The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1879-09-20
LITTLE PEARLE.
"Red wins %

| 1eu WINS T.
1t was the croupier's hoarse cry, agaii
and again reiterated, only diversified will
that of "Red loses |" which broke the still
ness in the superbly-upponted room a
Honburg, with the gaming table in its cen
tire, round which were gathered its eaga
votaries, behind whom were the scarcel,
less interested group of lookers-on.
"Come away, my DEAR" SAID a very
lovely woman hmong the spectators, in I
low whisper, to her husband. al am sorry
that we came. This is no place for Pearle,
indicating, with nod of head as she spoke
an exquisitely beautl full girl, scarcely NOR,
than child ofsoihe twelve or thirteen sum
mers, who stood beside them.
"Come Pearle |" the father said.
But the girl stood entranced, her eye.
fixed upon mans face seated at the far.
thest end Of the table. 1t was a strikinely
handsome face, even when wearing, as il
now did, an expression of calm, born of des.
peration. No tinge of color was in either
cheek or lips.
His eyes shone with strange and hard
glitter, and were fixed upon the balls, as
they swung roundy as though on the color
uppermost hung his hope of life or DEATH
And so it was He had sat down possess.
ed of fortune; he rose a beggar! Fate
had steadily pursued him with his mock
ing hopelessness, until he had placed his
last stake only to see it mercilessly swept
from him.
He half rose from the table. What more
was to be done save to go out somewhere
into the still night air and sehd bullet
through his heart or brain.
1t was at this moment the girl, with
flushed cheeks and half parted lips, darted
TO his side.
Take this" she pleaded, "for my sake p
and pressed gold piece into his cold hand.
He turned. To his excited Imagination
she seemed scarcely mortal, in her pure,
chlldlike loveliness. His first impulse was
to return her offering-he was not yet an
aims taher but again rang out the
croupler's cry Of command to place the
stakes.
The child stood breathiess in her eager
expectancy, her eyes burning with feverish
interest.
A sudden impulse overmastered him,
Without speaking word, he placed the
gold upon the table.
The next minute a small pile of gold was
at his elbow. He staked it all agati.
Again he won. A bright spot of scarlet re-
placed the pallor in his cheek, which spread
and deepened as Dame Fortune, who had so
rersistently frowned upon him, now resery-
ed for him only her smiles.
Morning Was breaking when be rose from
the tables no longer desperate man, but
with his fortune three fold returned to him.
After his first winning, he had turned to
feturn to the child her Offering, but she had
vanished. Should he ever find her, ever
repay the debt2 He knew not but, stand.
ing at last out under the clear blue sky.
with great weight lifted from heart and
brain, Harold Clayton vowed that it should
be his life searchJ but that the lesson taught
him should never be forgcttenj and the
gaming tables should knon him never
more.
Six years passed. and Harold Clayton was
winning name and fame in his own land in
his profession as an artist.
Standing one night in crowded Assem-.
bly,, some one in passing touched him lightly
on the arm with her fan, and, glahcinp
round, he met the smiling face OF his
hostess.
"Comsl" she said, 81 want to present
you to my belle. If you can prevail upon
her to give you sitting, and transfer her
coloring to canvas, you will render yourself
immortal.,
Is she then 50 beautifully" he ques.
toned.
Judge for yourself" she lightly reloined,
leading him to little group doing homage
10 the fair girl in its centre.
"Miss Rayburn-Mr. Clayton" were the
fJrmal words of the introduction, as Harold
bowed in acknowledgement before the wo.
man whom his artistic eye confessed the
most beautiful that In all his wauderitgs he
had ever met.
Before the evening was ended he might
have added the woman whom he had ever
oted, since she had awakened in him an
interest as new as il was strange.
Through the next week her face haunted
lim. Then they met again, and the charm
grew and deepened. He could not define
t. he scarcely acknowledged it to himself;
'nly away from Miss Rayburn he was
restless aud uneasy, until he again found
himself WIIhin the scope ol her iascina-
IONS
Yet her nature remained an enigma to
lim. Although 50 young in years 50
Jeautiiul in form and feature, she seemed
'old even 10 haughtiness5 reticent almost 20
corn.
II was as though some exquisite marble
statue had risen in his pathway, which
might some day warm into life.
She welcomed him whenever they met
with a manner which, while it gave hun no