Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1885-04-30

OF the Pole-murmuring again the words:
sFor two days I have not budged
from the cercle, and for two days the
seventeen has not come out. I will eat
my head if, on the stroke Of midnight,
that number does not appear
Then this young man of twenty three
who had never before failed in point Of
honor, conceived frightful thought.
Glancing around he made sure that he
was quite alone in the deserted street.
and, stopping, with trembling hand, he
stole the louis dor from the fallen shoe.
Then running swiftly, he returned to the
gambling house; he reached the top of
the stairs in four bounds, with blow of
his fist he opened the cushioned door of
the cursed hall and entered at the pre-
else moment when the clock sounded the
first stroke Of midnight, threw the stolen
louis on the green cloth, and exclaimed !:
"Fun on the 17p'
The II won. With turn of his hand
Lucien pushed thirty-six louis on the
red. The red won. He let the seventy
two louis remain on the same color. The
red appeared again.
lie still continued to double the stakes,
twice, thrice-always with the same
good luck. He had regained, in few
turns of fortunes wheel, the few misera-
BILE 1,0O0-franc notes, his last resource,
that he had lost at the beginning of the
evening. Now, piling up 200 or 800
louis at time, and relying on his fantas-
tic run Of luck, he was in a fair way to
regain the fortune that in such few
years he had squandered. He still
played. He still won. The blood boils
in his veins; be becomes intoxicated
with good fortune; he throws, hapzard
whole handfuls of golden louis upon the
table with gesture of certainty and dis
dain.
But in spite of the wild feverish ex-
citement of play, red hot iron was
piercing his heart. lie could not divert
his thoughts from the little beggar girl
asleep under the snow-the child whom
he had robbed.
"She must be in the same placei Ger
tainly she must be there In moment
yes; when the clock strikes one;
I swear it. will leave this place
/ will carry her to my own house; will
her bring up, give her dowry, love her
as my own daughter, cherish her always,
alwaysl"
But. the clock struck one-the quar-
ter-the halt three quarter. Lucien
was still seated at the cursed table. AT
last one minute before two, the dealer
rose quickly and announced in loud
voice: ''The bank is broken. gentle
men; enough for to night"
With bound Lucien was on his feet.
Thrusting rudely aside the players who
gathered about him, and who were re-
garding him with look of envious ad-
miration, he went out quickly, rushed
down the stair and ran to the stone
bench. At distance, by the light OF
the gas, he perceived the little girl.
"God be praised" he cried, she is
still therel"
He approached and seized her hand.
Oh, how cold it wasl Poor child
He took her in his arms to bear hel
away. The child's head fell back, but
she did not waken.
How one does sleep at this agel
He pressed her to his heart to bring
back the warmth to her little body, but
filed with strange uneasiness, he was
on the point of kissing her eyes in order
to draw her from that heavy slumber,
when he perceived with horror that her
eyelids were half open, exposing the
eyeballs, dimmed and fixed in CLASSY
stare. A terrible suspicion flashed
through his mind; lie put his mouth
close to the mouth Of the child; not q
breath escaped. While, with the gold
pieces that he had stolen from this home
less child Lucien had won a small for
tune, she had frozen to death. The
most frightful anguish choked his ut
terance, and with the effort he made to
cry out he awoke from his dream on the
leather bench of the cercle, where be
had fallen asleep alittle before midnight
and where the servant, being the last to
go, toward five in the morning, had, out
of kindness Of heart for the ruined
spendthrift, allowed him to rest un
disturbed. A frosty Decer-ber morn
Ing had whitened the window -panes, and
a fairy hand had traced many,a chattear
d'Eepagne TO crumble with the rising
sun. Lucien went out and pawned nj:
watch, took bath, breakfasted, went
to the bureau for recruits and signed ar
engagement as volunteer in the FRS
regiment of chasseurs d'Afrique.
To day Lucien de Hem is a lieutenant
He has only his soldiers pay but he gets
along, being regular in his habits anc
never touching q card. 1t would seem,
too, as If he found some means o
economizing; for the other day, at Algier
one Of his comrades who happened to be
some steps behind him in one of til,
steep streets Of Kosba saw him give aim
to little Spanish child asleep under .
doorway, and had the bad taste to ex
amino his gift. He was astonished a
the generosity, for the poor Lieutenan
Lucien de Hem had put louis dor il
the hand Of the little girl. From IL
IN. Il II