The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-05-22

GU We never told me Wnat you OK
pect it FROM" said Sally. do you ever
think it will be left you? Was it your
fathers money! If you'd tell me !
could think it over. What was it? You
wouldn't deceive me, and you are not
crazy; but / can't think what you mean
by expecting nifty thousand pounds.
And, oh, am so worried, Simon"
Perhaps it may come yet, Sally"
said Simon.
He took his handkerchief from his
pocket as he spoke and wiped his wife's
eyes with it. 4
As he did SO bit of yellow paper fell
into her lap-the last Gumbo Lottery
ticket, bought but an hour before.
She caught at it and her face flushed
again. She looked at her husband with
the CLEAN of anger in her eyes, and cried
out, sharply:
"Is this it? Is this the secret-the
fortune you've talked of? Are you crazy
enough for this? Have you been buy
ing tickets in that cheating lottery all
these years, and is my last pound, that
/ see you have drawn from the bank to-
day, spent for that thing?"
Poor Simon! He stared at his wife for
long time without answering; then he
said, slowly:
think of it-forty blanks, and
every time expected prize-the capt.
tai prize. Think of my disappointmentr'
81 can't think of anything except that
I've married fool" said Sally. IL
could kill myself when think of it. l
believe you married me to get that fifty
pounds to gamble with"
Then she began to cry.
Yes, I've been fool, he said; "but
though the money made me think Of ask
ing you to have me, meant to make you
rich. did, Sally; WOW did. We've
got along very well, haven't we? 1
think great deal of you. meant to
do everything for you; but it's all over
now. look at that ticket, and know
it's blank. should never buy another
never, never! You see, that dream
/ told you once of my dream-appeared
as if it must come true; but my luck is
bad, l see that"
"Luckm cried Sally, stung by resent
ment. "Luck! o, get out of my sight!
Pick up that ticket that you've spent my
last hard-earned pound on, and go where
l can't see you for little while, dor
"rm going, Sallyr' said Simon.
He stepped towards her as he spoke.
He would have kissed her if she had
permitted him to do so.
Then he picked up the yellow ticket,
read the number aloud-9889-crammed
it into his pocket, and sauntered away.
At six o'clock that evening there was a
little crowd beside the mill dam.
1t was fast increasing, for body had
been taken out of the water with pock-
ct handkerchief full of stones about the
neck; Simon Wheeler's body.
He had drowned himself in less than
half an hour after he had walked so leis-
urely away from his injured Sally's pres
ence. 4sfN
They found in his pocket an empty
purse, alittle list of numbers, and q yell
low ticket soaked through, but still bear
ing on its surface the figures 1889.
Sally would have known what it was
but she never saw it, or the dead face
that looked in its marble wilderness like
some beautiful statue, for she lay upon
her pillow as white as he, with her little
baby on her bosom; and the three were
buried together in the little churchyard at
Painsted.
On the day of the funeral there was q
drawing of the Gumbo Lottery.
The manager of the enterprise shouted
the numbers Of the capital prizes; 1889
was not among them. Its holder was not
entitled to fifty thousand pounds.
But it made no difference. Simon
Wheeler lay beside his wife unconscious
of the drawing, and the yellow ticket had
long ago resolved itself into a yellow sop
among the sedgy grasses by the mill
pond.