The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1860-03-03
eAmsLIre AND m ceNsEeuKrcEs.

GAMBLING AND ITs ceNsEQuKNcEs.
Ls Marquis Angelo Fosssfini wss the Las,
Of his name and title-one Of the oldest
families in Naples. He had been travelling
for bis health for the last three years, when
bis physicians recommended Dieppe to him,
- all other places had failed 10 restoring
hls strength. This occurred in the month
OF July, some few years since. - w
His daughter accompanied him the most
beautiful Of ltaly's daughter, where there
srs . many competitors for the prise Of
loneliness. ~ aa szs
Olympia was an only child yet the mar
quis had been married four times.
De,oursd BY ambition and pride, he could
not even from her conceal his annoyance
about her sex; for now bis name, which had
been handed down in, the direct line for four
centuries, would perish with himself. He
would freely have given his immense for
tune twice over, his life, his child's life, oil,
to have possessed son who would hand
down his name to posterity. a.ss
Atsixty he was the widowsr Of two Ro-
man ladies Of high decent, and Of German
Princess, and all three had died without bic
wish being accomplished. Hewas old now,
snd worn BY the intfigues Of place and ann
bition. He felt himself going death sto cd
before him every moment more visibly, and
to try and conceal the painful act from his
view, this last Of the Foscarini endeavored
BY gayeties and pleasures to crown himself
with the semblance Of youth. He raised
around him q rampant of debnucheries, or
gies, and gambling be flung millions away,
hu aaasAant tknunht If h.s
child came across him, it was in bitterness
Of spirit. 9 s aces Z. .''S.''
"a ga woman! woman I" he exclaimed
"There will always remain sufficient for
tune for her, child Of eighteen What
would she do with all my palaces7 She
would be affrighted by the heaps Of gold
which had accumulated for son! On,
on, let US amuse ourselves while we may.
shall, perhaps, die tomorrow"
Olympia knew why her father lived thus.
He did not spare her the knowledge of why
he was so reckless. Without pity towards
her, not caring how much he panied her
heart, he was constantly reproaching her a.
the cause Of all. Cursing her and her dead
mother, he cared not how much che, who 50
tenderly loved him, behsld the unsightly
wounds Of bis ambitious heart; and when
he saw her in tears, his only resource was
to leave her alone, to weep in the bitteress
sorrow child might know, arising from q
fathers cruelty. And yet Foscarini loved
his daughter, not as father should have
done, but as somett ing belonging to himself
= as something beautiful, the most exquisite
of his possessions, a handsome piece Of fur
niture-his own. This was the reason why
he always kept hor with him, made her trav-
Ell everywhere he went, and refused her
hand 10 marriage to the wealthiest mobiles
Of Austria and Italy. es r&&t
s'Stay with me-" be said. 81 want to
have you near me. You can marry when
Pm dead"
When his feverish nights of excitement
had passed, broken down and trembling
from debauch of wine and gambling, be
was in the habit Of going to the baths, or
seeking in the wave a renewal of vigor to
pursue an existence capable of killing a
strong man Of twenty, and yet he was toe
unhappy to rclinquish the excitement.
One day be endeavored to bathe alone,
without his attendendant, when the tide was
coming in but weaker than usual, he was
carried away, and then flung in faintiDs
fit upon the beach. The next wave was IL K
him away to certain destruction, when a
young man, who was bathing, swan to his
senseless form, and bore him to land in
safety. 49, En- sgss eess. vi 4.
When Foscarini opened his eyes, he turn
ed to thank the one who had saved him,
and, to his annoyance, recognized an officer
from Trabans whom he had met at the baths
of Pyrmont and Vienna, and whose assidu.
tiles towards Olympia had given him much
uneasiness.
A few words of cold thanks and polite.
ness were exchanged, and the young German
asked permission to call sometimes at the
marquis' hotel.
He was frigidly told that he might do so
At the end of month tho Marquis sne
Stephen had become inseparable. =, ..z.
Still madly in love with Olympia, the lat
ter was, however, too clever this time Il
manifest il so openly as he had done at Pyr.
mont. He allowed Foscarini to think tina
he was cured of his passion. He spoke t
Olympia without trembling or turning pale
and with perfect ease of manner, addressed
few commonplace compliments to her, I,
which she replied in the same indiffsren
tone.
Quite blinded, the old man, unsuspicious
" yielded himself into the Others hands.-
lie made him his companion add cou6dant
and raised the curtain b. fore him which hat
concealed all his past life, and revealed tn
horrors which had been hidden beneath th'
splendor and garlands of his tetcs. stephen
however, knew it already; Olympia ha'
concealed nothing from him. Thus Stephel
passed almost every night at the Marquis
and to meet his tastes, and, at the sarn'
time, il possible, keep him from goinl
among strangers, he became . seemiD,
gambler, to restrain the real one. rv
During month he mad played away al
| the money he possessed about him and al
he could borrow, and the more he lost, tn
better Foscarini loved him, for the marqui
knew no happiness but in dice, no pleasur
save in winning.
But luck changed.
The murquis had passion for q sort O.
loo called houilotte, which Stephen effected
to like equally we'll. 1t had already cos
him ten thousand louis; when one evening
he arrived at the marquis half an hour ear
| lier than usual, with the Lost fifty louis b.
could then command in the world, and firm
ly resolved that if he lost them, he would N
longer carry on the fearful game he had besl
playing, but at once throw the mask of by
pocracy, and demanding Olympia again il
marriage from her father, endeavor BY 9th
or means to win him from his love of gamb
ling. II she were refused to him, he felt al
the desperation would seize upon him whicl
was naturalto . young man like himself
who had vainly sought the ono he loved q
long. ssg,e sr 1s easgg +
Foscarini and Stephen were seated oppo
site to each other. AT their loo table ther
was q Parisian banker, an English nava
officer, and two planters from the Hsvanna
Stakes were immense. Stephen commenced
by ten louis, then ten more, again the sam
and then same. All were lost. he trem
bled. Foscarini laughed at the smallness Q
his strikes. With hand which appearc'
instinctivsly to draw back, Stephen place.
his last ten louis before him :, hehell
three deuces in his hand, and gained a hun
dred louis from the Partisan banker.
| Il AT FIVE in, the, morning be had won tw
hundred thousena piastres, the banker eight
four thousand, the naval officer twenty thou
| sand, and the other two more than thirt
thousand. =
ltwas Foscarini who had lost all that.
The gamblers drank glass Of punch, au