The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-02-28
THE ROANOKE TIMES, SUNDAY. FEBRUARY 2s. 1889

| coulo not understand inc cnange III
her husband. He had lost good deal
of his old bonhomie. He was given to
fits of brooding thnt puzzled her, and
sometimes he would start from one of
these and suddenly ask her how much n
certain grocer's bill had been or just
what amount she had paid for young AL
freds last pair of shoes, for young Ger
trude's newest dozen of hose
AT last poor, gentle Martha walked
up and gave her lord n grand scolding.
He listened to it very patiently, and
told her with n sort of dazcd smile
which she somehow dctested) that he
had thought SO much of money lately
us to find himself caring about it,
watching its expenditure in n really PC
culiar way.
'You think altogether too much on
the subject of money" said Martha.
with reproachful heat. Are we not
quito comfortable us we are? And if n
certain thing doesn't happen within the
next five years or so, why on earth
should you care? For good while vet
we can send the children to public
schools. That certainly is far better than
not educating them ut all. We've no
reason to bother ourselves about money
none in the least. Of course, YOU
might have advanced yourself more
with Van Vcckten & Co. Now, Alfred,
don't mean to say anything unpleas-
ant, but you know, dear, that You YOUR
self told me, not long ago, you'd got to
be sort of machine there in Water
street. neither caring for promotion
nor using an effort to secure it,"
"True," replied Stanfeld, 81 must
pull myself together. l must show
them what Pm worth and demand a
better salary"
But he did neither. He was always
waiting, waiting for his uncle 10 die.
The Van Veckten firm found no fault
with him, but they had got to regard
him in the light of n merely plodding
and unambitious worker. Perhaps they
suspected the truth-that old Van Doren
had made him his heir, and that he had
seen the old nHscr's will, and that he
realized how any h5ur might mako him
rich. AS it was they trusted him COM
plctcly, gave him certain work to do,
and satisfied themselves that he did it
with certain stolid apathy. He was
not useless to them. He was in n way
quite useful. But his employers had a
sense of abilities partially dormant.
CHAPTER III.
And SO another five years went on.
Myndhcrst Van Dorcn was now seventy
eight. There seemed no change in his
bodily vigor, however. rheumatism
attacked him at certain periods, but
never SO severely that he was unable to
walk. Now and then he could not leave
the house, but such periods of immure-
ment were rare. AS for driving out, he
had given up keeping a carriage since
his perilous accident.
Gle is waiting for dead mans
Shoes" Martha would think of her hus-
band. There is that fortune coming
to him and he cannot keep his mind
from it. All his old vigor of character
has gone from him He might have
done SO much for himself during these
ten years, but this wrctched suspense
has crept like poison through all his
nerves."
The children, as they grew older,
were sent to n public school. New
York had now greatened in an eastward
direction, and the Stanfield home was
in Essex street, but stones throw
from East Broadway. Stanficld was a
ftfully affectionate father and by no
means good one. His children feared
him more than they loved him. At times
he would ovcrwhelm them with kind
ness, but they never knew just when
his intense irritability would brcal,
forth.
Martha, as the next decade began,
strove to console herself with the OK
pectation that Van Doren's fortune
might now at any moment become
theirs. Discovering that her husband
was placatcd by such words as: "Oh, to-
morrow we may be wealthy" she used
them with an increasing abandonment
of good breeding 1t was like doubling
and TRIPPING the doses of opium for a
pain-stung patient. Formerly the mode
of consolement that she now used
would have seemed to her brutal and in
the most shameless taste. But to-day,
d hI|I N HMh