| | | 10 February |
Seoul, Febry 10 1892
Dear Amy,
Max is engaged to von Brandt! I don't know whether she has told you this herself, but I have kept it secret a long time at his request and tell now because it will become well known before a great while & my chief reasons for not speaking of it have ceased to exist. You will recollect writing to me to ask if anything of this kind was contemplated, & I told you so far as I knew, nothing had taken place. A very few weeks afterwords. However Max in answer to some remark of mine went & got a letter of him to me in which he speaks of his love for her & asks for her hand. She had had it a few days and had been waiting an oppy to speak of it. She was very much ému for her. I told her I only cared for what was for her happiness, & pointed out the difference of age, he 56 and she 23, but she said she had thought of all this and didn't care. She supposed they wd have put out of talk abt. it, but she was very much attached to him, & wanted me to say yes. As that is the only objection I could have -- seriously -- and she was so very determined & had made up her own mind so definitely, of course there was nothing to be said. He is a fine fellow and but for the difference in age I think will make her an excellent husband.
He said he could not come immediately , & suggested that nothing should be said about it till he could to avoid all the talk that wd be inevitable, & as I was equally disposed to take time, I was glad to consent to silence. I thought it would give Max an oppy to think it over more seriously & I was as anxious as he to avoid unnecessary talk. In the troubled state of China it was impossible for him to leave his post, & in winter the river is frozen & one cannot get out. He will probably come down here in Mch or April, & not improbably the marriage will take place then, though nothing has been said about that yet.
Max is as much in love as if her fiancé were 30, & he seems to be the same. Their letters are constant & very voluminous.
You must keep all this strictly to yourself and not let Max know I hve told you. Your answer to this must be in a separate piece of paper & included in another which I can show.
My fingers are so cold, I can hardly hold a pen & I fear you will not be able to read this. Certainly not without difficulty.
Thursday night before last 2o below zero Fahr. & 2 nights before 4o below, & a scarcity of coal. Yours ever with love to Russell & kisses to the bambins.
AH
One reason I did not tell you before was that you might say "I did not know" with a clear consciounce if you were questioned as no doubt you would be . For the same reason that moved you to write to me asking the question.
| | | 10 February |