Lola

Excerpt

CHAPTER I
FATHER AND DAUGHTER

The old man lay back in his chair asleep. The morning sun beat against the drawn window shades, filling the room with a dim, almost cathedral light. An oil lamp, which had performed its duty faithfully through the night, now seemed to resent its neglect, and spluttered angrily. There was the usual sound of the busy city’s street outside the window, for the morning was advancing, but here in the room it was very quiet. A quaint little Dutch clock ticked away regularly, and the tired man’s soft breathing came and went, peacefully, for his sleep was untroubled, his heart was full of happiness.

Presently the door opened, and a young girl came into the room, and seeing him, there in the chair, she stopped, afraid for a moment, then stepped forward and bent over him. She smiled as she straightened up, and turning called out softly:

“Miss Lola! Miss Lola!”

“Coming, Maria,” the answer came in a clear, fresh young voice; for a moment the sleeper hesitated, about to awake, then thought better of it, and dreamed a dream of the triumph that was to be his.

“Hush!” Maria spoke softly as Lola came into the room, and Lola, following the girl’s pointed finger, smiled lovingly as she crossed and stood beside her father’s chair.

There was a strong contrast between these two girls as they stood there for a moment, side by side, young and good-looking as both undoubtedly were.

Lola was the sleeper’s daughter. Maria, their servant. Maria was strong and rugged; Lola delicate and blond. Maria’s splendid young body had been developed by hard work, while her mind had been stunted by a miserable childhood of neglect and abuse. Lola, since her mother’s death, had been her father’s constant companion, and had seemed to catch from him something of his grave and scholarly outlook upon life, lightened, however, by the impulses of a naturally sweet and sunny disposition, and the brave happiness of youth.

“He hasn’t been to bed at all!” exclaimed Maria, as Lola stooped and put her hand lightly on the sleeper’s arm.

“Father!” she called softly. “Father! It is morning!”

He awoke, startled, for a moment rather bewildered, then added his smile to theirs, and said brightly, “I am very happy, Lola.”

“I’m sure you haven’t any right to be, and, of course, you know that you ought to be scolded?”

“Perhaps so,” he returned, looking with pride at a complicated electric apparatus on the table beside him, “but I have worked it all out! I am sure of it this time!”

“Put that dreadful lamp out, and open the window!” called out Lola to Maria, as she started to pick up from the floor bits of broken glass and pieces of wire.

“I do wish you would use the electric lights, father. That lamp isn’t enough, even if you could be trusted to refill it, which you can’t!”

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, my dear,” smiled the Doctor, as he rose, rather stiffly. “The big thoughts won’t come by electric light, at least not to an old fellow who learned to do his thinking under an old-fashioned student’s lamp.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, not really,” answered Lola....