Iron County register., 1888-01-12

She decided upon paying a brief visit to a
| certain remote village, best made known
| by a sentence copied from previously
| mentioned note of Mr.. Richard Oxford's:
II shall often think of him. far away in
that quiet little village of Drifton in Penn
| sylvania."
Informing her aunt that she had heard a
great deal about the coal mines and the
| unique scenery of the mining district of
Pennsylvania, she declared her intention of
Immediately inspecting the region around
about Hazleton, in Luzerne County.
Under assumed names, they registered at
little hotel in the village of Upper Lehigh,
within two miles of Drifton, in Pennsyl-
vania.
Prof John Fairfax, a dignifed, gray
haired old gentleman, was in charge of fe-
male seminary in the town. He was well-to-
do only in the size of his family, consisting
of several daughters and two sons, Arthur
and Dana Fairfax.
Mr.. Arthur Fairfax was absent-no one
knew where. Still this fact, although not all
reassuring, was by no means conclusive
proof of his guilt. So ''my Lady LYDIA re-
| solved to profit by his absence
Ere her departure she had learned much
| about the town, more about the Fairfaxes,
and, most of all, about Mr.. Arthur Fairfax.
| She heard, too, the history of his disappoint-
| ments and his present unhappy state of in
| decision. But, the more she learned about
| him and the more she saw of his fathers
| family, the more she began to think that it
was impossible that he should be any thing
| else but innocent
Lydia was what might be called prac-
| tical dreamer; and, to be candid, many of
her musings latterly were chiefly upon one
| subject, and much in the following extra
| ordinary vein:
Her estates were large; her tenants man.
| fold They, of course, would vote for the
| man of her choice, should he offer himself
as a Parliamentary candidate. How much
| better would be her life could she marry
| man whom she might thus help. How much
happier than if mated with some roue, her
equal in wealth and station, perhaps, but
tired of life and in blaSe; whom was no am
bition and no apparent interest in the world
at large.
| These, and thoughts like these, constant
| ly f1oated through her mind. Can she be
blamed if they were in connection with but
| one mana
| She had always been accustomed to hav-
ing her own way. She had lived long
| enough in her own country to realize the
| false and mercenary spirit of most of the
men whose rank would allow them to aspire
to her hand. Something in her heart told
| her that when she esteemed this Fairfax,
she was esteeming genuine man. But her
| very rank and wealth, she thought, would
| be apt to hold him aloof, even if he were to
fall in love with her er;-perhaps most impor-
| tant-their respective homes were in widely
| different continents and events might never
| again throw them into each others, way.
Thus reasoned Madamoiselle Lydia, and
! if she reasoned oddly and somewhat diff
| ferently from the conventional ways of
precise society, she, at least, reasoned cor
rectly and naturally, and followed not
| form, but her own heart. AS Emerson has
it, she had written on the lintels of her
| door-post, 'Whim.'"
But where was this Fairfax to be found?
His own family did not know. She was at
her wits end to discover some means to
learn his whereabouts and to meet him, so
that the meeting might appear accidental.
Fortune helped her, as it always helps
those who help themselves.
Ere leaving the village she made a part
ing call on the Fairfaxes. The family was
in great Joy. A letter had just that mo-
ment been received from the missing son.
Mrs. Fairfax was reading it aloud, and her
caller, taking kindly interest and begging
her to proceed, she continued:
sit seems Arthur is at Mt. Desert, ION a
little business affair." he writes, that may
know here as Arnold Fox. Address my let
ters accordingly, and "-here he had
heavily underscored the line" please, on
no account, let any one know of my where
abouts or nom de plume Oh! Miss earns
ford'-for such was the name by which
Lydia was known to her-''you will excuse
us, then, for requesting silence upon that
point that we have unwittingly divulged to
you"
Of course Lydia smiled, and promised.
She then returned to New York, endeav-
oring throughout the journey to solve the
problem as to Mt. Desert-how to get there,
and what the excuse for going.
At the Windsor Hotel she found the
cards of many callers among whom had
been the Gulnares, who left note ASKING
her to return with them to Bar Harbor,
where they proposed spending October.
She was overioyed at this simple solution