The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-11-06
Double
Elopernent::
II Ended Differently From
What Might Have Been
Expected
By F. A. Mitchell

plank. Belated voyagers were elbow
ing their way up the narrow passage /,
against those who were going ashore |
in obedience to the call to do so. Jones |
was watching for Evelyn SmithsOn. |
They were lovers. The girls parents OBJ !
jected to their union on the ground that !,
she was too young to marry. Walter
had been offered position in branch !
of the mercantile house he was with in
Hongkong. He and Evelyn had agreed
to go there together without their par
ents' knowledge or consent, be mar
ried on the steamer and after crossing
the Pacific take up their residence in
the orient.
The last passenger had hurried down
the gangplank and men were lining
up on each side to pull it on to the
dock. Jones made dash to get ashore,
but was stopped by a stewardess, who
said to him:
Are you the gentleman who was to
meet lady on the ship2"
Yes Where is she?'
The woman led the way to a state
room, where he found a girl in high
state of excitement, but she was not
Evelyn Smthson The two stood look
Ing mt each other for moment in a
paralyZed condition
This is not my husband" said the
| girl TO the stcwardess.
Nor my betrothed."
There was brief explanation. There
| were two runaway Matches and only
| half of each couple seemed to have got
| aboard.
Jones ran up the companionway and
found the ship out in open water. To
get ashore would require boat. He
| spent some time trying to get one, but
the officers were so busy that they
| paid no attention to him. This gave
him time to think. After all, wouldn't
1t be as well for him to make virtue
of necessity and go to China? Perhaps
Evelyn had backed out at the last mo-
ment. Perhaps her intended flight had
been discovered. In any event, the
elopement had miscarried, and she
would doubtless be prevented from
seeing him or communicating with him
Better let the matter rest for q year
or two. So he decided upon doing
what he could not very well help doing.
The first thing he did after coming
to this decision was to go down into
the cabin to make inquiries whether
the party of the first part In the other
elopement had found her husband.
She was i'm state of t. rible distress.
He was to have come aboard secretly
as she had done-she had been yelled
and they were to meet the moment
the ship left her mornings. 1t was
now well out In the bay. and he had
not appeared,
Here were two disappointed persons
suffering from a like cause. Naturally
the young bride. having no one else to
! sympathiZe with her, turned to Jones
She poured her story into his ears,
and he listened to it as a fellow suf-
ferer.
Mrs Stanley was twenty years old
She had no fortune, but the man she
had married an hour before the ship
sailed was rich. His parents were
opposed to his marrying poor girl
and had forbidden the match. They
had decided to be married clandestine
ly and make voyage to the Ha
[ waiian Islands. BY the time they re
| turned the groom's parents would like
ly have decided to forgive him. The
brides parents were delighted with
/ the match, and from them no forgive
ness was required Mr. Stanley, ST..
| must have got on his sons track in
| time to prevent his sailing with his
! bride if nor in time to prevent the
| wedding.
! Mrs. StanIeys case was infinitely
harder to bear than ZONES He had
not been married: he was going tC
! China to assume d lucrative position
, and might be reunited in time with the
I girl of his choice. Mrs. Stanley was d
bride separated from her husband i'm
mediately after her marriage, Obliged
: to 90 To an island in the middle OF the
Pacific ocean where She had not d
friend or acquaintance She had very
/ little money win her her husband be
Ing expected to provide the necessary
: funds.
1 There are numerous crossroads In
4 the domain of fate. Sometimes al
these crossings there are collisions
/ sometimes parties expected TO meet
! on one of them fail to connect In any
+ event the changes that occur at such
/ points are at times remarkable The
J case Of these two couples who aimed t.
sail 10y the same steamer was one of the
! most productive of results on record.
Jones and Mrs. Stanley were unex
pectedly bound together, the man on
the eve of union with another wo
man. the woman very shortly after
/ having taken another man as her wed
/ ded husband. If ever there was any
thing to produce sympathetic relations
| between two persons it was this SINH
lar misfortune. Mrs. Stanley was q
very attractive woman. Jones was an
| excellent m3n. well educated. refined
| and possessed the faculty OF leader
ship He was going to China TO carry
out important plans of the firm with
which be was connected He was Just