The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1894-11-14
With that she began, absent-mindediy, to
hum. But Lydia, interrupting her, gayly


hum. But Lydia, interrupting her, gayiy
trilled:
"'I know not what it meaneth,
That am SO sad to-day;
But song Of the times departed
Win not from my brain away
eYou are constantly humming that .Ad-
dia' Do you know 1t, Natalie minef'
Whereat, Natalie, infected by her flow Of
spirits, laughed and said:
'How absurd it all is, is Il notl And,
after all, what foolish creatures we are"
Lydia, not comprehending this irrelevant
remark at first, stared; then, remembering
the eccentricities of her friend, ventured
the equally irrelevant and non-committal
statement that:
1.-THE whole sum and substance Of the
matter is, as Solomon says: Fear God and
-ahem II add, obey your husband, when
you get one."
Laughing heartily, they could not have
told why, both dashed away, two magnifi-
cent specimens of womanhOod, noble
hearted girls, fearless, frank and true.
Tho allobservant Fairfax had noted, eau
tiously, one other fact--that the stone
by which Natalie had mounted lay directly
against the huge trunk Of an enormous
willow-tree. tAAEfs.e ..f, ..l.
Oxford was now al eagerness to return
to the village Immediately, !.
aWait,' said Fairfax, putting out his
handt to restrain him and looking steadily In
the direction whence the girls had FIRST ap-
pearcd. Z; tas,,,' y ts,.s4.sl
They waited perhaps ten minutes Fair
fax silent and thoughtful, revolving some
scheme or other in his brain, but Observant
all the time, Dick, too, quiet, but chiefly
from curiosity, a.,
A carriage was heard approaching. II
contained the lovers, Cstharine and Dimitri,
who seemed more oblivious than ever to the
surrounding world. There horse was,
clearly, the only one Of thezparty who had
his wits about him. Being sagacious and
docile beast, with vision Of oats in the dis
lance, he was directing himself homeward
with energetic steps.
After they had passed out Of sight, Fair
fax then motioned to his friend to follow
him. Going over to the stone from which
Natalie had mounted, the pair sat down.
+ "As told you," began Fairfax, II leave
to-night,for Havrc, or for Paris, via st
Malo: and want you to leave tomorrow
night ut the same hour both Of us ostensi.
bly, not to return You will tell landlord
Baudray that you arc going to Paris under
stand! shall inform him, that am going
to take steamer to America. tomorrow.
want to create = firm impression that we
have gone cleared out, vamosed the
ranch, and are hundreds Of miles away
from this place. stW
(" Now" continued he, ''as to your occu.
patton while here, my boy; Arst of all, LEI
me retail to you several important items OF
interest have noticed that twice already
the Princess has ceased sketChing just be-
fore sunset; that the servants follow al
some distance behind; that she dismounts,
waters that black charger and mounts from
this stone on which we are now sitting, and
that your friend, Lydia, has been with he
but once"
Now" said he, speaking slowly to i'm
press his listener, my boy, l must ask yo1
to take observations In my place, tomorrow
If they all agree with mine, / shall take
for granted that they Indicate q regular oc
currence Of what have just told you. Nor
especially-do you hear, friendi-am nnx
ious to learn whether Lydia will be with he
again | must positively learn that. Yo
get these pointsl
"Ido," said Richard.
Now, can that valet Of yours keep q sc
cretr'
"The rnck wouldn't extract it from him
II he makes up his mind to do So"
"Will he falter; or have any qualms O
conscience about taking part in hazardou
schemep sA ~
: "Hell do whatever tell him."
! '.very well, want his assistance, too, Il
this matter. want you both to pack up
say farewell; so TO st. Malo; buy you
tickets to P lris-being exceedingly caution
to keep in the background, and, on no &C
count. make known your names send al
your baggage through to that city; but &c
ofY-both Of you-af Dol will arrive fe,
moments later We will then hold con
sultation together. Do you get the idea"
~ do" replied the attentive and yer.
much puzzled Oxford
"Will you act accordingly"
"a will"
..very well, then, let's join hands on Il
Meanwhile must ask you to wait longe
before admit you to my secret"
n see and acquiesce," meekly said Dich
! Upon which they got into the buggy an
silently drove home to the inn, each on
occupied with his own peculiar thoughts.
CHAPTER VIII
IT, THIS FAILS ME, EVERY THING ELSE FAILS
TOO!
At half-past nine Fairfax was on an
away, having first taken Dick aside an
made that now completely docile, but myst
fed individual, recite In order his variou
duties for the morrow Oxford did this wit
so much precision IS to win commendatio
from his friend, who added:
snow, whatever else you may do, my boy
want you TO make 1t distinctly understoo
that you have gone away to Paris, to rctur
mo more, forcver'-this year, at least. Yo'
observed how marked was in my adieus
all, giving out that was going back
America immediately"
At midnight he was in st. Malo, where
found awaiting him telegram from Mel
bitt himself.
Message only just received, See 20
tomorrow on board Norma Havre, 10 am.
Fairfax smiled, and remarked:
persistence often succeeds where geniu
fails"
At the hour named he stood on the dec
of the Norma" as she lay at anchor o
Havre Nebbitt, looking as if he had jus
f'cpped from handbook, came forward
and with his prompt, clear-cut sentence:
began the conversation:
"Good morning, Fairfax. Luckily &c
you.a mere within of mine brought me bacl
and, had followed it out cntirely,I shoul
now have been in Southampton. | shoul
never have waited for any other man br
YOU. observe you're in hurry; I'm {