So let me set the stage.
George is 19 and Mary is 18. Apparently they’ve already passed a few notes back and forth and have been caught on at least one occasion by Mary’s mother, who disapproves. Nevertheless, things are clearly heating up between the two of them.
Feb 9 1897
Dear Mary,
I see you are going to write. Just the same, so am I. But if your Mother gets a holt of another note, she may go hard with us and then what. So don’t let her know it at all.
Well Mary, when you were up here the other night you came in the front door and I did not know you were in the house at all. So when your Mother came, she ask me if you was here yet and I said no. So I told her to go in to the other room and she saw your muff or hat on the bed and she said Mary is here. So I said I didn’t see her come in, she must of come in the front door. Maybe she thought I knowed you were here.