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I8S VIRGINIA HEPPERT, aged 47 years.
n 1 and Robert B. Baylor, aged 55, eloped In '
ImVjl I Brooklyn by the aid of . the fire department.
Aw ML I clambered aboard a street car, and fled ro
mantically down to Flushing, were married,
and returned home to the flat from which
they fled to partake of a wedding aupper
which Miss Hoppcrt had prepared before her
elopement. .
Baylor, the groom, la a stout, aedate, and settled down
business man, with an established trade on Fulton street,
nnd he la comfortably wealthy. Mls Heppert was ro
m intlc and It waa she who Insisted upon the elopement
and he who solved the problem of eloping with her from
the fifth story window of hor apartment house.
Despite her years Miss Heppert Is as young looking
and as unsciirred by her 47 years of contact with the world
or rather by'looking on at the world as she was thirty
years ago up In Bcltuate, Mass., when she and "Bob"
R:iylor were In the high school together. They were In
love with each other then, desperately In love, and Bob
v is the only boy In all Bcltuate who could carry Vlrgle
Iii'PP'-rt's books for her or take her to a taffy pulling.
And when Bob started out into the great big world
twenty-nine years ago to make his living he gave Vlrgle
i little ring sot with red coral surrounded by a true lovers'
knot, and she gave him a lock of her hair to wear In a
little locket next to his heart all the time, forever and ever.
Promised to Elope with Her.
Bo Bob kisst-d her good-by and marched away, after
they had made a secret arrangement that. Just as soon as
ho made his fortune In New York, he was to come back to
Bcituate and elope with her. This plan was arranged be
cause Mrs. Heppert, Virginia's mother, had expressed her
;lf forcibly about "kids a-wantin' to get married."
So. for two years Vlrgle 'waited, and turned the llttl?
coral ring so the lovers' knot was Inside where no one
could see that she waa engaged, and, back of her geog
raphy In school, she wrote long letters to Bob to encour
age him and Bob wrote back " care general delivery " so
Vlrgle's mother wouldn't suspect anything, and they
plotted the ?lopement. Every time that Vlrgle wrote she
told Bob just where he would find the ladder In the barn
when he came for her, and Bob, lying away In his little,
untidy hall bedroom In a tenementlike boarding house,
looked out on the big. hot, nervous city, reeking with noise
and smells, and well, he confesses that, If Vlrgle did cry
a little bit, he cried just as much.
Bob found employment In a wholesale shoe store down
towards the point In New York and lived In cheap lodgings
over on the east side. He fought bravely, saving his
money and denying himself almost everything and, after
two years he wrote to Vlrgle and asked if $-H5 wasn't
enough to start on. (They had planned to elope when he
trade 4.mM
And Vlrgle wrote that she thought $'JS5 was near
enough, so they planned their elopement for June, 1H87.
Feared to Tell Her of Failure.
Early In that month, vrliiic l.ob was getting ready a
1 'le furnish d room thut wus to be their nest, the shoe
J .'jlx rs fall, d and he was thrown out of employment.
it n he made his mistake. Instead of writing to Vlrgle
t.nd telling her the truth he sought desperately to find a
n w position and to recover his standing in the world so
th it he might not disappoint her and himself. He hunted
f.o;n house to house for days for weeks and not a job
c nilil he find that would enable him to support a wife.
The day before Vlrgle expected him to come to Bcltuate,
pi ice a ladder against her window sill, and carry her down
Iv his strong arms. Bob was practically penniless in New
i -k. flhe waited for him In vain, and at the hour that
s ' ' was sitting beside her packed valise In the darkness
' her pretty little white and pink bedroom at Bcltuate,
trembling with ecstasies of fear and joy, waiting to hear
tlio ladder scrape against the side of the house. Bob was
drugging himself wearily along lower Broadway thinking
of a leap from a pier Into the river.
The following morning Virginia came downstairs red
eyed, but concealing her heart sorrow. Her mother and
her brother Inquired If she was sick, but she said she waa
not, except that she had not slept.
Lost for Years Through False Pride.
After that Bob and Virginia were lost to each other.
He, realising that In his false pride he had ruined his hap
piness and probably hers, never wrote. She sent htm the
little coral set ring with the true lovers' knot, but the
package came back to her marked " Not found "and then
she was sorry, fearing that something had happened to
Bob and that he was not to blame. She fed her heart on
the hope that something had happened not anything
serious but something that would relieve him of the
charge that he had been false to her. Then, for a tlme
she feared he waa dead, and she r.iourned until one day,
over a year afterwards, a Bcltuate man met Bob on the
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streets of New York and reported him well and prospering,
That broke Virginia's heart almost but she was proud
and never gave a sign.
Bob, indeed, was prospering. He had found work with
another shoe company, In Brooklyn this time, and was
advancing too rapidly. He was ashamed of his action and
too full of false pride to write and tell Virginia every
thing. So, year by year, they drifted further and further
apart until, the people of Scltuate almost forgot Bob, al
though Miss Heppert (she had become Miss Heppert, not
Vlrgle) never did.
Bob Baylor prospered. He became a partner in the
firm, then withdrew and started a big shoe store of his
own In Brooklyn and began to grow wealthy, and also
fat. He did not marry. In fact, the girls In his store
who set their caps for him declared he was a hateful old
bachelor. Neither did Miss Heppert marry. Men came
and went, several proposed, but she refused them all.
Bhe became well known for philanthropic . and church
work, and, after the death of her mother, she inherited
considerable property. She had entirely lost track of
" Bob" Baylor for she moved to Worcester and lived
there several years, and two years ago she moved to
Brooklyn, taking apartments on Fifth avenue In Brook
lyn, out in the Oowanus bay district, so as to be near
her brother's business.
'Isn't This Virgie?, It Was.
One afternoon In March Bob Baylor was In his Fulton
street store when two women came In. All the clerks were
busy, sif Baylor went forward himself and spoke to the
women. One of them had a strangely familiar look and
she. In her turn, glanced at Baylor with a half light of
recognition In her eyes.
" Isn't this Vlrgle?" asked Baylor.
" Aren't you Mr. Baylor?" she asked. They claspea
hands, while Miss Heppert's sister-in-law looked on won
derlngly. And they stood chatting casually while Miss
Henoert'a sister-in-law tried on some shoes.
Then, with a sudden rush, a bursting forth of confes-
slon. Bob told her the whole story; how be had starved
and struggled; how he had come pear ending It all In the
river; how he had fought to the last minute and surren
dered and how he had lived during all those years, miser
able because he feared he had caused her unhapptness.
And. when he had finished. Miss Heppert, with tears in her
eyes, looked at him and said:
" Poor boy. You should have told me."
The outcome of It was that Bob began to go to the
fiat out In the Oowanus dlstnlct and. after the second call
he proposed again and urged that they should forget the
past and try to make It up In the happiness of the present.
Insists Upon the Elopement
" I'd like to, Bob," she said. But you promised to
come and elope with me."
" A fellow can't elope with a woman who Uvea alone
and can do as she pleases," protested Bob.
" I simply can't give up eloping," she said. " I'll never
marry any man who doesn't come and carry me down a
ladder and run away with me."
" That's foolishness, Vlrgle." he protested. " I can't
carry you down a ladder from the fifth floor of a flat build
ing. Besides, we can elope Just as well doi the stairs.
I.et's do It tomorrow, elope down to FUtbush and get
married.".
Se MSk
" I wouldn't feel married unless I came down a ladder
In the arms of the man I loved." said Miss Heppert. " I
have thought of it every hour almost for the last 30 years,
how you would come and carry me away, for I never
thought of any one but you. Bob, and you promised to
come "
" We're too old for that sort of foolishness. Vlrgle,"
argued Bob.
" I'm never too old for It," she said. " I have lived
all my life on the Idea that you would elope with me and
I can't give It up."
" You'll have to move Into the first floor flat then,"
said Bob, and they had a regular lovers' quarrel.
. .
Of Course Woman Won Argument.
Night after night they argued It out, but Miss Heppert
was firm. Bob lived in hopes that her lease on the flat
would expire on the first of May and that she would move
Into a first floor apartment, or at worst a second floor
one, and give him a chance, but he learned on May 1 that
the. lease was for three years.
That evening there was a long argument and when
Bob left he vowed that he would come and elope with her
as she wished, and that, falling to carry her down a lad
der, he would seixe her by force, carry her down the stairs,
and elope with her. Still, he knew and felt that, If he won
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her by any such means, she would suffer from the blight
ing of her hopes and the destruction of the romance she
had cherished all her tlfe.
On the way home on the elevated that evening Bob
Baylor vowed a vow that he would elope with her as slie
planned.
Now It happened that, during the time he was wlnninr
his may to success In the slioe business. Bob had achieved
a little prominence In politics and he had something of a
" pull" In his assembly district that extended throunh
democratic circles nil over Kings county, and on his way
back to Flatbush avenue. where he lived In bachelor apart
ments, he stopped In to see the district leader. They were
closeted for over an hour, and when they parted the leader
said:
" Easy easy and I'll be there to see It and the boys
will give you a grand sendoff," andlie laughed until his
Jowls shook.
The following Thursday morning, shortly after 11
o'clock. Miss Virginia Heppert received an urgent mes
sage saying:
" Be readv to elope with me in half an hour. Bob." f
.
Wailing for the Elopement.
Puxiled, but willing, she attired herself In her best
gown, fixed her hair, that Is still black and plenteous, and
stepped to the 'window to gate down. Elevated trains
were whirling by towards the beaches and towards the
bridge, street cars were clanging along underneath them,
and at either side of the street streams of humanity were
flowing unceasingly.
She turned the latch In the door, stepped back Into her
little bedroom to put the finishing touches on her toilet,
and at that Instant her attention was attracted by a ter
rific uproar, a Jangling. Jarring, screaming uproar in the
street below. She rushed to the window, gave one glance
downward, and saw in the street below a fire engine, a
great crowd, and the hook and ladder truck of a nearby
fire company.
In one glance she realised what was coming and. with
lips pressed determinedly together and a quaver of fear
nnd Joy flglitlnu for mastery In her bosom, she stepped to
the mirror and bcKan to fix her hat.
The crowd below, excited and Jostling, saw the hlg
ladder slowly unjolnt Itself and rise upward alongside the
building, then sway Inward until the end rested Just below
the fifth story window, but, even before It had swung In
ward the crowd yelled as Bob Baylor, plump and excited
until his face was pink, started to clamber upward.
Slid from Window Into His Arms.
Behind Bob were Mike Corcoran. Capt. O'Brien. Bill
Burke, and three others f the company, scaling after him
to prevent accidents. In three minutes a breathless Bob
stopped at the top of the ladder nnd Virginia, casting one
fearful glance below, slid from the window sill Into his
arms.
The Journey downward was one long march of triumph.
The firemen, steadying and aiding Bob. cheered and
cheered, while their cornradt-s in the street yelled them
selves hoarse, and the crowd, thinking that some gallant
rescue was In progress, took up the cheer until the waters
of Oowanus bay were rippled.
Puffing, red faced, almost exhausted. Bob, still holdini;
Virginia close in his arms, reached the sidewalk and de
posited her on her feet. Bhe' opened her eyes and gazed
happily upon him, and whispered:
" O, Bob. I was so foolish, so cruel, but It was sweet."
Then, while the firemen, lowering the ladder, cheered
and swung their helmets. Bob and Virgie caught a Fifth
avenue car. and rode a Way to get married, followed by the
yells of the firemen and the crowd.
181
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