The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-08-03

CABMAN REILLY DENIES ALL. !
KNOWLEDGE OF THE CRIME.
Miss NIurdocli's glance rested care
lessly upon these words for an in
slant. They aroused in her nothing |
more than the mild curiosity which |
attaches to events OF p1lpitating hui
man interest, when they have been
CONCEALED 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
short pause 81 thought l would step
in to see you before going to Mr.
Sprague's."
TO Sprague's?" inquired Murdoch,
fixing his keen eyes upon the young
girl. "Ah, yes; l remember he spoke
of the appointment last night. How
is the portrait coming on|'
ut 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 a word OF affection had passed
between father and daughter; not
caress had been interchanged. The re-
lations between this impassive man and
his charming daughter were those OF
well-bred, II 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 q young girl OF good
breeding toward a person much older
than herself. But the note Of cordial
and intimate affection between father
and child was absolutely missing.
And vet Agnes Murdoch was natural
" 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 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 a stranger.
When at last, after her mothers
death, Agnes, heartbrolten at the loss
of her only friend, returned to the par
entail roof, she was a 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 al
the material comforts and luXuriei
which wealth could procure; but she
failed TO find the only thing she needed
"a responsive human heart.
And yet, behind the cold and selfisl
exterior of the chemist, the young cir
had touched chord which had neyel
vibrated before in this strange man.
being. 1t is probable that the feeling
awakened in him by his lovely daughte
was the nearest approach to an absorb
was capable. Perhaps if the child hat
been sufficiently experienced TO rea'
her fathers heart she might have per
sisted in her advances, and thus ulti
mately have conquered the cold reserv
she had at first encountered. But sh
was proud and impulsive, and, bitterl.
disappointed in her first attempt Il
win from her father n demonstration
of affection, she withdrew into her iEo
l lation, and ever atrer met MS calm couT
e tesy with an equally reserved defer
4 ence. The abnormal situation, whicl
. at first was maintained only by an Ell
I fort on the part of the young girl, los
a with time much of its strangeness, an
ultimately crystallized under the pc
= tent force of habit, so that it was &c
e cepted by the two MS the natural out
d come of their relationship.
In the first pang of her bereavement
= and disappointment Agnes had turne
= for consolation TO her books; and, be
ing left free TO dispose of her life q
3 she saw lit, she had planned cours
of study, which had in due time r.
e ceived its conservation at one of tn
{ leading colleges for women.
o Upon her return from college sh
: had, as far as she was permitted, take
n charge Of her fathers household, an
Il had presided with charming dignit
o and grace over the social functions 70
2 which DR.. Murdock's house now b.
! name famoua. I'm 10 the tina OF hI