Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-06-20

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lessly upon these words for an in
slant. They aroused in her nothing
more than the mild curiosity which
attaches to events of palpitating hu-
- interest. when they have been
sOSgealsd in the columns of the daily
newspapers and served to palates al
ready stated with sensational YER
bosity.
MARY said you wished to speak to
me-" said the young girl, after a
short pause. 81 thought would step
In to see you before going to Mr..
Sprague's."
ITO sprague's9" inquired Murdoch,
fixing his keen eyes upon the young
girl. "Ah, yes; remember he spoke
of the appointment last night. How
is the portrait coming on2"
ut is almost finished. Probably
only one or two more sittings, at the
most, will be necessary"
Agnes seemed slightly embarrassed
by the fixity of her fathers search
ing glance. She settled herself in an
armchair and assumed a look Of defer
ent expectancy.
Not word Of affection had passed
between father and daughter; not a
caress hadsbecn interchanged. The re-
lations between this impassive man and
his charming daughter were those Of
well-bred, if somewhat distant, rela-
tives. On the one hand there was the
uniform courtesy of the man of the
world toward a woman; on the other,
the Difference of a young girl of good
breeding toward q person much older
than herself. But the note of cordial
and intimate affection between father
and child was absolutely missing.
And yet Agnes Murdoch was natural
ly of an affectionate and expansive ma
ture. During her mothers lifetime the
two women had been inseparable COM
panions, united by a strong bond of
sympathy.
Mrs. Murdoch had been an invalid
for many years before her death, and
with Agnes had lived either abroad or
in the south during much of the time
IN order to escape the rigors Of the
northern climate. Thus tho father, en-
crossed as he was with his occupations
and his scientific researches, had seen
but little of his daughter during her
childhood, and had been looked upon by
the child almost as a stranger.
When at last, after her mothers
death, Agnes, heartbroken at the loss
of her only friend, returned to the par
entail roof, she was girl OF 16. In
the first loneliness of her bereavement,
when, hungering for human sympathy
and consolation, she turned to her ia
ther, she received patient and cour-
teous attention, with an offer of all
the material comforts and luxuries
which wealth could procure; but she
failed to find the only thing she needed
"a responsive human heart.
And yet, behind the cold and selfish
exterior of the chemist, the young girl
had touched chord which had never
vibrated before in this strange mans
being. It is probable that the feeling
awakened in him by his lovely daughter
WIS the nearest approach to an absorb
Ne human affection Of which his nature
was capable. Perhaps If the child had
been sufficiently experienced to read
her fathers heart she might have per-
sisted in her advances, and thus ulti-
mately have conquered the cold reserve
she had at first encountered. But she
was proud and impulsive, and bitterly
disappointed in her first attempt to
win from her father demonstration
of affection, she withdrew into her iso-