The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-05-25
THELOUIS DOR.

contest, he was almost overcome by
vertigo and thought for a moment that
he should fail.
With swimming brains and trembling
limbs he threw himself on the large bench
covered with leather which was placed
all around the sides of the gambling hall
For some minutes he surveyed the secret
haunt where he had wasted the best years
of his youth, and recognized the worn
faces Of the players, dimiy shown by the
light Of three large globes. He listened
to the chink Of the gold fallin on the
green cloth, reflected that he was ruined,
lost: and remembered thathe haG at home,
in the drawer Of his dressing table, the
regulation pistols, which his father Gen
de Hem, then a simple captain, had used
so well at the attack on Zaatcha; then,
overpowered by fatigue, he SAM into
profound sleep.
When he awoke with his mouth heated
AMI arched he perceived by a glance at
the clock that he had slept scarcely half
hour, and he felt an irresistible desire TO
breathe the outer air of night The
hands of the clock marked quarter of an
hour to midnight. As he arose from the
bench and stretched his arms Lucien re-
membered that it was Christmas Eve, and
by an ironical freak of his memory he
suddenly saw himself again a little child
placing his shoes near the chimney before
going 10 bed.
Al this moment the old Drouski. sort
of pillar of the gambling house the
CLASSIC Pole, wearing a shabby surtout or
namented with frogs and buttons. ap-
preached Lucien and murmured in his
ear these words, which seemed to issue
from his grizzly and grimy beard
Lend me five-franc piece, monsieur.
For two days / have not stirred from the
circle. and for two days the seventeen
has not come out Laugh at me if you
will, but give you leave TO cut off my
right hand if in a few moments. when it
it strikes midnight, that number does not
appear.
LuCien de Hem shrugged his shoulders;
he had not even enough in his pocket to
pay this tax, which the frcquenters of the
place called The Hundred Sous of the
Pole. He passed into the ante chamber.
put OF his hat and peliesse, and descended
the staircase with the rapidity of a person
in fever.
During the four hours which Lucien
had been passing in the gambling house
the snow had fallen c0piOuslV. and the
street-a street in the center of Paris,
rather narrow and built with high houses
on each Side-waS perfectly white. In the
sky, which was now clear and of black
ish blue. the cold stars sparkled and
shone.
The ruined gambler shivered under
uGdln HIS luTS, anu SCI out 10 Walk
turning over in his mind his despairing re-
Elections, and think now more than ever
of the case of pistols which awaited him
in the drawer of his dressing table; but
after having gone a few steps, he sud-
denly stopped before heart-rending spec
tacle.
Under a block of stone, placed accord
ing to former usage. near the principal en7
trance of hotel, little girl or z years
of Oln in q oil al
in rags. was seated in the snow. She had
fallen asleep in spite of the cruel cold, in
a pitiable attitude of fatigue and exhaus-
ton, and her poor little head and diminu-
tive shoulders were crushed so to speak,
into the angle of the wall, and rested on
the icy stone. One of the shoes which the
child wore had become detached from her
foot, which hung down limp and inert,
a8l now lay mournfully before her.
With a mechanical gesture Lucien de
Fem raised his hand to his waiscoat
Rocket, but he remembered that a mo-
Hnt before he had not been able to find
s.0.sous piece which he had forgotten,
ana which he wished to give as a gratuity
IL the waiter of the gambling house.
However, impelled by an instructive senti-
mont of pity, he approached the little
child, and perhaps would have taken her
ia her arms and carried her TO a shelter
f<T the night, when he perceived a shin
Xxx object in the shoe which had fallen on
tie snow.
He stopped and looked 1t was louis
dor.
a charitable persona woman, no
dOubt-had passed by, had seen on
:his Christmas Eve the fallen shoe
lying before the slumbering child,
and recalling the touching legend,
had dropped in it with a cautious hand. a
splendid gift, so that the little, deserted
creature might, on awakening, still believe
in the presents made by the child Jesus,
and preserve, Notwithstanding her misery,
some hope and trust in the goodness of
Providence.
A louis! That meant many DAYS of
ease and comfort for the little beggar, and
Lucien was on the point of arOusing and
telling her this, when close to his ear, as
il were in a dream, he heard the voice of
the Pole with his drawing and Shiny ac-
cent:
For two whole days have not stirred
from the circle and for two days the
seventeen has not come out You may
cut off my right hand if now, in mo-
ment. at the stroke of midnight, that
number does not appear "
Suddenly the young man of %, de
scended from an honorable race which
bore a splendid military name without a
stain, conceived frightful thought He
was seized with n mad, hyStericai, mon
strous desire BY glance he assured
himself that he was alone in the deserted
street. and bending down and stretching
forward his trembling hand, he stole the
louis d or from the fallen shoe Then
running at full speed. he returned to the
gambling house bounded up the staircase,
burst open with a blow OF his hand the
door of the crowded and accused hall,
and rushing in at the very first moment
Il, .1p Il L
stroke of midnight. he threw the piece of
gold on the greel Goth, and cried:
All on the seventeen
The "SeYeuteen won.
With a sweep of his hand Lucien
pushed the 20 louis OH the red.
The red won.
He left the - louis on the same color.
The red again TUNED up.
He made The same venture twice three
times, and always with the same success.
He had soon before him a heap of gold
and bank notes, with which in a sort of
frenzy he strcwed the cloth. The
dozen, the column" the number,
every combination succeeded 1t was a
supernatural and unheard- of fortune. 1t
seemed as if the little ball Of ivory leaping
into the com artments of the roulette ia
bic was magnetized and fascinated by the
look Of the player, and obeyed his will
He had Iewon in dozen bets the paltTy
bank notes of 900 francs, his last re-
source. which he had lost in the begin
ming of the evening, and now, wager