This was the letter that followed:
Aldershot, N.S.
April 23, 1941
My Darling Sweetheart:
It breaks me in two as you read this letter & when I say that I really mean it. When you are hurt, it hurts me more than anything else in the world. Rather! I would rather die than have even a lock of your hair harmed. My leave was cancelled & therefore any chance of going to Ottawa is definitely off. There is only one thing left to do; You & I will have to be married here. After all the plans that you have made I know it sounds terrible, but you & I have to smile at many things Darling, as in the Army its “Don’t do as I do,” “Do as I say.” Perhaps you will understand more readily now, why I was putting off asking for leave just as long as I could. I’ve had more leave than any other healthy junior Officer in Canada, this year, 1941, & to ask for more leave was really asking too much, even if I did have hopes of getting it. The longer I left it, the more I hoped they might forget my past, but they have a nasty habit of remembering things in the Army.
So it be! Let it lie. New plans we must make, & so we will. Listen! We will be married here on the morning of the 3rd of May, Which, where, when, why or how I haven’t yet figured out, but we’ll make it somehow. If you have any real idea’s let me know immediately. Please leave so as to get here Friday night, 2nd May. I love you so, Darling, lets not delay, no matter how we get married just as long as we’re together. Does anything else really matter?
I am writing Mother immediately also explaining the situation to her & asking her to get Dad to drive Nora, your Mother & Mine over if the roads are at all fit. If this is not possible, I am asking Mother to get in touch with your Mother, & have the both of them come over anyway. Right now, I can’t really think of anything else, but after all I’m still in a complete muddle.
The sun is just pouring in the window & there’s not a cloud in the sky. Can’t we make our life the same? No scraps, no fights, no misunderstandings between us. Just peace & contentment at both being alive & together. I can’t possibly think of anything more heavenly than that.
You are coming to a strange country, to place all your trust & hope in a man, whom is still, practically a stranger to you. Are you not just the least bit scared? Less than two weeks from now, you & I shall stand on the bridge of our own ship, steering a straight course in Love.
A very Worried Lover,
Arnold
P.S. I’m not crazy Sweet. It’s just plain Love.