Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-11-08

While the chemist sat in this pen-
sive attitude, there was rustic Of
skirts outside, and presently there
came a gentle knock at the door Of
the study.
"Come in!" said Murdoch, removing
the cigar from his lips.
The door opened, admitting a tall
and beautiful young girl, evidently
not long out of her teens.
Ibid / disturb you, father?" che
asked, stepping lightly into the
room.
mo, Agnes" replied Murdoch,
courteously; "as you see, am indulge
ing in period of dolce far niente."
The young girl laughed a clear, sill
very laugh, as her eyes fell upon the
pile of newspapers.
eff the reading of dozen news-
papers is dolce far niente, I should
think you would welcome hard work
as pleasant change"
"Oh!" replied her father, "the
work I have done on those has not
amounted to much. I have only
been cleaning the news from the
morning papers.
EYES," he added answering her sur.
prised look, SIT takes deal of skim
milk to yield little cream"
The last paper which Murdoch had
been examining lay upon the desk be-
fore him. From the closely printed
columns stood out in bold relief the
glazing headlines:
MURDER IN A CAB. &
MYSTERIOUS ASSASSINATION OF AN
UNKNOWN MAN. IN BROAD
DAYLIGHT.
CABMAN REILLY DENIES ALIf
KNOWLEDGE OF THE CRIME.
Miss Murdocks glance rested cares
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-
man interest, when they have been
CONCEALED in the columns of the daily
newspapers and served to palates all
ready stated with sensational yer.
bosity.
"Mary said you wished to speak to
me-" said the young girl, after q
short pause. 81 thought would step
in to see you before going to Mr..
Spragues."
ITO Sprague's?" 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 on?"
''It is almost finished. Probably
only one or two more sittings, at the
most, will be necessary"
Agnes seemed slightly embarrassed
by the fxity of her fathers search-
ing glance. She settled herself in an
armchair and assumed look of defer
ent expectancy.
Not word of affection bad passed
between father and daughter; not a
caress had been interchanged. The re-
lations between this impassive man and
his charming daughter were those of
well-bred, if somewhat distant, rela-
tiyes. On the one hand there was the
uniform courtesy of the man of the
world toward woman; on the other,
the Difference of a young girl of good
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
paniors, united by strong bond OF
sympathy.
Mrs. Murdoch had been an invalid
for many years before her death, and
with Agnes had lived either abroadlor
in the south during much of the time
in order to ESCAPE the rigors of the
northern climate. Thus the 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 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 is. In
the first loneliness Of her bereavement,
when, hungering for human syMpathy
and consolation, she turned to her fa-
ther, she received patient and cour-
teous attention, with an offer Of all
the material comforts and luxuriea
which wealth could procure; but she
failed to find the only thing she needed
IA responsive human heart.
And yet, behind the cold and selfish
exterior of the chemist, the young girl
had touched q chord which had never
| vibrated before in this strange mans
being. 1t is probable that the feeling
awakened in him by his lovely daughter
was the nearest approach to an absorb
| ing 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-
laflOn ann ever after eft his n In, co,yy..