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-EX FONTAINE and Ceclle Reneau were
married at Valenciennes In France after one
of the strangest, wildest courtships in the
records of Kurope.
They met at ::in In the evening In Brus
sels nhe never having seen him before and
nt n::i on the same evening they were mar
ried at Valenciennes, sixty-five miles away
A
MSB
the courtship, the proposal, and the acceptance having
taken place In an automobile running at the rate of over
forty miles an hour. After a short honeymoon trip In
tle auto, a fleeting visit to Paris, the young couple re
turned to their home "n Brussels and were forgiven.
The elopement saved Ceclle Renenu from marrying
I'-ml Ricard, a French ndventurer from Paris with whom
f;ie liml arranged to inn away, when For talne and his au
tomobile Intervened.
The glil, only five months out of a convent, met Rlcsrd
at the cathedral of Hte. Oudulo and St. Mlchele early In
Man-h. The man, a Parisian of good family, disgraced nt
home for outrageous behavior, had fled to Brussels
where, with a little money and his big touring car, he had
entered upon a career of recklessness and licentiousness.
The opportunity to address Ceclle Reneau offered Itself
after early mass onp morning In March, -When a shower
came up Just as the congregation was dispersing and the
unsophisticated and beautiful girl fled back Into the arch
under the unfinished tower of the great cathedral for shel
ter. Ricard saw her, and, approaching, otTered to tage
her to her home In his covered car. The man's easy
style and his handsome face made a deep Impression upon
the beuutlful girl, and when he deposited her at the door
of her home In the Rue de la J"orch her heart was in a
flutter that the handsome man should have paid such at
tention to her a slmplo young girl with no knowledge of
the world. Several times during the next week she saw the
handsome adventurer flashing past In his big touring car,
nd each time she watched with Increased Interest, but
neither time did he atop or attempt to address her.
Two weeks later, when she was leaving the Galerle St
Hube rt one morning, he approached her. smiling, with hat
In hand, and spoke courteously t her, asking her permis
sion to seek sn Introduction. His seeming modesty and his
fine manners made a deep Impression upon ber, and she
granted the permission.
Two evenings later, accompanied by one of the reckless
young men of the city, he called upon her and waa pre
sented. The girl, flattered and excited over the attentions
of the handsome Frenchman, was raised into ecstasy, from
which she was cast down when her brother, Emtl. raved
nd forbade her ever to see Ricard again, telling her be
as a disreputable and a person unfit to be seen in her
society.
The opposition of the brother served only as a breese
to (an the embers Inta flame, and, evening after evening.
gap nam mje -'.r ?sr
i
1 "" Jwiw Mk!ir' 'rfr ' - ' iroRKl'. and the speed of the flying car diminished.
jr V '"35 iRLyrs ' ' "O." screamed the girl, "you are not Paul!"
jcSX xVjP " 'so' " np " ' nm no'- ' have stolen you to save
- SIS!NsS VV Jt sS 'rom him. lie Is a blackguard."
jT.- : ' j S?$2 N. "How dxre you?" she sobbed, breaking down. "How
C, :' """y? ' dare you! We were to have Wen married this night."
ftrfmc- v V V V r0LlT!L " Vr"" "''''I dryly. " 1 heard him tell It to a crowd
-a.Mpv - Jt-"! " of ruffians In n public place."
-2i x st' V J, The girl shnd.b-rcd. sobbed, and shrunk from him.
t y- ' Wins Her Consent to Wedding.
T v ' X t ' S&!sZ"' js"". " Msten," said tlie limn. " 1 would take you home nw
T Un!' J& 'l1 JJJJ0r but ,h Kroun'r'1 would t;ilk of you and try to ruin your
'"W-uJS" mmmtr I K ' ' irrr'" reputation. He already has told that he Intended to trie)-
IX
.
the girl slipped out of the house to meet the man and ride
with him In his automobile. After a foitnight the horri
fied members of her family learned of these clandestine
meetings, und the storm broke about ilie beautiful head of
the fair girl. She wept and defied them all, declaring
Ricard the soul of hooor. and avowing her intention of re
maining true to him through any or all things. The brother
and her father and mother stormed, and Implored, and
threatened, but the rfirl remained firm. She declared she
would wed the handsome Frenchman despite them all.
Worried by Frenchman's Influence.
About that time It was thai. Alex. Fontaine, one of the
richest and bet known bachelors of Brussels, saw from a
distance the f;ir gill and lost his heart, to her. He Is a
man 38 years of age. i.nd she was but 18 at her last birth
day anniversary. Fontaine, waiting the opportunity to meet
her, saw with anger and sorrow her friendship for Ricard
and the growing Influence of the fascinating Frenchman
over the Innocent girl. Without speaking a word to any
one. he sought the opportunity to force a duel upon the
Frenchman an opportunity that never came.
On May 14 Fontaine was In the garage on the Place de
la Brouckore, attending to some repalrr to his big csr,
when his attention suddenly was arrested by a conversa
tion In the next stall. He heard distinctly the voice of
Ricard talking to a professional chauffeur, gloatingly an
nouncing that his machine must be In perfect condition, as
he Intended to elope that night with one of the most beau
tiful girls in all Belgium, and the daughter of one of the
wealthiest families In Brussels.
" 1 will take her to Paris a few weeks." said the French
man. " Then If the family does not pay me ' hand
somely "
Fontaine, under his car, felt the cold blooded shrug he
could not see.
" She will not be my wife," continued the Frenchman.
" My family would not recognize the daughter of a trades
man. She thinks we are to be married, but I have It ar
ranged witti a magistrate at Valenciennes. He will tell
her the bans were published two weeks ago. I shall not
tell her It is necessary to have the written consent of her
parents. She will have no legal claim upon me and the
family will pay "
Fontaine struggled to resist the temptation to spring
out and throttle the Frenchman. Then he determined
that he must save the girl at all costs, und a bold plan to
outwit the Frenchman flashed Into his mind.
Before the sound of Ricard's steps had ceased to echo
Fontaine had leaped Into his car and was rushing toward
the house of Ceclle Reneau.
With scant ceremony he demanded to see Henri Ren
eau. the father.
"I have come for our written consent to marry your
daughter," he said.
"What?" demand -d the angry father. "You do
Vnow her. That Is an Insult!"
" Listen!" said Fontaine, sternly, pushing the father
back Into his chair. " If I do not marry her that black
guard Ricard will. She already has left the house to flee
with him. He Intends to go through a mock ceremony with
her. I must get her away from him, or beat him to Valen
ciennes and stop the wedding. He already has spread the
story that he Is going to elope with her through the city.
It Is by this time known In the cafes and clubs.
" I must marry her myself and put him to ridicule
and afterwards I will bring her back to you, and we can
be married according to the rites of the church."
For a few minutes more they talked, Fontaine insisting
that, to save the girl from the scoundrel, and to drive
Ricard from the town by ridicule, he must win the girl,
whom he never had seen.
The father finally, torn by excitement and anger, wrote
the consent, and Fontaine, leaping into his auto, rode away.
Smashes Would-Be Eloper's Car.
Through streets .ind boulevards Fontaine Hashed in
his big car. and, finally, at fl o'clock In the evening, he saw
Ricard coining slowly down the Rue Foohe-aux-Ioups. He
pulled one lever, braced himself In the tar, ail the huge
machine leaped forward at terrific speed. Ricard shouted
a warning, but, like a battering ram, the heavier car of
Fontaine crashed Into his auto and smashed It Into a mass
of wreckage.
" A thousand pardons," said Fontaine, calmly, as he
lighted a clgaret.
"Curse you!" yelled Ricard. "Curse you! You have
ruined my car and I must be In Valenciennes at 0 o'clock."
The name of the town stirred Fontaine to action.
" Perhaps I could let you have my car," he suggested.
" Liet me have It, and I will pay you well. I have not
a minute to lose. I must meet a lady at the Martyr's mon
,Ument In fifteen minutes."
Without warning Fontaine's car suddenly sprang for
ward, whirled and slid along the wooden pavement, and
turned away at high tpeed, leaving the astonished Ricard
standing amazed at the wreck.
Fontaine had learned everything he wished to know
the place of rendezvous. Darkness was beginning to fall,
and Fontaine, pulling his leathern cap over his forehead
and slipping on his goggles, sped his car at thunderous
pace down the Rue Neuve. As he approached the monu
ment he' slowed and tolled up to the sidewalk. A lithe,
slender girl sprang out from the doorway, In which she
had stood concealed, and ran the machine, jumping In.
"O, Paul," she said, "I was so afraid. You were so
late."
"I had an accident," he said grimly, as he shoved for
ward the levers and started the car. "Sit by me In the
front seat. We are going rapidly." r
Exposes the Villain's Plot.
The car shot out of the city past the Bchaerheck sta
tion, then turned sharply down grade to the south along
the Waterloo road the same road over which the British
officers rushed when the boom of cannon Interrupted the
ball on the night before Waterloo. With a lurch and a
swing that sent the fair girl swaying against the stern
man, crouching over the levers, the car swung down the
embankment and Into the road down the valley of the
B'-nne. The moon had come up and cast Its mellow light
over the plain where Napoleon lost the world. The car
swayed and lurched perilously. The fair hair of the beau
tiful girl blew across the face of the man and he trembled.
" O, Paul," she said as she clung close to him, " you
are so strange tonight. I am afraid."
The car was rushing wildly across the valley where
Wellington's squares steod when the White Horse brigade
broke Itself agatnxt them. The. village of Waterloo was
rushing forward to meet them.
" Paul," she said. " O. Paul I am scared."
The man boht lower over the levers. They had come
twelve miles In less thin thirty minutes, and the car, gain
ing speed with every mile, rushed on across the blood
washed field towards France and the south.
Suddenly the man threw back his cap, jerked off the
you Into a false inn n-!-ic Illegal without the consent of
your father. It must be that I marry you: making him
the laughing stock if ho dares talk which he will not when
you are my w ife."
" But he will follow us and prevent the wedding," said
the sobbing girl. " Besides, I do not know you."
" He will follow at his risk." said the man JTumly.
But bo has bribed the magistrate to perform a false mar
riage. You and I must go through that marriage ceremony
tonight then neither of them will dare talk for fear of
exposure of their criminal plot and we can return to
Brussels and be married."
The car was rolling rapidly through the beautiful valley
below Waterloo. The girl sobbed hysterically while the
man tried to comfort her. He told her everything, of hlm
s If. his love and of Ricard. Wrien he finished she
1 ioked up.
" But would you marry a girl who has been so foolish
whose reputation may be forever ruined by tonight?"
" 1 would." ho said as !Te pressed a lever and sent the
car leaping forward. 1
Behind them, evidently a mile away, they heard the
whir and pounding of another auto.
"He Is coming." said Fontaine grimly. "We must
beat him to Valenciennes. If he reaches there first he
will make his bribed magistrate refuse to perform the cere
mony and then circulate the story that we were together
and ruin your reputation."
" He must not bo there first," said the glrL " Beat him
there and I will love you."
" We will win," said the man.
Big Machines in Wild Race.
Before the girl could speak again Fontaine had
thrown the levers forward and the car waa leaping forward
at terrific speed! Lk'88 than a mile behind them the girl,
looking back, could see Ricard's car rushing down towards
them.
Then commenced the race for the frontier and for a
rlde,
Through Nlvelles, nine miles from Waterloo, the big
automoblk shot, waking the sleeping villagers, and before
they could rush to their doors to see what was passing
Ricard's borrowed car rushed like the wind through the
village streets.
Down the valley ag.tin and by the narrow, winding road
through the meadows the two cars plunged. The big au
tomobile leaped and lurched like a thing alive. The girl,
crouched low on the seat, clung on and shut her eyes as
the flying car rushed around corners on two wheels, and,
when It straightened out and shot like a meteor down the
straight stretches she clutched Fontaine by the arm and
screamed into hs ear: " For my honor do not let him
catch us."
" He shall not," said the grim man bent low over the
bars. Lights were flashing ahead. Already the sound of the
pounding car behind was lost. Like a meteor the huge
green car shot through Mons the twenty-three miles of
crooked road from Nlvelles to Mons hau been covered In
thirty-eight minutes.
i Crossing the bridge to the southeast of Mons the
couple narrowly escaped a collision with an overturned
market wagon and, three minutes later, Ricard's car
smashed Into the same obstacle. He lost five minutes be
fore he could start again, and then his steering wheel and
levers were bent. Already the fleeing ones bad gained
four miles.
Wins the Race and a Bride.
The lights of Iour, off to tlie left, went backwards like
blurs, and the great car, singing a rhythmic melody,
rushed along the level road overlooking the beautiful val
ley of the Kscout. The sound of pursuit was entirely lost,
but the girl, in an agony of fear, urged greater speed,
screaming " Faster, faster," when they were whirling over
unknown roads at almost a mile a minute.
There were lights ahead and then Ceclle, looking back,
saw the pursuing car two miles behind. Like a bullet the
leading car hummed by the sentry post at the frontier and
gaining greater impetus for the final dash leapt forward
toward the goal.
Tho sentries, aroused by the first passing, stopped the
second cur and Ricard lost Ave more minutes fatal min
utes. Kven while he was protesting with the sentries Fon
taine's car rolled, with lessening speed. Into Valenciennes.
FiVe minutes later Alex Fontaine and Ceclle Reneau the
pcrmi.ssion of the fath'T was read and the magistrate per
formed the ceremony were married." i
As they stepped from the house of the magistrate to
return to Brussels another automobile started to slow up
In front of the house, the occupant saw the couple de
scending the steps, an t, whirling his car, he turned away
south towards Paris. Two days later Alex and Cecils
Wi rt' married in church st TtruSMelm. '
