, 1864-11-06

| ther 60, their owners never mention them.
They ae bought at dusk CT 1t early morn By
women with wills, mutHsd up men, or chill.
aIen 70, old soousp, oesst, to epel tue word tio
| holders. They so OF bk scor.a at time. OF
by ones and twos. Who cs1not find the
means of obtaining ticket costing perhaps
five Sous, or at moet francs
Atter the cla1 destlne purchase, to thsm-
selves are confned-with no one to witness
them, conhdeo to DO sympathettc @ar-shesr
iever,sh hopes, their dreams of wealth their
| castles In the air. their palpftatlng perusal
! Of the published p1izs+lists, tneir disappoint-
| 1uent when their venture turns out blank
waste paper, aud their mistaken belief that
| better luck will come one day or other, by
! and-by. The imaginary riches IN which they
| have been reveltng for weeks are suddenly
| dIesipated, to be mentally epjoyed, with
equal sterility, at the ear1iest opportunity.
When my books wera paid for and deliver.
ed to Antoine. frat bought my fair neigh
boris forty tickets, and then specialized In
twenty more on NY own account, without
affecting the slightest concealment- An
tome, beho]ding this, took courase-such Is
the force Of example-Rud, drawing half O
frank from his watetcoat packet, sa1d:
g It's what Loutee has given me for my
weeks tobacco. But never mind-I must
have one: Somebody must get the gross lot;
why not as r ell as another ?"
l.
"Take q couple Of my tickets, and welcome
too. I have not the slightest expectation OF
Winr irg, and hardly know what fancy makes
dow"
IT, Monsienr Monsieur is too good. shall bs depriv-
SOf bit Of paper, with which you will
tGs scissors. Look, aid tell me which you
will have'
.'1f ! could only choose good numberp
"Au numbers arc good until they are
drarD, and then 1t Is too late to choose.
Take a3i M any slip Of tickets you please, and
he took one between his finger mud thumb,
and the scissors severed the two lower ones
from mine. The generous sacrifice was
made. Was not presenting him, perhaps,
with four thousand four hundred pounds
sterliug2 Antoine put. until the day OF
drawing, the great and the second best lots
in his pocket.
Time passed, and thought no more OF my
1ottery tickets. bad slowed them away,
after jotting down their numbers On scrap
Of paper, which stuck in an out,of the-way
corner Of my porte, e,monnate.. Ny visits to
the widow continued as usual, on terms ot
increasing intimacy. Her manner WIS lnya
riably frank and friendly; still. to my grea1
annoyance, Icon1d not get her to fx the date
OF our projected wedding.
One morning when called found he,
studying the JoArndzd<s Dssats with great at
tentton.
"The St. Simple Lottery was drawa." abe
said. "the day before yesterday; and here IL
the list of winning numbers"
"And have you won -"
"As usual. nothing One singular circum,
stance has happened, which does not, I think,
often occur. Tao consecutive numbers
has the great lot, the second lot Of one
h91d1ed a1e francs. They are Nos ss4 400 and
"Let me look what chance I have" i
said, taking the scray Of paper from my
porte-monnaie, III have several tickets
amongst the three millions and odd, which Is
target, however, quite wide enough for me
that won't do. $50, nor that. 3,S3i,5-,
nor that 1854 .4o6! hurrah hurrah! By
Jove, dear friend, the great lot is mIne!''
"ls 1t really? You are not joking? she
asked, turning very red. "No. Then nm
sorry for ii. Indeed. Great lots never bring
Iereste1, and that take Jon at last for yonr
moneys eake. How cao 1:unany, without
feeling. ashamed Of myself, man whose
name will be adyertiaed in every journal
throughout all France as the winner Of the
gros lot? The position Is ridiculous-de-
testab1el 1heartl1y Wish you had not won
1T do-'t. 4 hundred thousand francs
can DO no harm. They nre honestly mine,
waiting my claim In the Cafyille BANK asd
shall 70 and pocket them without the
flightest ecruple- I have another piece oi
news TO tell 3ou If have the great lot,
Antoine must have q lot OF one hundred
manning on the slip from which cut him Of
q c1npIeh
'"And 90 he was within an inch or two oi
having the great lot fall on his head When
co you 60 to receive the money ~
"The'eooner the better. Tomorrow, psr.
Very well; 90 so, By MI mesns, and get
1t over. An Idea strikes me. Antoine shall
60 with sou, to tnke his money also. From
Belport to Caryi1e Is only three hours by
rail You can easily go and return In one
day. will drive you into BelpoEt early In
the morning, and come aud fetch you in the
evening. l. shall order Antoine to meet you
at the railwsy station. And pray take care
Of yourself Twill n.ver buy another lottery
ticket, for begin to hate the very words
liz
drove tor etneS into to BsipsTt 81 % issa esas ny s
oblgiIg widow goolby, leaving her t
trnnsagt her affairs in town, and walked te
the station alone, where I found Antoine
waiting, certainly, with military punctual,tj :
hut he was very different from the sober An
Ills check was flushed, his eye spanked, hil
| csp Was pushed bacah-snd cooked on ON
SIDE, his Waistcoat halfunbntfoned He wa
drunk, IL short-not stupidity drunk, but ex
cited]y drunk. He WIS harangutnS circle
Of laughing cquaintancts-and Antoine
knew evtI2tody-in the rhetorical style
known IL France as "p1ague," or chaE. at
my approach he stopped short, and Joined
me with q respectful salute.
'.Antciue!'' said, In tone and with q
look of oec1ded rebuke.
ture which implied, II know what you
mean, and don't deny i:,n III have had a
dispute with Louise this morning; and after
disp1tibg with heE, I must always drink.
AGo It isn't the quantity which does 1t then.
Of gin 1les to my hsad. and this mornfnE
| Was obliged to take two. She has been a
| me ssa1n about tie old story. Her mothe
has told her that I ought TO give her ever,
sou OF my lottery prtz.. They have alread,
settled what they are to buy With It; | au
| am very sor1y for it; but yonr fatntl
quhrtels are no business Of mine, and yoi
can't come with me in this condition.
Don't eay that Monsieur, I beg OF you
Madame would never forgive me. This !
nothing; t would soon pass away whel
! oA4@0 VII LILO 4AAW&y1 0AA REHulk6o YOU
Monsieur, that, the whole day long, I VII
! drink nothing stronger than caJs al lat l
| pBnta1oon for mel And all the reat TO-
| these Women's 1ancies 9aprests! MOI
Monsieu, like you; you are 8 bon gancon
| Pardon the liberty; but let us sooner 60 OF
| to Paris and spebd it all. "a il we Were
| couple of Crimean comrades-''
= thank you. There is nothing SHOULD
Ike better, if you were rich enough to atfort
1t As It Ia, don't throw away your money
Ike tool 1t Will be ofuse to you at home
Besides, What am to do with my lot, while
yon are dragging me about from 1estaurautE
to theatres and cafes chdntdnts ~
"Ihat ia true; but may come with you
Ing. Go and get couple Of return third
class tickets for Cargille, aud behave as ra-
ttonal1y "a you can"
A rapid wink of the eye conveyed both his
appreciation Of the advice and his promise 10
follow it.
/ had fallen into the habit (when unaccom-
PANIED by ladies) Of travelling In France third
mol nothirg Of the kind nobody ever thinks
OF econom1zlng-hut for the sake Of mixing
with the people. So third cltss went this
time. Antoine had never Travelled IN any
other. In feW minutes We had taken our
placee; the bell rang. and We were On the
move.
A thi1d-class railway carriage. IN France, Is
public room In which everybody may
speak to everybody, without tue form Of an
general or in groups, conv sation there a.
ways ia, aid plenty Of it. We were h7rdly
cnt Of the: Belport station before somebody
pulled from his pocket 8 Newspaper With the
list Of the winning Numbers. The lottery
that had been drawn SO lately could not help