The morning call., 1893-07-17
AN ELOPEMENT.

The little town of Midgeville was full of
excitement. The women made hasty and
unwarranted calls on one another 10 dis
cuss the subject of the hour; and the men
were more numerous than usual in the
"store." considering the time of day.
Even the minister was much exercised
in his mind; and he had more reason than
most of the others. for Belle Jenkins had
been his righ;-hand woman in church and
Sunday-schoolS.
Not that she was over pious-not nearly
as pious as cid Sister Greenman, or Widow
Peters, but she had been widely and prac-
tically useful, and an oyerworked minister
appreciates that.
And that she should suddenly vary the
monotony of her quiet. busy life by SO
strange and unlocked for a step as this
was uDaccountable.
"Have you heard" asked eager Miss
PendetOn of Mrs. Andrews. have you
heard the news?"
Mrs. Andrews, by blessed chance. had
not. and Miss Pendleton unbnrdened her
self triumphantly. Belle Jenkins has
eloped!
''Well, of all things said Mrs. Andrews,
and then she followed up this exclamation
by the question which was ON eyerybody's
lips. who with?"
That's just what we don't know yet"
Miss Pendleton answered, shaking her
lean little head till her earrings ratified
"IleTes nobody mlSSln' In the village. ST.
she must a joined somebody somewheres
else. She lett home in the middle of the
night, il appears-before day at any rate,
and walked 10 Baruford and took train for
BOstou-that is. we think it's for Boston.
She took the Boston train at any rate,
How we happen to know that much is only
chance.
Old Miss Merit, that's been sick so
long, YOU know, was lookin' out the win
der some time in the night-She thinks
twas near mornin'-and see her 90 by the
gate, walkin' real fast. She says she'd
swear to her step anywhere. There's no
other woman In town can walk so fast and
such long steps like man.
Miss Merritt thought of hollern' to her,
but she'd got clean past before she could
open the window, and she just concluded
theU was somebody sick down in The
Hoker and they'd Sent fsr her. You know
she's splendid nurse.
And then Mr.. Winterbottom come home
esrlNteis morning from Barnford. and he
was waitin' for the up train when the other
one come in, and, just as twas startin' of
there come woman runnin' with q bag
and just scrambled onto the last car
much as her life was worth.
He run forward to help her-or to stop
her, more likely-and be says twas Belle
jenkins!
''She had veil on and she just rushed
inside the car, but he says he'd know her
anywhere. You know sne nursed his wife
last winter. She's the best nurse. for a
young woman, ever saw"
Miss Peudleton paused for breath, and
Mrs. Andrews returned to her original
inquiry:
who can it be she's gone with? John
Martin was payin' attention to her. but it
amt him. She hasn't had beau from
anywhere else, has sheP
Nobody knows, said Miss Pendleton.
''She'S been away from home a good deal
these last Years. and her mother has been
real anxious about her often. She's had
core pOndence, her mother says, with
doctor from Boston hat Mrs Elder in
Barnford had for awhile. and Belle was
nursin' her and met him. And her mother
thinks it's him."
But amt it awful Bellies mother had
the sympathy of the c0g.munitv vet il is
doubtful il she deserved it, She was a
cloSe-fsted, narrnw-minded woman, and
had Kept her daughters with strictness
suitable only to an old-fashioned nursery.
regardless Of her twenty-three years
She lived with her sister, both able
bodied sturdy New England women, in a
little house on the outskirts of the town.
ran farm successfully. rented a larger
house in Barnford, and with all this
abundance lived as penuriousy as il she had
depended on the few dollars Belle earned
by nursing.
For some people insisted on paying her.
she did so much and so well. Belle never
complained, and therefore the busy
t0ngued town knew nothing of how the
mother demanded every cent she earned
and allowed her so little that the ponr
girls shabblness was taken to indicate the
same miserly spirit as actuated her parent.
Nothing of the years of repression and ex-
action, the constant watching aud critical
supervision, the hard. lovelesS life that
made Bellies home, was known in the
town. or the violent quarrel between her
ana her mother that last evening because
she refused 20 show letter at her mothers
harsh demand. If they had known her
ME they might not have found it strange
that so young woman immersed herself
In church work and the care of the sick
row sue had elOped, and no ore ever
Knew with whom. No news of the lost girl
came TO the home Of her childhood for
some years.
Then information was brought, and by
the rrcud Miss Pendleton i've had a
letter from my cousin in Boston" said she
10 the eager sewing circle. And what do
you think! Belle Jenkins never ploped at
all-that Is. not with man. Size lust went
TO the hospital and studied to be a train ed
nurse, and now she gets $50 week and
expenses. And she's been to Europe with
crippled girl and her mother, And she
says when her mother needs her she'll
come and do Tor ber-not befOrer'
Nei, L Deyer!" said the sewing circle
Written for The Morning Call by CHARLOTTE
PERKINS STETsoN.