Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-02-26
A TUG ELOPEMENT.

A TUG ELOPEMENT.
It is only after much consideration
and weighing Of the matter that l am
able to force myself to the point Of tell
ing the truth about the marriage and
attempt at elopement which preceded
the ceremony. And the determination
to explain the matter briefly but fully
is made simply in Justice to Patience
and her father, Samuel +. Yelnik, Esq,
president of the Mogul mines and half
a dozen other great financial concerns.
for now / can afford both to pity him
and laugh at him.
Furthermore, the newspapers publish
ed such ridiculous stories at the time
that they really made us all ashamed,
telling, as they did, how I chartered a
steam yacht and snatched Patience from
her fathers arms and carried her away
to sea on the palatial craft on which a
clergyman was awaiting lis, and Of the
demands Mr.. Yelnik made upon the
navy department to send a warship aft
er us, and how he nearly succeeded be-
cause of immense contributions to the
presidential campaign fund.
OF course only the antiadministration
papers printed this last stuff, for it was
pure stuff and nonsense. Nevertheless
the wild stories were sent all over the
country, and I have ever seen cabled
dispatches which were printed about
them in n or two journals Of London
and Paris. And naturally, as you can
understand, all this was very disagree
able.
Well, to begin with, ! did think q
great deal Of Patience-there's no use
in denying facts-and l had been half
in love with her from boyhood. During
the last year I had been with her more
than usual, seeing her at home or on
the links Of the Country club and at
various teas and club fetes.
And by sheer accident, I assure you,
I spent the summer on the shores Of
Lake Champlain, making studies for
two or three rather ambitious paintings,
to be finished when cold weather came,
and Patience was there, too, with her
deep brown eyes and wavy hair and
superb presence. ! know this sounds
like extrayagant description, but it is
accurate, for Patience is one Of the
finest specimens of young womanhood I
have ever seen, thanks to inheritance
and wheeling and tennis and golf and
boating. She was visiting q cousin at
Port kent-a brunette with red lips
and white teeth and the very mischief
dancing in her eyes-and naturally
Miss claim was interested in helping
along a love affair-for where is the girl
who wouldn't be?
don't know how it happened, but
in some way old Moneybags Yelnik
heard of the situation and appeared
suddenly one evening at the residence
Of Miss claims parents. At the time
his train from New York arrived Pa
thence and I were strolling along the
shore Of Champlain in the moonlight,
I'll confess, and when we returned to
the claim home, some time after 10
O'Clock, we found the callous hearted
old fellow ~tramping up and down the
veranda, smoking furiously and strok-
ing his white whiskers in a manner
that BODIED no good for as.
He never spoke to me, never acknowi-
edged my presence by 20 much as a
stare. Fact is, he utterly ignored me,
and I'll admit that hurt my pride. con
found himl He simply took Patience
by the arm and marched her indoors,
and next morning they went to New
York before I had a chance to say fare
we'll. But I was at the station, and as
the train pulled out the dear girl called:
"Goodby, Fred! Don't worry. It's
all right"
And then her father slammed the
window and scowled as il he would
like to bite me in half.
During the ensuing six months !
worked as hard as ! could, but never
did I write to Patience, although ! sent
messages to her in Marion claims let
tiers and heard from her now and then
through the same medium, 80 I wasn't
really cut OF, you see. I came back to
town about the middle Of September,
and 4 week later Miss claim arrived at
the Yelnik home in New Jersey to make
. visit. But Of course old Moneybags
wouldn't allow me to see Patience, and
naturally / had too much sense to call,
but the deprivation was hard in more
ways than one, ~ you will understand