Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1881-03-10
ROUGE EFT NOIR.


its center, around which were gathered
its eager votaries behind whom were the
scarcely less interested groups of look
ers-on.
| " Come away, my DEAR said very
lovely woman among the spectators, in q
| whisper, to her husband. :" | am sorry
that we came. This is no place for Pearl -
indicating with nod OF her head, as she
| spoke, an exquisitely beautiful girl,
scarcely more than child, of some twelve
! or fifteen summers, who stood beside
| them
| 6 Come, Pearl, y the father said.
But the girl stood entranced, her eyes
| fixed upon mans face at the furthest
| end OF the table. 1t was a strikingly
| handsome face, even when wearing, as it
now did, an expression OF calm, born OF
desperation. No tinge of color was in
either cheek or lips.
His eyes shone with.a strange and hard
glitter, and were fixed upon the balls as
| they swung round, as though on the
color uppermost hung his hope of life or
death.
And SO it was. He had set down pos
sessei of fortune: he arose beggar !
FATE had steadily pursued him, with
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 some
where into the still night air and send a
bullet through his heart or brain?
1t was at this moment the girl, with
flushed cheeks and half-partcd lips ,darted
up to his side.
Take this, she pleaded, . for my
sake, and pressed a gold piece into his
hand.
He turned. To his excited imagination
she seemed scarcely mortal in her pure,
childlike loyeliness. His first impulse
was to return her otiering-he was not yet
| an ms-taker-but again rang out the
| croupier's cry of command to place the
stakes.
The child stood breathless in her eager
expectancy, her eyes burning with feverish
interest.
A sudden impulse overmasted him.
Without speaking a word he placed the
gold upon the table.
The next minute small pile of gold
was at his elbow. He staked it all again.
Again he won. A bright spot OF scarlet
| replaced the pallor in his cheek, which
| spread and deepened as Dame Fortune,
who had so persistently frowned upon
him, now reserved for him only her
| smiles.
Morning was breaking when he rose
| from the tables, no longer a desperate
man, but with his fortune threefod re-
| turned to him.
After his first winning he had turned
| to return to the child her offering, but
| she had vanished. Should lie ever find
| her, ever repay the debt He knew not,
| but standing at last out under the clear
| blue sky, with great weight lifted from
his heart and brain. Harold Clayton
vowed that it should be his life search,
but the lesson taught him should never
be forgotten, and the gaming table should
i know him never more.
| Six years passed, and Harold Clay ton
was winning name and fame in his own
land IL his profession AS an artist
Standing one night in u crowded as
semby, some one in passing touched him
| lightly on the arm with her fan, and
| CHANGING around he met the smiling face
OF his hostess
Come, she said, "a want to present
you to my belle. Ii you can prevail upon
her to give you sitting, and transfer her
coloring To canvass, you will render your
self immortal.
us She, then, so beautiful he qups-
toned.
Judge for yourself She lightly re-
Joined, leading him TO a little group doing
homage TO the fair girl in the center.
Miss Reybunl-Mr. Clayton, were
the formal words of Introduction, as
;,, 4. -
fore the woman whom his artistic eye
confessed the most beautiful that in all
his wanderings he had ever met
Before the evening was ended he might
have added, the first whom he ever loved,
since She had awakened in him an inter.
est as new as it was strange.
Through the next week her face
haunted him. Then they met again, and
the charm grew and deepened. He
could not define it; he scarcely acknowl
edged it to himself; only away from Mis-,
Reyburn he was restless and uneasy
until he again found himself within The
scope of her destinations.
Yet her nature remained an enigma Il
him. Although so young in years. Sc
beautiful in form and feature. she seemed
so cold, even to haughtiuess, reticen
almost to scorn.
1t was as though some exquisite marbl,
statue had risen in his pathway, which
; might some day warm into life.
She welcomed him whenever they
met with manner which, while it CAV,
him no cause for complaint, yet chile,
the hope springing in his breast.
One day, on going to her home, tn
) servant met him at the door with the an
nouncement that She was very i'll. Thi
; announcement brought other knuwledg
the fact that he could no longer concea
from himself that he loved her and tina
on his hope of winning her hung hi
lites happiness.
He went back to his studio wretche
and despairing, and seated himself at hi
u easel lie had not meant to paint he
face-his brain seemed unconscious ,
his fingers toil--yet, when the mornin
u broke, it was her features smiling upo
him from the canvass, and he remrn
: bred the words his hostess had uttered 0
' the night he first had met her-that thu
y should he render himself immortal.
> He grew pale and wan in the days
i" anxious suspense, when those VII
y watched over her couch knew not While
would conquer, the angel Of life or dealt
! But there came time, never to he fo
IS gotten, when he was admitted into Ii,
- presence.
u She was very white, very fragile, br
" more beautiful than in the cuuring
e perfect health, A now expression to
u was in the violet eyes raised to w"lcom
him.
s. 81 ann very glad to meet you again.
She said, gently. n hear you have he,
q anxious about me. You We're very kind.
y Then the words he had not meant
.' speak burst from his lips.
re- "AnXioms z" hr said. "Cun It MAJ
y Miss Reyburn, pershing of hunger hcj
= OF the famine without II shudti-r. Il
r. preaumptuonS, you will say, 1t i, tru
Vi What is my life, with it, many s-ttl,
- pages in which your eyes could nrp
y look, that | should dare offer it Ia yot
And yet, purified by your love, Won
~ try to make it more worthy Tell me
- answer me- Ii Serve as Jacob served i
"a Rachel, is there hope that | may "
III YOU My darling! my darling! 10
, you can not live my life without yo
~ Will you not share il =
~ Lower and lower dropped tile lid
re until the long dark laslrs swept II
=" marble cheek, while the sweet mou
III trembled; but the monentary weakne
y passed as she spoke Forget all til
IN you have said, MIR. Clayton. 1t @
" never be.
s you do not love me p he luestione
g sadly.
&c Again that swift expression of pa
| a IL 1