The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-30

1 Lord Luxmore seconded the nomination. l One workingma burst Into a loud laugh | at this The relations between Lady Car oline and Gerald Vermilye were a pubic l scanda
 Soon something happened which had never happened before since kingsweli l was a borough. A candidate was nomi- | mated against the Luxmore canolcate anu l elected. John did 1t.
 MT. Halifax, your servant" said Lux l more, taking pinch of snuff. My Lord" said John, those workmen | of mine, your tenants-I am aware what
 results usually follow when tenant in
 arrears votes against his landlord. IT l your agent would be so kind as to apply l to me for the rent"
 | My agent will use his own dlscretloh'
 said the Earl
 Then" said John, "I must rely upon l your sense of honor.'
 "Honor!" exclaimed his lordship. "We l speak of honor among equals. But upon
 one thing MT. Halifax may confidently | rely-my excellent memory l Lord Luxmore did evict his tenants; but
 John placed them in other homes, and
 Gerald Vermilye, being pursued by bal iffs
 because of his debts, fled the country. | And with him fled also the frivolous and weak Lady Caroline.
 The clothmills prospered and John l bought Beechwood, stately country seat
 near their beloved rose cottage, and set up finally as the country gentleman In | spite of the fact that he still was a man
 ufacturer. There were so many manu- | facturers pushing into society In those l days that 1t really did not signify. l Another child, Walter, came to bless the | household: and then when John felt fully
 sure his greatness was ripening, Lord | Illxmore's excellent memory asserted | ..11. ftsr anH a 1 wheels at the cloth mills began 10 run dry. Lord Luxmore was diverting the wa
 ter to supply some fountains at Luxmore 1 Hall.
 l Some wanted John to go to law about | it. Some advised giving up the struggle.
 But John resolved upon bold, strange move-a thing which caused half his neighbors to think him crazy and the 1 other half to believe him wicked. He re- l solved to put in one Of those new iahsieo l affairs, a steam engine.
 There are men of unmechanical turn Of mInd even in this way, to whom the | mystery of a steam engine is an unsolved one It can be imagined then with what | feelings the crowd which assembled at l the mills on the day appointed TOT setting | in motion the new "contraption' regarded 1 the rash experiment. Most of them be- lieved with he workman who asserted that | there were seven devils in the thing. | But 1t worked, and John waxed richer 1 than before. while Lord Luxmore went 1 abroad to enjoy his senile pleasures at the | court of Charles K, in the delights Of 1 Compiegne.
 1 Lord Ravenel lived on at deserted Lux more Hall and spent most of his time at l Beechwood. When poor, blind Muriel l came to die the child having never been l strong, the young man was among the mourners who saw her laid in the little country churchyard "Goodby. my little , Muriel goodby," whispered the young l man in an agony of grief. as he knelt l beside the new made grave. | It was years before they saw Lord Raw ! enc again, and meantime another daugh- 1 ter had been born to them. Ursula and | John began to tell each other that they were growing old now. but in reality they l had only reached happy middle age, l with all their children around them, and happiness and increasing prosperity made 1 their home with John Halifax. gentleman, 1 of Beechwood Hal.
 Lord Ravenel came into their lives again !, one day when John, by a timely deposit 1 of cash, stopped the run that was being l made on the local bank at Norton Bury. {; Looking out of the window of the bank 1 John saw on the verge of the crowd a | gentleman waiting in a curricle. He was 1 dressed in the height of the mode. com I bined with a novel and eccentric fashion | which had lately been set by that extra !, ordinary young nobleman whom every 1 body talked about-Lord Byron. His face, that of a man about 90, was