ROMANTIC ELOPEMENT.

Observer, Volume v, Issue 115, 25 November 1882, Page 163

ROMANTIC ELOPEMENT.

It happened in the neighbourhood of Mount Albert, and it was a case of love at first sight. He was a young scion'of nobility of 26 summers, and as he pursued the humble but respectable occupation of a navvy in one of the cuttings, his haughty patrician spirit revolted at the plebeian character of his surroundings. She was sweet sixteen, the daughter of poor but honest parents. As she watched him bending his back to shovel up the scoria, or lean on his pick to cut a chunk of tobacco with his jack knife — solace of bis long houi-s of toil — her heart went out to him. They met by stealth, and she eloped with liim. Unfortunately he was unable to do the thing in first-class style with a carriage and four and outriders, and so the runaway pair only went as far as the humble cot of the navvy, a short .distance from the scene of their meeting. The romance was soon dispelled by the intervention of the law in the person of Sergeant Clark who restored the misguided girl to her parents, Irat since then she has again eloped, and is supposed to be imitating the life of Miisa in Ouida's novel of "In Mareina " by hiding in a cave in one of the adjacent paddocks. People who know the parties say that the girl's parents have always treated her with great kindness, but have had to resort to such extreme measures as tying her up for a week to prevent her running away.