Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-26
A TALE OF TWO MISERS
WRITTEN FOR THE EVENING STAR By
EDGAR PAwCErr.
CHAPTER I.
BOUT sEvENTY-FIvE YEARS AGO IN

'nbc ohrridBe5 cOulu almost nave occu Soe'S~
on the fingers Of one hand Hence when old
Myndherst Van Doren drove out In his cum
orous vehicle, with hammer cloth and yeuo~
wheels, people would stare and wink at one
another in high diversion and dismay. Surely
such luxury was almost without precedent In
the peaceful and transformations little sea-
port town Of 1915. But what made 1t all the
odder and funnier was the fact that for many
past years old Van Doren had been accounted
the most miserly of men He had a wide house
facing on the battery, in which he lived en-
tirely alone except for two old servants, man
and his wife. Van Doren had once had wife
himself, but that was years back, when he had
just entered the shipping business on South
street, from which he had long ago brought
away a handsome fortune. Two hundred
thousand dollars, if cent" old Peter Van Zandt,
Q fellow merchant, had declared him possessed
of on his retirement and the enormity of such
q fortune thrilled, at that period, all who heard
man. 1t was still whispered that young Mrs.
Van Doren bad died Of q broken heart, her
husband having treated her with sternest par
mony and neglect. He had q sister, too, and
sHs had married against his will a southern
'leman Of literary tastes and precarious in
come. Though Ralph Stanfeld's birth and
social rank bad both been excellent, the brother
of Martha Van Doren had never pardoned
what he chose to denounce as her gross mes
alliance He had known nothing OF her Tor
many years. and at the time our little chronicle
opens he had received the card OF a young man
who announced himself as his nephew-Alfred
Stanfield- On the day that he sought to visit
his uncle Stanfield was met by old samuel, the
servant, with sad but firm announcement
that Mr.. Van Doren could not be seem Then
the young man had written his kinsman quite
a long letter. in which he told Of his orphanage,
is poverty and his desire to win some sort OF
clerkship here in New York.
The letter was not answered. After three
weeks Of waiting Stanfeld began to grind his
teeth with wrath at his uncle's heartless be-
bavoir and to say Of that gentleman the very
bitterest things
He said these things to . person whom he
had not mentioned in his letter. That person
was his young wife, Martha, whom he had mar
ried just before shaking the dust Of Charleston
from his feet. Their union had been an elope-
ment. and they were now living on some
what slender legacy which Martha had inner
tied when child. der father and several re-
lations were all furious at her for having mar
ried Stanfeld. They admitted that he was a
gentleman, but declared that his family was
broken down and that daughter of the naughty
house Of Rollaston should never have chosen
so ineligible lord These Rollastons were
then wha. we call leading people in Charleston,
which at that time was q town filed with FASH
ionable pretension-
But Martha had made her choice, and though
she felt sure that it would always be sneeringly
regarded by her kindred imprudence
alike desperate and objectionable. she soothed
her perturbed soul with thoughts Of how she
had won the husband Of her maidenly choice.
Trouble now seemed lowering in 'gloomiest
threat over the fortunes of the young pair.
Before long Martha's legacy would be spent to
Its last dollar As II was, she and Stanfeld
were living in rather inferior apartments on
Cstharine street What was to be done! They
had come from Charleston with the hope of
ultimately and perhaps promptly winning Van
Doren over. But here, 1t were, the old fell
low invisibly scotfed at them, fortressed in such
impregnable manner against their approaches
thar he might as well have been the Emperor Of
China once ana for all
They told you he drove abroad in his own
carriage, said Martha one day. IF i we're
you, Alfred. I'd just stop it, andinsist on speak
ing with him."
Those words of his wife's, as afterward re-
membered by Stan6eld, were fraught with
queer prophetic humor. For a few days after
the strange occasion came to him of indeed
stopping" Mr.. Van Doren's carriage.
1t all happened like Q hash-as such things
are 80 wont TO happen. One morning Stanfield
vas strolhng on Broadway when he the
clumsy though somewhat aristocratic convey
anee of his uncle come trundling along past
doctor street. He had no idea who owned the
vehicle, with its cockaded driver and its two
ponderous roans. though he had seen it sew
sral times before during previous strolls.
o@AcoAf. AOWo'cE, Nc udu we know,
that his rich uncle committed the monstrous
New York estravagsnce of driving out in his
own coach Then, again, the cynic tidings
had drif5ed to him that Myndherst Van Doren
would never have dreamed OF setting mp for
himself this private equlpage IL he had not be-
come a martyr to rheumatism. mot govt
not bit Of it," Stanfields informant had
added Hes altogether too plain q liver for
that"
And now as the slow. massive carriage passed
him Sraufiei1 al ,r
though somewhat family. a thin, hard faced
man leaning against its back cushions. Just
after this glimpse of his unknown uncle had
teen afforded him he started as he perceived
q large dray. driven by two maddened run
away horses, come dashing up the street. At
first there seemed no danger to Mr.. Van
Dorens carriage, though the coachman brought
II TO an abrupt standstill and watched the hur-
ryIng bulk with anxious eyes. As it sped
nearer, however, the headlong regularity Of its
progress changed Its driver was gone, hav-
ing rashly jumped from his seat some little
time ago. The horses now began a plunging
course, and several other wagons narrowly
escaped collision Not so Mr.. Van
Dorens vehicle. Toward that the wild
FEATURES now sweryed. and in another
instant they were rearing furiously and vet
sill galloping onward with their own wheels
locked IN the heavy yellow ones II was hor-
rible moment for Stanfie,d Young strong.
with ardent!y humane impulses, he saw the
carriage of the OLD man violently overturned
and the coachman flung from his box There
ID no doubt that he now acted with a splendid
promptness and courage. for in a trice he had
darted, feet Of foot. after the whole HURLED
commInglement of horses and woodwork The
Van Doren team had not yet taken fright and
we're pulling stolidly against their terrified
brothers This gave Stanfeld a chance and he
lesped with great daring and nimbleness upon
the shafts Of the dragged coach. Still Drawer
was his act in springing thence upon
the dray itself. He happened to have
. large clasp knife in his pocket. a
memento of q shooting trip in the Soutb
Carolina wilderness, taken but a short time
before his romantic marriage. He remembered
afterward that while getting himself over the
dashboard Of the dray and clinging TO il with
one hand as he cut the traces with the other it
flashed through his mind how he was almost
giving his lie one chance out Of twenty. But
q few lunges of that stout steel blade SO far I'M
fettered the furious horses that within the next
twenty seconds they had quite rid themselves
Of every restriction and were scampering up
town with a new and horrid liberty.
stauheld felt daZed after his magnificent
work Still clinging to the dashboard, with
the knife IN his hand he fancied himself. for
the nrst time In his sturdy young hfe' on the
verge OF positive swoon-
Then somebody caught him and he opened
his eyes without realizing that he had closed
them
A crowd had collected and plaudits rang to
him from every side.
The most heroic thing 1 ever saw" said a
Nua. bad