity of the giant dynamos in their
elliptical pathways through space!"
Often unable to sleep, she continued her thoughts and wondered if space
were not interlaced with electrical currents that move the earth, the
sister planets, and the myriads of suns and their planets.
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