AN ELOPEMENT
A little more than an hour after Mrs. Archibald had made known her project
to her husband the three inhabitants of the cabin stole softly out into
the delicate light of the early dawn.
Mr. Archibald had thought of leaving a note for Matlack, but his wife had
dissuaded him. She was afraid that the wrong person might get hold of it.
"When we are safely at Sadler's," she said, "we can send for our bags,
with a note to Matlack. It will not matter then who knows." She had a firm
belief in the power of the burly keeper of the inn to prevent trouble on
his premises.
With careful but rapid steps the little party passed along the open
portion of the camp, keeping as far as possible from the tent wherein
reposed Corona and Mrs. Perkenpine, and soon reached the entrance of the
wood road. Here it was not quite so light as in the open, but still they
could make their way without much trouble, and after a few minutes'
walking they felt perfectly safe from observation, and slackening their
pace, they sauntered along at their ease.
The experience was a novel one to all of them; even Mr. Archibald had
never been in the woods so early in the morning. In fact, under these
great trees it could scarcely be said to be morning. The young light which
made its uncertain way through the foliage was barely strong enough to
cast a shadow, and although these woodland wanderers knew that it was a
roadway in which they were walking, that great trees stood on each side of
them, with branches reaching out over their heads, and that there were
bushes and vines and here and there a moss-covered rock or a fallen tree,
they saw these things not clearly and distinctly, but as through a veil.
But there was nothing uncertain about the air they breathed; full of the
moist aroma of the woods, it was altogether different from the noonday
odors of the forest.
Stronger and stronger grew the morning light, and more and more clearly
perceptible became the greens, the browns, and the grays about them. Now
the birds began to chatter and chirp, and squirrels ran along the branches
of the trees, while a young rabbit bounced out from some bushes and went
bounding along the road. This early morning life was something they had
not seen in their camp, for it was all over before they began their day.
There was a spring by the roadside, which they had noticed when they had
come that way before, and when they reached it they sat down and ate some
biscuit which Mrs. Archibald had brought with her, and drank cool water
from Mr. Archibald's folding pocket-cup.
The loveliness of the scene, the novelty of the experience, the feeling
that they were getting away from unpleasant circumstances, and in a
perfectly original and independent fashion, gave them all high spirits.
Even Mrs. Archibald, whose sleepless night might have been supposed to
interfere with this morning walk, declared herself as fresh as a lark, and
stated that she knew now why a lark or any other thing that got up early
in the morning should be fresh.
They had not left the spring far behind them when they heard a rustling in
the woods to the right of the road, and the next moment there sprang out
into the open, not fifty feet in front of them, a full-grown red deer.
They were so startled by this apparition that they all stopped as if the
beautiful creature had been a lion in their path. For an instant it turned
its great brown eyes upon them, and then with two bounds it plunged into
the underbrush on the other side of the road. Mrs. Archibald and Margery
had never before seen a deer in the woods.
The young girl clapped her hands. "It all reminds me of my first night at
the opera!" she cried.
Two or three times they rested, and they never walked rapidly, so it was
after five o'clock when the little party emerged into the open country and
approached the inn. Not a soul was visible about the premises, but as they
knew that some one soon would be stirring, they seated themselves in three
arm-chairs on the wide piazza to rest and wait.
Peter Sadler was an early riser, and when the front hall door was open he
appeared thereat, rolling his wheeled chair out upon the piazza with a
bump--though not with very much of a bump, for the house was built to suit
him and his chair. But he did not take his usual morning roll upon the
piazza, for, turning his head, he beheld a gentleman and two ladies fast
asleep in three great wicker chairs.
"Upon my soul!" he exclaimed. "If they ain't the Camp Robbers!" At this
exclamation they all awoke.
Ten minutes after that the tale had been told, and if the right arm of Mr.
Sadler's chair had not been strong and heavy it would have been shivered
into splinters.
"As usual," cried the stalwart Peter, "the wrong people ran away. If I had
seen that bicycle man and his party come running out of the woods, I
should have been much better satisfied, and I should have thought you had
more spirit in you, sir, than I gave you credit for."
"Oh, you mistake my husband altogether!" cried Mrs. Archibald. "The
trouble with him is that he has too much spirit, and that is the reason I
brought him away."
"And there is another thing," exclaimed Margery. "You should not say Mr.
Raybold and his party. He was the only one of them who behaved badly."
"That is true," said Mrs. Archibald. "His sister is somewhat obtrusive,
but she is a lady, gentle and polite, and it would have been very painful
to her and as painful to us had it been necessary forcibly to eject her
brother from our camp. It was to avoid all this that we--"
"Eloped," interjected Mr. Archibald.
[Illustration: "'IF THEY AIN'T THE CAMP ROBBERS!'"]
The good Peter laughed. "Perhaps you are right," said he. "But I shall
have a word with that bicycle fellow when he comes this way. You are an
original party, if there ever was one. First you go on somebody else's
wedding-journey, and then you elope in the middle of the night, and now
the best thing you can do is to go to bed. You can have a good sleep and a
nine-o'clock breakfast, and I do not see why you should leave here for two
or three days."
"Oh, we must go this morning," said Mrs. Archibald, quickly. "We must go.
We really cannot wait until any of those people come here. It makes me
nervous to think about it."
"Very good, then," said Peter. "The coach starts for the train at
eleven."
Mrs. Archibald was a systematic woman, and was in the habit of rising at
half-past seven, and when that hour arrived she awoke as if she had been
asleep all night. Going to the window to see what sort of a day it was,
which was also her custom, she looked out upon the lawn in front of the
house, and her jaw dropped and her eyes opened. There she beheld Margery
and Mr. Clyde strolling along in close converse. For a moment she was
utterly stupefied.
"What can this mean?" she thought. "How could they have missed us so soon?
We are seldom out of our cabin before eight o'clock. I cannot comprehend
it!" And then a thought came to her which made her face grow pale. "Is it
possible," she said to herself, "that any of the others have come? I must
go immediately and find out."
In ten minutes she had dressed and quietly left the room.
When Margery saw Mrs. Archibald descending the piazza, steps, she left Mr.
Clyde and came running to meet her.
"I expect you are surprised to see me here," she said, "but I intended to
tell you and Uncle Archibald as soon as you came down. You see, I did not
at all want to go away and not let Mr. Clyde know what had become of me,
and so, after I had packed my bag, I wrote a little note to him and put it
in a biscuit-box under a stone not far from my window, which we had
arranged for a post-office, just the day before."
"A post-office!" cried Mrs. Archibald.
"Yes," said Margery. "Of course there wasn't any need for one--at least we
did not suppose there would be--but we thought it would be nice; for, you
must know, we are engaged."
"What!" cried Mrs. Archibald. "Engaged? Impossible! What are you talking
about?"
"Yes," said Margery, "we are really engaged, and it was absolutely
necessary. Under ordinary circumstances this would not have happened so
soon, but as things were it could not be delayed. Mr. Clyde thought the
matter over very carefully, and he decided that the only way to keep me
from being annoyed and frightened by Mr. Raybold was for him to have the
right to defend me. If he told Mr. Raybold I was engaged to him, that of
course would put an end to the young man's attentions. We were engaged
only yesterday, so we haven't had any time to tell anybody, but we
intended to do it to-day, beginning with you and Uncle Archibald. Harrison
came over early to the post-office, hoping to find some sort of a note,
and he was wonderfully astonished when he read what was in the one I put
there. I told him not to say anything to anybody, and he didn't, but he
started off for Sadler's immediately, and came almost on a run, he says,
he was so afraid I might go away before he saw me."
"Margery," exclaimed the elder lady, tears coming into her eyes as she
spoke, "I am grieved and shocked beyond expression. What can I say to my
husband? What can I say to your mother? From the bottom of my heart I wish
we had not brought you with us; but how could I dream that all this
trouble would come of it?"
"It is indeed a very great pity," said Margery, "that Mr. Clyde and I
could not have been engaged before we went into camp; then Mr. Raybold
would have had no reason to bother me, and I should have had no trouble
with Martin."
"Martin!" cried Mrs. Archibald. "What of him?"
"Oh, he was in love with me too," replied the young girl, "and we had
talks about it, and I sent him away. He was really a young man far above
his station, and was doing the things he did simply because he wanted to
study nature; but of course I could not consider him at all."
"And that was the reason he left us!" exclaimed Mrs. Archibald. "Upon my
word, it is amazing!"
"Yes," said Margery; "and don't you see, Aunt Harriet, how many reasons
there were why Mr. Clyde and I should settle things definitely and become
engaged? Now there need be no further trouble with anybody."
Distressed as she was, Mrs. Archibald could not refrain from smiling. "No
further trouble!" she said. "I think you would better wait until Mr.
Archibald and your mother have heard this story before you say that."
Mr. Archibald was dressing for breakfast when his wife told him of
Margery's engagement, and the announcement caused him to twirl around so
suddenly that he came very near breaking a looking-glass with his
hair-brush. He made a dash for his coat. "I will see him," he said, and
his eyes sparkled in a way which indicated that they could discover a
malefactor without the aid of spectacles.
"Stop!" said his wife, standing in his way. "Don't go to them when you are
angry. We have just got out of trouble, and don't let us jump into it
again. If they are really and truly engaged--and I am sure they are--we
have no authority to break it off, and the less you say the better. What
we must do is to take her immediately to her mother, and let her settle
the matter as best she can. If she knows her daughter as well as I do, I
am sure she will acquit us of all blame."
Mr. Archibald was very indignant and said a great deal, but his wife was
firm in her counsel to avoid any hard words or bad feeling in a matter
over which they had now no control.
"Well," said he, at last, "I will pass over the whole affair to Mrs.
Dearborn, but I hope I may eat my breakfast without seeing them. Whatever
happens, I need a good meal."
When Mr. Archibald came out of the breakfast-room, his mind considerably
composed by hot rolls and coffee, he met Margery in the hall.
"Dear Uncle Archibald," she exclaimed, "I have been waiting and waiting
for you. I hope you are not angry. Please be as kind to us as you can, and
remember, it was just the same with us as it was with you and Aunt
Harriet. You would not have run away from the camp in the middle of the
night if you could have helped it, and we should not have been engaged so
suddenly if we could have helped it. But we all had to do what we did on
account of the conduct of others, and as it is settled now, I think we
ought all to try to be as happy as we can, and forget our troubles. Here
is Harrison, and he and I both pray from the bottom of our hearts that you
will shake hands with him. I know you always liked him, for you have said
so. And now we are both going to mother to tell her all about it."
"Both?" said Mr. Archibald.
"Yes," said Margery; "we must go together, otherwise mother would know
nothing about him, and I should be talking to no purpose. But we are going
to do everything frankly and openly and go straight to her, and put our
happiness in her hands."
Mr. Archibald looked at her steadfastly. "Such ingenuousness," he said,
presently, "is overpowering. Mr. Clyde, how do you do? Do you think it is
going to be a fine day?"
The young man smiled. "I think it is going to be a fine lifetime," said
he.
The party was gathered together on the piazza, ready to take the coach.
The baggage had arrived from the camp in a cart; but Phil Matlack had not
come with it, as he remained to take down his tent and settle affairs
generally. They were all sorry not to see him again, for he had proved
himself a good man and a good guide; but when grown-up married people
elope before daybreak something must be expected to go wrong. Hearty and
substantial remembrances were left for him, and kind words of farewell for
the bishop, and even for Miss Corona when she should appear.
Peter Sadler was loath to part with his guests. "You are more interesting
now than ever you were," he said, "and I want to hear all about that
hermit business; you've just barely mentioned it."
"My dear sir," said Mr. Archibald, with a solemn visage, "sooner or later
Miss Corona Raybold will present herself at this inn on her way home. If
you want to know anything about her plan to assist human beings to assert
their individualities, it will only be necessary to mention the fact to
her."
"Good-bye, then," said Peter, shaking hands with Mr. and Mrs. Archibald.
"I don't know what out-of-the-way thing you two will do next, but,
whatever it is, I hope it will bring you here."