Morris tribune., 1917-02-23
Double
Elopen1ent:
II Ended Differently From
What Might Have Been
Expected
BY +. A. mitchell

Walter Jones was standing on the
deck of a steamer about to sail for
Hongkong intently watching the gang
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 stewardess. who
said to him:
Are you the gentleman who was to
meet lady on the ship?"
"Yes. Where is sheY
The woman led the way to state
room. where he found girl in high
state of excitement, but she was not
Evelyn Smithson. The two stood look
ing at each other for a moment in
paralyzed condition.
This is not my husband" said the
girl to the stewardess.
Nor nv 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 a 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
it be as well for him to make a virtue
of necessity and go to China? Perhaps
Evelyn had backed out at the last mo-
ment. Perhaps her intended fight 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 a year
or two. So he decided upon doing
what he could not very we'll 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
Sh1 In tn hi IS-%14
He was to have come aboard secretly
as she had dOne-she had been veiied-
and they were to meet the moment
the ship left her mornings. 1t was
now we'll out in the bay. and he had
not appeared.
Here were two disappointed persons
suffering from 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 a poor girl
and had forbidden the match. They
had decided to be married clandestine-
~ and make a 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 OF his sons track In
time to prevent his sailing with his
bride if not in time to prevent the
wedding.
Mrs. Stanley's case was infinitely
harder to bear than Jones'. He had
not been married; he was going to
China to assume a lucrative position
and might be reunited in time with the
girl of his choice. Mrs. Stanley was a
bride separated from her husband i'm
mediately after her marriage, obliged
to go to an island in the middle of the
Pacific ocean where she had not a
friend or acquaintance. She had very
little money with her, her husband be-
ing expected to provide the necessary
funds
There are numerous crossroads in
the domain Of fate. Sometimes at
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
case Of these two couples who aimed to
sail by 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 a
very attractive woman. Jones was an
excellent man, well educated, refined
| and DOSSeSSed the f9cu1tv oF 1oadop.