The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-04-28
HER ELOPEMENT.

room and turn up the carpet, with ex-
clama5ion of s'Here are two, One for you
and one for me, - holding up two letters.
Another girl, with little ecstatic shrek,
caught up her prize and tore it open.
Another young lady thus addressed Miss
White:
"Biddy, the cham bermaid, is our post
man. She'll get all your love letters for
you and bring them up on the sly.
q haven't any love letters. I have no
lover, said Helen, blushing.
Your ma is strict, suppose, - said the
other. ''Well, you'n have plenty before
you We been here six months. -
Helen listened to the epistles, which her
companions did not hesitate to read aloud
She even helped one of the girls to an
swer hers, and she retired by the light of
the long wax candle to read herself to sleep
over piece of literature by some French
author.
So dawned new life upon Helen White
"a life her mother little dreamed Of
She also firted. She also received love
letters from strangers. She also sub
scribed to the library and read bad French
books by the score.
To one of her admirers, who signed
himself Carlos - she wrote as a girl
ought scarcely write to a betrothed lover.
Mrs. White was delighted with Helen's
progress.
Guide to Young Ladies' as a prize for
fine department, and nobody had any sus-
picion that her head was full of nonsense
and her pockets full of love letters from
an utter stran ger, to whom she had told all
the particulars of her life and the full ex-
tent of her fortune, and to whom she had
given vows of eternal constancy, not ex-
actly in black and white, for black ink
was voted vulgar at Miss Minerva's 3, but
in purple
At last the climax arrived.
Carlos offered his hand and heart, and
begged her to elope with him.
She read the letter aloud to Emma, Rose,
Grace and Maria, and all in a f1utter beg
ged their advice the matter.
''He says he's a prince said Helen,
with a glow on her cheeks, ''and, you
know, of course, III be a princess if I
marry him, and, Of course, we shall invite
you to our castle. Last night I met him
Il coaxed Biddy to watch and let me in
and he was all wrapped up in a cloak
But he was splendid. He has a foreign
accent and black mustache."
ooh, . cried Maria, 81 love a foreign
accentI'
"And I've promised to run away with
him tonight - said Helen. He says ma
will be sure to forgive US, and he's awful
" rich. And, oh, how I feel, girlsl''
And while Mrs. White, sitting with a
dear friend who also had grown daughters,
but who kept them at home, congratulate
ed herself on dear Helen being safe at
school, this affectionate daughter was
packing up her small bundle in prepara-
ton for fight, aided and abetted by the
four young ladies to whose example she
owed SO much.
Out into the moonlight hurried the
young girl.
The white beams showed her pretty,
foolish face pallid as that of a ghost.
She had never set foot in the street alone
at such an hour before. A terror seized
her-a sense of her own wickedness.
Perhaps she would have turned back,
but that a figure in a cloak came at the
moment from the shadow of a porch and
seized her by the arm.
'Ah, my own HelenI % said a voice.
1t was Carlos-Prince Carlos-her own
prince.
Away they drove, how far Helen did not
know. Suddenly the arm that encircled
her was withdrawn and a voice said:
Look here, young wOnanl No noisel
I'll choke you if you try to scream. You
have your watch and jewelry with you, I
hope, and the money you promised to coax
from your mother. Hand them over
"Oh, it is not my Carlosl" cried Helen.
''Oh, what shall do?''
cit is Carlos-at least it is the man
you've been corresponding with, said the
voice under the hat. but I'm no prince
and no husband for you. Hand over the
money and the jewelry and III not hurt
you. I haven't much fancy for an idiot
who would run off with a man she didn't
know. Hurry I'm waitingI''
She gave her purse, her watch and all
her small possessions to the robber, who,
with a loud laugh, gathered them up and
jumped out of the carriage, calling to the
driver:
''Take that girl back to the school,
John, will your
Miss Helen White stood on the doorstep
of Miss Minerals seminary again, but
not alone. With her stood the driver in a
furious rage. He swore he would be paid,
and rang the bell and battered the door
until not only the servants, but Miss Mi
nerva and four and twenty scholars Rp-
peared in the hall and on the stairway in
all sorts of impronptu drapery, and, hav-
ing decided that it was neither fire nor
murder, opened the door to behold Miss
White and her angry companion.
Miss Minerva, recognizing her scholar,
darted forward, rescued her, slammed the
door in the man S face, ordered the serv-
ants to guard it, and asked for explana-
tions.
The explanation ended in a swoon on
the part of Miss Minerva and Mysteries on
that of Helen White.
The next morning Charles stood before
his sister with peculiar expression on his
face. In her lap she held a packet Of let
tiers which she had perused.
my dear sister, said Charles, "all is
as have stated, and it is as well that, on
the part of a gentleman, it was all piece
of acting, Helen was in earnest, and has
no idea that her letters were from her IN
Gle. That he, in q mustache and cloak,
eloped with her, and wound up the affair
by robbing her, OF that the driver was his
old friend Winter, who has daughters of
his own, and who promised to wind up
the affair in the most dreadful manner
possible. You must, however, promise me
to send for Helen tomorrow, and to keep
the truth of this affair secret, so that it
may be a lifelong lesson to her"
And it was not until Helen was married