The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-05-01

therefore,, bribed one of her aunt'S maids
to act as a go,between, and the maid IN
at the same time a treachery that, l fear, is
common in her kind, promptly carried Wv
ian's first letter to her mistress.
Miss Martha Marrable, without scrupie
its contents. M W AMY" ran the nu-
dacious communication" Let US settle,
then to go on Wednesday,. At min O'Clock
in the evening q carriage-and.p pair shall be
ready to take us to Harlech, where you can
stay for the night with the Joneses, who
are old friends of ours, and on Thursday
by midday we shall be married, and, l
trust, never afterwards parted again. We
can arrange the details between this and
then. But write and tell me that you agree.
Your ever devoted VIVIAN"
Miss Marrable, who, when she received
this love letter, was sitting in her bedroom,
of going to Amy and charging her with
baseness n ingratitude; but after some
reflection, she decided to let matters, for
the time at least, take their course, and to
confound the schemes of the rash couple
by means of a grand stroke at the final
moment. She went, however, at once to
| Lucy, in whom, as I have said, she had
great confidence, and told her all.
"How foolish Of her," said Lucy.
"Yes, my dearl. how foolish, and how
wicked!" assented Miss Marrable. 81 feel
it my duty to prevent the carrying out of
this mad plan, and also to make Amy
suffer for her folly. I shall therefore send
her this letter; and allow the hair-brained
Lucy dear. do you think that I propose to
do? You will never guess. Listenl Amy
and l are of much the same height. I shall
p~ersonate her by concealing-ahem-my
face, and drive away with this vile young
man; and then, when he believes that he
has left me far behind, I shall overwhelm
him with shame and confusion"
Lucy could not help laughing. aThat
would really be good fun, aunt" she said.
eyes, send the letter to Amy; and by all
means let matters take their course for the
present."
Miss Marrable did send the letter; and
Amy duly received it, unexpectedly; but
five minutes later Lucy revealed the whole
plot to her, and threw her into the deepest
trepidation.
Here, however, Lucy's superior GOODNESS
came in most usefully. "You need not
despair" said the elder cousin. "If aunt
Jellicoe, why not turn the tables, and have
fun with her? You must find some other
way of carrying on your correspondence;
but at the same time answer this letter by
the old medium. Your answer will of
course fall into aunt's hands. You must
mislead her, and then"
"But," objected Amy, show am I to make
matters turn out properly"
Listen" said Lucy. Aunt proposes to
time of your elopement. say, for half an
hour; and meantime Mr.. Jellicoe must find
some one to personate him. Ny idea is for
aunt to elope with the billiard-marker, and
so give you time to get away. Do you
seer"
Amy could not at first grasp the sig
nifcance of this bold propositions; but
when she succeeded in doing so she was
delighted with it.
81 shall tell Mr.. Rhodes,n said Lucy,
when she had sufficiently explained the
plan; "for 1 know that ho will gladly help
you; and Mr.. Jellicoe can talk it over with
him and have the benefit of his advice"
"Butw what will aunt say when she discov-
ers how we-how you-have deceived her"
asked Amy.
"Ah!n said Lucy, silly, 81 must talk
about that, too, with Mr.. Rhodes. But
Miss Marrabls, who was still much furried.
Later in the day Lucy met Robert on the
beach and told him what had happened.
"And now," she said in conclusion, 81 am
going to make a dreadful proposition to
you. We must also elope togethern
81 am sure l don't mind" said Mr..
Rhodes. "After hearing your news 1 was
going to propose as much myself. 1t
aunt's reproaches, when she find out the
trick that has been played upon her."
"You are a dear old Lowell" cried Lucy
with enthusiasm. 81 wouldn't for the
world ave Amy made unhappy; and 1
feel that l must help her, although I don't
approve of Opponents. Now go and talk
to Mr.. Jellicoe; and don't forget to haps
the licenses ready. Perhaps Mr.. Jellicoe
can arrange for both Amy and me to sleep
that night with the Joneses, whoever they
may be; OF perhaps, after all, we had bet
ter not &c there, since aunt knows of that
part of the scheme"
81 daresay," said Robert, shat 1 can
arrange for both of you to sleep at the
house, and, %curiously enough, my sister
Dora, whom you lave often met in town,
is staying there with them; so you will
have a companion and sympathiser. And
now 1 will go and talk to Jellicoe."
need not follow in detail the progress
of the new scheme of double elopement.
Suffice it to say that the bogus correspond
ence destined to mislead Miss Marrable
was steadily kept up that Amy and Vivian
found other means of safely communica-
ting with one another; that the Browns
were written to; that the licenses were
obtained; hat three carriages-and-pairs
were engaged, one to call at the hotel at
nine O'Clock p. M, and two at half-past;
that the billiard-marker at the Cors-y-
Gedol, a spruce young fellow of some edu-
cation, was bribed, at considerable cost, to
personate Vivian Jellicoe n to run away
with Miss Marrable.
At length, Wednesday morning arrived;
and with it came the last of the billet-doux
that were to fall into the cunning spin
ster's hands,. One of them had been com.
posed by Vivian and Robert, and written
by the former on pink paper, folded billet.
doux-wfse. 1t ran as follows:
MY OWN AMY have satisfactorily ar
ranged everything. The carriage will be
at the door of the hotel at nine O'Clock. /
shall not show myself, for your aunt may
be about. Be careful, therefore, to avoid
her; and enter the carriage as quickly as
possible. In order that there may be no
mistake 1 have told the driver to wear q
white choker around his neck. 1 hope that
you will be punctual. Everything depends
upon punctuality. Till nine o'clock, good
bye.-Your most devoted VIVIAN.
Miss Marrable, after reading this note,
refolded it as usual, and took care
that it reached Amy. Then, with the
consciousness that she was about to per-
kpetrate a great and good action, she sat
down in her own room, and waited for
Amy's reply to be brought to to her by the
treacherous maid. The note, which was
very brief, came to Miss Marrable in less
than half an hour. "DEAR Wv" wrote
for The white choker.-Your loving A."
In spite of the ordeal which was before
her, the good old spinster was perfectly
calm and unf1urried. At one o'clock she
made a very hearty luncheon; at half-past
two she took her nieces for a walk, and
talked to them with extraordinary affabili-
ty about the emancipation of women; and
at half-past six she appeared at the table
d'hote, and, just as if the occasion were an
ordinary one, complained of the soup be-
ing too peppery, the fish too cold, and the
mutton too underdone. Her GOODNESS was
admirable. Lucy and Amy, on the other
hand, could scarcely conceal their excite
ment and agitation. They each looked at
least a hundred times during dinner at the
[ clock upon the mantel-piece: AMI they
each started and turned red whenever the
noise of carriage-wheels without was
heard. After dinner, Miss Marrable went
again to her room and began to make her
l preparations.
"How sad it will be-" she thought to her.
self, "for poor young Jellicoe when 1 dis.
, cover myself and overwhelm him with re.
proaches. Men are but poor creatures
Perhaps he will faint. Yes; l will take
3 my salts-bottle." She wrapped herself in
/, an ulster belonging to Amy, and having
3 shrouded her face in a thick veil, took 9
seat at her window, which happened to be
Immediately above the front door of the