The daily Alaskan., 1913-01-02

can be of any assistance Co an elope' ment'-
 "Afy goodness gracibusr
 She pulled herself together and seem ed to be thinking. Presently she said
 '1 wish you were not entirely uu- known to me and the parties con cerned."
 "If [ am to help yoil it may be better 1 that I should be unknown to the oth- CTS"
 That's a good idea. Our trouble will be that any one of our friends acting in the matter would be suspected at once"
 Suppose you begin by stating the case Co me"
 She thought for a moment then gave me the required statement
 Her friend Maud Dempster was in love with the young man bearing my name. Her mother had arranged match for her to sIit herself rather than the daughter Maud had very foolishly threatened to elope. and this had caused her mother to keep her vir- tually prisoner Now that she really intended getting away she regretted having put her mother on her guard.
 Docs her mother know that she de sires to marry this Mir. CourtneyT
 Certainly"
 'Then it will be difficult for him to act directly in the mutter He will need an assistant"
 Now. I took no interest whatever in Arthur Courtney or Miss Demp- ster. but was delighted with the third party to the affair. who was for the moment my companion.
 Do please lay a plan" she said. "l have no inventive power whatever
 "I.et me sec. How would it do for me to secure an introduction to Miss Dempstcr and show her some atten- ton. thus throwing her mother off her guard?"
 Better take care. Maud is very fascinating"
 I smiled. This wns just like a girl, but there was the least bit of give away to It, which pleased me.
 "I assure you" l said, "I am, or have been, fancy fire"
 "What do you mean by have beenT"
 "I would rather not explain"
 How easy it Is to say one thing and look another. She understood perfect Iy that the change which had come over me dated from the moment l en- tered her box. Nevertheless she imi- tated me by saying what she did not mean:
 Pardon me. do not desire to tres pass upon your private affairs"
 'What do you think Of my plansf'
 ''The very thing
 There was a flourish of trumpets and a rattle of drums on the part of the orchestra, and we listened to an net of the opera before resumlng the matter on which we were supposed to be mutually interested, It was not tiu the end of the performance that we were enabled Co resume the dis cussion of our conspiracy, and then there was no opportunity, since the opera having been finished the house was closed lor every other purpose.
 CT may see you homer i asked.
 "Nfy maid is waiting"
 "But you will grant me the favorT'
 ooh. ccrtainlyr'
 Well. I called the next evening, and while we gave some time to laying a plan by which the elopement might be effected we reached no definite conclu- sion. went away with a desire to plan my own elopement with Gwen. When I parted with her she said she would see Maud the next day, have a conference with her and notify me Of the result Two duys later [ received a note asking me Co call I did SO and learned that both Maud and the real Courtney were much pleased with the plan of using me to get the young lady out of her mothers clutches, but noth- ing decisive was reached. One would suppose that this being the case there was no use sending for me Since there was nothing to do in the matter, we devoted ourselves to our own af- fairs rather than those of Maud and Arthur.
 I made a number of visits for the purpose of laying a plan by which two lovers might be made happy, but some how or other the plan didn't get per fected. or. rather, we found we couldn't bring the elopers to anything definite. At one time Arthur would be ready and Maud would shrink trom seton. Then Maud would nerve herself to flight. and Arthur would find that something stood In his way month passed during which Gwen and I held more than a dozen consultations upon the matter fin question. neither admit ting to the other that we were more interested in each other than in Maud and Arthur.
 A second month of consultation fol lowed the first. during which there was less said about our friends af- fairs and more about our own. occa- sionally l would ask Gwen If there was any news concerning the proposed | .l,.,...,.,,4 .-a sbo yvo,,id rcrIv that