Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-01-12
CHAPTER III.

CHATTER III.
Caiendsr's Daughter
- All but purring with satisfaction AMI
relief. Calendar, halted.
|. Dorothy, my dear, permit me to in
troduce an old friendAMr. Kirkwood.
Kirkwood. this is my daughter
Miss Calendar acknowledged
Kirkwood. 49, ~ z
/. The girl bowed. her eyes steady
upon his own. "Mr Kirkwood is very
kind, she. said gravely.
That's right Calendar exclaim-
ed blandly He's promised to see you
home. Now both Of you will pardon
my running away. know"
yes" assented Kirkwood, agree
ably.
The elder man turned and hurried
toward the main entrance.
Kirlwood took the chair he had va
Gated To his disgust he found him
self temporarily dumb. No flicker Of
thought illuminated the darkness Of
| his confusion. How was he to open
a diverting conversation with a young
woman whom he had met under aus
pieces so extraordinary? Any attempt
to gloze the situation. he felt, would
| be futile. And, some how, he, did nos
care to render himself ridiculous il
| her eyes little as he knew her.
Insanely dumb, he sat watching her.
smiling fatulously until it was borne
in on him that he was staring like 4
boor and grinning like an idiot. Con
WINGED. he blushed for himself: some,
thing which served to make him more
tongue-tied than ever
AS for his involuntary protegee. she
exhibited such sweet composure that
! he caught himself wondering if she
really appreciated the seriousness CT
her parents predicament if, for that
matter, its true nature were known K
her at all. Calendar, he believed was
capable of prevarication, polite and
impolite. Had he lied to his daugh
ter? or to Kirkwood? To both, pos
sibly; to the former alone, not i'm
probably That the adventurer hat
told him the desperate truth Kirk
wood was quite convinced; but be
now began to believe that the CIR
had been put off with some fictitious
explanation. Her tranquility and self
control were remarkable. otherwise
| she seemed very young to possess
those qualities in such eminent de
gree.
She was looking YEARLY past him
her gaze probing some unguesse(
abyss of thought. Kirkwood felt him
self privileged to stare in wonder He
naive aloofness of poise gripped hi
ina gination powerfully-the more SO
perhaps, since it seemed eloquent 0
her intention to remain enigmatic-
but by no means more powerfully thar
the unaided appeal of her loneliness
Presently the girl herself relieve
the tension of the situation, fairl.
startling the young man by goin!
straight to the heart of things. With
out preference or warning, lifting he
gaze to his "My name is really Do
othy Calendar she observed An,
then, noting his establishment, "Yo
would be privileged to doubt, unde
the circumstances she added. pleas
let us be frank"
'Well," he stammered, "if didn'
doubt. let's say | was unparalleled.
His awkward, we'll meant, pleasantr
perhaps not conceived in the best c
taste, sounded in his own ears wretch
. eddy fat and vapid. He regretted
spontaneously; the girl ignored it.
you are very kind" she iterate
the first words he had heard from he
lips. 81 wish you to understand tina
|. for one, appreciate it,
mot kind! | have done nothing.
am glad -. One is apt to becom
r interested when romance is injectc
, into prosaic existence Kirkwoo
allowed himself keen but cheerf,
glance.
/. She nodded, with shadowy smil
He continued, purposefully, to distrat
her, holding her with his homes
friendly eyes.
7 Since it Is to be condolences 9Th
:. she questioned with an all but impe
ceptible lifting of the eyebrows).
q don't mind telling you my own nam
is really Philip Kirkwood."
: ''And you are an old friend of II
G father's?"
+ He opened his lips, but only to clio:
i them without speaking. The girl mo