Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1888-03-03

self have never seen the door open or
shut All that | have seen is that he
was there. and was not there. between
the drawing Of two breaths Perhaps
the brown old man servant, who watches
at the grilled basement-window like a
prisoner behind the bars, may have
something to do with it. At any rate it
! ls done
When the gaslight attracts to Broad
wav It's usual nightly crowd, he is there
again. He passes through Delmonico's
ike phantom; speaking to no one. and
recognizing no one. and being spoken to
Or recognized by none. The strong glare
of the electric light gives new gro
teaqueness to his mocking face, and what
with this, and with his warped figure
/ and curious gait, he reminds one of
some satyr translated from the groves of
fable to New York, and invested in the
livery Of the time. The youngsters about
The tables in the cafe view him with.
perhaps, not unnatural curiosity, though
they must know him we'll enough by
this time, and tell many stories about
him which, doubtless, do not suffer by
the license Of the Imagination. The most
eloquent and significant story that |
L
him act his part with my own eyes.
It was after the theatre. | was cross
ing Madison Square on my way from the
Lycenm to supper. The nj ght was keen,
and white with moonlight which. aided
by the electric lights, made a glare in
tenscr than that Of day Huddlng on
4 the benches in Tic Park, some homeless
creatures, men and women, were steal
ing scrap Of broken rest from the vigi-
lance Of the guardians of the peace. In
the open space around the fountain |
saw my man in brown, walking at his
usual gait The shadows of the trees
made wall of blackncss all around him.
He stopped. and ! saw that man had
emerged from the blackness and accosted
him. When | came upon them, so close
in passing that I might have touched
either with my hand, noted that there
was an amazing resemblance between the
two that left no doubt as to their rela
tionship. They must be brothers, and,
with almost equal certainty, twins; but
while the one bore all the marks OF
abundance about him. the other was
branded by the alb ectcst poverty. This
man had been speaking in loud and
angry voice. and as came up with them,
the other admonishcd him with warn
ing. "Ssh."
"Why should l hlsh?' cried the
shabby man; Il have nothing TO be
ashamed of. | did not rob my brother
of his money, and send him to the bad
did II"
He had raised his voice as passed on,
with an evident intention to have it
ho ~ IA
something which | did not catch, and
the other called to me to stop. l kept
on my way. of course and an hour later
saw the brown man climbing the steps
, of the brown house, while squalid
shadow of himself skulked at the nearest
corner, watching him with white fury
!, in its face and red anger in its eye,
that meant murder as plainly as if the
word had been branded on the frowning
brow.
For some weeks thereafter l rarely
saw the man in brown, ami | saw him
: daily, without this menacing familiar
AS he shambled along, his sordid Other
, self limped close behind him. Neither
seemed to give any attention to the
} other, nor did the man in brown betray
any special annoyanccaat the dogged pur
suit of which he was made the oh lect. Bu
; there was wicked spark in the hazel
brown eyes that could be easily trans
] lated to mean trouble. That thc little
, drama would have found tragic climax
| had begun to feel sure when, one after
J noon fate stepped in to prevent it. The
! brown mans shadow in the middle of hi
: chase, fell into fit He foamed at the
. mouth, and writhed in commissions, an,
howled incohcrent curses till the police
carried him off to a hospital, where. two
days later. he died. The newspapers an
nounced it in a paragraph, stating tha
ne had been the black sheep of Al ole
; knickcrbrocker family; that he had beer
cast off by his relatives, and had served
a long term in State Prison for forgery
The man in brown paid for his funeral
and no doubt, viewed it as rare bar
gain; for several days there was a visible
: elation about his face and manner, anc
he appeared to pursue his daily routine
; of existence with renewed Iest.
Then dark change came over him
Was it because in the dim solitude o
his seaIed-np house. some spectre that b.
would not have had come TO haunt him
1t looked SO. He prolonged his excursions
about the street far beyond his usua
: hours. He commenced them earlier. ant
dragged them to such wearisome extreme
s that YOU would sometimes SEE him takin:
!, coach late at night, worn out by hi
, uneasy tramp His old man servan
Z began to follow him about. as If tn,
necessity Of some supervising watchful
I ness had declared itself. and he woulC
. dow and then break out in snatches 0
Q disiointed speech, and emphasize then
: with odd and unreasonablv >iolen
e gestures that made even the peopl
longest accustomed 70 his appearance
: stare in wonder
{ 4 week ago sat in the parlor Of on
e Of our big club houses With a friend
, Quite crowd had filtered into the room
e from dinner. until j, was we'll filed VIII
!, lounging and chatting groups. A ittl
G hustle In the hall did not attract anv at
: tention. and the hum Of conversation
e was unbroken when the man in brow1
appeared in the parlor doorway Behin'
xs,1f Il J. -.