Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-01-18
a Touch Story.

IVOOi5lg q kentucky GrL-IHT0tciny Dlce
100000 against Lays Hand.
A Louisville correspondent Of the San
Francisco Chronicle says:
There lived on street, IN an un-
pretending establishment, surrounded by
/ trees and flowers, a young lady who was
celebrated for her beauty and accomplish
ments She was a blonde, with blue eyes,
whith teeth, and heavenly smile had
/ the prettiest hand and foot that was ever
seen; and was tall, 1.-the and elegant. Her
wit was delicate pointed and sparkling,
and her mind as superior as her person
was lovely The town was at her feet,
and her suitors were as importunate, II not
as many, as Penelope's; like whom she
was continually wooed and never won. In
the midst of her successes came the war,
the end of which found her family impOv-
erished. and herself reduced to want for
the necessaries Of life.
But she was still the same proud, lmpe
rious mistress of hearts as before, and she
refused in quick succession the many offers
Of marriage that were now made to her.
She had not thought Of matrimony as
resource. but had other and different pros
poets in view. She proposed, IN fact, to
j teach school.
! \ fellow townsman, a gentleman OF
wealth and position and a bachelor, had
been a silent worshiper at her shrine. He
f had houses and lands-estates in the coun-
try and lots in the city-stocks, interests
and investments wherever they would pay :;
and his private establishment on street
was simply palatial. Seeing how the case
stood with her whom he loved with his
whole soul, he resolved, after many self
communings and much reflection, to ask
her to be his wife.
J Sir, she said, in answer to his proposal,
do not love you, and cannot marry
you
Think the matter over, my dear, said
he, and in one week from to-day give me
your answer
Upon his return on the day set she said
to him:
Sir. YOU have wealth, and | am poor :;
you live in a palace, and ], as you see, in
a cottage YOU are desirous of having my
hand, aud | would like very much to be
rich | will make you proposition. |
will throw the dice with you-my hand
against a hundred thousand dollars Is it
a bargain ?'
" 1t is, said he And thereupon they
pledged TO each other their words to bide
the hazard.
1t was arranged that but three persons
should be let into the secret; that each
should select a friend and that the two
selected friends were to choose the third.
Miss-named the Hon. Mr., a
prominent member of the bar, as her
friend Mr.-chose the Rev. Mr.
pastor of the fashionable church Oh
street as his; and these two made choice
of Dr., an eminent professor in the
medical college, as the friend Of both par
ties. BY these gentlemen the prelimina-
ries were arranged, and the programme was
this:
The doctor was to give party at his
house on certain specified Friday eve
ming, at which were to be present all the
best people in Louisville; the Hon. Mr..
was to have license in blank, ready
to be filled at a moments warning, and was
to hold Mrs. check for 500, 900
and the Rev. Mr.-was to be IN waiting
to perform the marriage ceremony, if call
ed on to do so. The dice were to be
thrown in the Hon. Mrs study,
whence the quintette were to proceed to
the party, where, if Miss-lost, they
were to celebrate the wedding, and if she
won, they were to mingle with the guests
without remark.
At precisely nine o'clock on the event
full evening, the players and their friends
met in the Hon. Mrs study. By
agreement of the parties themselves, they
were to throw poker dice, and to cut cards
for the first throw. The gentleman cut
queen and the lady jack, and now came
the tug of war. He was cool, calm and
pale ; she was statuesque, imperious and
collected. His lips were compressed
hers were formed into an extended arc,
spanning the whole mouth and completing
the bow. The twain sat on opposite sides
of a small table, and the umpires stood
overlooking them.
The dice box being set before him, Mr..
placed his fingers over the top, and
with the thumb clasping the side, he gave
it a shake He threw two fours and two deu-
ces. Putting aside the fours he threw again,
and threw another four. Then, throwing
the two remaining dice, he threw two fves.
He had thrown, therefore, full hand
three fours and two ives.
And now came Miss turn. 1t was
thrilling moment, and the rustic of her
silk dress in the stiffness of that room
sounded like the tree tops in the wind.
She began BY throwing off her right glove,
exposing hand of exquisite beauty and
delicacy, on the forefnger of which spark
led diamond Then, taking up the dice
box quickly, she gave it long shake in
the air, and turning it down upon the table,
she threw-nothing a cloud thereupOn
passed her face, and the arc af her lips
assumed a more boW-like curvature