Dear Marie,

This will be a continuation of last night’s letter, as I did not have
time to write all I wanted to.

I wonder what you must think after reading yesterday’s letter. Anyway I
hope I can make you understand why I loved you more after you let me hug
you in spite of what I wrote last night. In my dealings with others I
have always tried to be square and do the right thing. Wherever I have
gone I have always been trusted, whether it was at school, in my work
and especially here. Read the letter which I am sending to Mother by
this mail and you will see that Mr. Rawson, who was my H.S. mathematics
teacher, refers to me as one of “good character.”

I am accustomed to take it for granted that my friends considered me
“one of ‘good character’,” and when I met you I tried to make you regard
me in that way too.

Although we went together a number of times before that day, you will
remember that I never made the slightest attempt to even put my arm
around you or anything else. When the day did come that I was sure you
trusted me, and cared a little for me, and would not misunderstand, I
asked you to come to me. When you said “no” it did hurt but I respected
you more because I felt you weren’t quite sure.

When you finally did yield, you didn’t lose a whit in my respect for
you, for then I thought that you were at last sure that I was worthy of
a good girl. And Marie you were right, then, weren’t you? I don’t
believe your character suffered any from contact with me, did it? If I
had thought, when you let me hug you, that you did so without knowing or
caring what kind of a boy I was, you never would have made me love and
respect you the way I do.

It’s awfully hard to write in this way but I hope I have made you
understand my viewpoint. I would have loved you very much even if you
had refused but not as much as I do now. Now, little girlie do you feel
satisfied? I know I could make you see if I could only talk to you, and
if you could only see the love for you in my eyes instead of the scratch
of this pen.

Sincerely,

Forrest.