The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1891-02-18

| arrived, and Lena found herself alone at
the railway station-for Sir James had n
committee meeting that morning, and
could only join her later in the day
she felt somewhat depressed at the
prospect before her. There was large
and somewhat weird-looking crowd on
the platform. A slight drizzle was fall
ing, and the ladies of the party had
unanimously elected to appear IN bag
like waterproof garments, though, to be
| sure, their male kind ran them hard in
the matter Of curious raiment. Most of
the travellers had invested in paper bags
full of Bath buns, for an expedition
with the British Association is generally
fraught with peril in the matter of sup
plies. The weak-eyed young man was
in a state of excitement bordering on
delirium. Lady Loveday sighed as her
eye ran over the mass of pushing, per-
spring, be-msckintoshed human beings
on the platform.
"There isn't soul here that l want to
speak to-" she thought, settling into the
comfortable corner.place which the
youthful professor had secured for her;
and then, as her eye caught the square
shouldered back of a check coated man
in the distance, she added, mentally /.
"That looks like nice man. His hair
is cut beautifully short, and he's got
brown neck and properly ironed collar.
He reminds me of poor Dick"
But, directly after, the train steamed
out of the station and Lady Loveday's
"reminiscences came to an end. She had
to make conversation with her cicerone
for the day, and a whole carriageful of
other people. By the time they had
arrived at the pits mouth and were
waiting their turn to go down, Lena was
not sure that she wanted to engage in
such perilous experiment
Only a quarter of the trainful of peo-
pie could be accommodated under the
shed which covered the shaft, the rest
were waiting outside. Finally, however,
she was jammed with some seven or
eight other people, including her scienti-
fic admirer, in the baize- covered bucket,
and was emptied out, after an uncanny
descent through a black void, into the
brownwslled cavern at the bottom. The
mine had been decorated with thousands
of candles in honor of the event, and each
visitor was provided with tallow dip
stuck into wooden handle. Down in
the depths of the mine the Scotch pro-
fessor waxed confidential.
"This man is getting BORE" thought
Lady Loveday; IL must really evade him
somehow" and with another turn
of the rock she managed to slip away
from him. Candle in hand, she followed
a group of people in front of her. Pres
emily one of the party-the young man
whose back she had seen on the platform
stopped, and, with an action which
she recognized at once, struck match,
stopped his head, and lighted cigarette.
"Why, it is Dick" she murmured;
and just then he turned and saw her.
81 thought you were in-Afghanistan, ;"
she went on, hurriedly, as he stood gaz-
ing at her.
$50 l have been, for the last two
years. That frontier business took
longer than thought. And you9"
Lady Loveday blushed and looked
down. Here was an adventure after her
own heart. She was a curious mixture
of practical worldliness and theoretical
sentimentality. She had liked him, hand
some, penniless Captain Bramwell, more
than any man she had ever known, cad
he-well, she was quite aware he had
worshiped the very ground she trod on.
But all that was three years ago, and in
three years there are many changes.
~ saw you the other night" he CON
tinued, presently; 'you came in an aw-
fully fetching cloak, with a white, fluffy
thing round your neck. I've been trying
to find you out ever since, but nobody
that asked could tell me anything about
Miss Gardner"
Lady Loveday smiled He did not
know Of her marriage, thenl The ca
price took her not to tell him just yet
she wanted, womanlike, to see if he had
remained faithful all these years.
"Oh, I'm sucl an insignificant person
in the midst of all these bigwigs."
Dick smiled back at her-he had
charming ile--and they wandered
along to- :, each with a tallow dip
flickering and spluttering, and iitfully
ASh'ihS 'hO'A hdhdoOuiO young ldCcss DIG
had not altered one bit, he said; and she
declared he was as brown as a Hindoo, |
and would have to be scraped white. |
Time flies when old lovers meet, and |
nearly an hour had gone before Dick had !
told her that he had come down to the |
association to read paper in the geo.
graphical section. Would she come aud |
hear it2 OF course, Of couse, she would |
Poor old Dick! Why, he was just as
hard hit, she firmly believed, as ever.
When they at length got back to the
bottom of the shaft, there was not a soul |
to be seen. The awful truth began to
dawn upon them that they had been left
behind. How easy that might be, with
the five or six hundred people who had
come with the excursion, they both saw
at glance. What was to be donel
Nothing-absolutely nothing. Lady
Loveday turned greenish white as
she leaned against the rock.
"Sir James," she moaned-"Sir
James would never let me die like dog
in a hole"
"Sir James9" said Dick, surprised.
''You mean the President2 Is he a
great friend of yours2"
she is-O my poor Dick l-he is-my
she faltered, not daring to
look at him now. Captain Bramwon