The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-05-29
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vlNcT-TROIS, ROUGE.

hour, and every day some new tragedy oe,,
cupied the gossip of that little world, and
set the Bureau, hard pressed for fresh lnYeh-
tions at work to explain it away.
The beautiful gardens were in their rich
est bloom. Up and down the terraces, over
looking the sparkling bay, strolled in care
less reverie or anxious thought vast crowd,
gathered from every part of the world. The
Babel of a thousand tongues was in the air,
and soft nothings were whispered to bright
eyes in all the varied accents of Europe.
A little apart stood man whose face and
manner showed that he had been much bat
tered by the world. The stern eyes, the de-
cisive chin, were little tempered by a
mouth of unusual sweetness of expression.
But he wore troubled look, and seemed to
be thinking to himself with great anxiety A
little beggar girl, who had escaped the watch
fulness of the police, and come here to I'M
perfume the wealthy strangers, accosted him
doubtfully in Italian.
Not much disappointed by his mechanical
shake Of the head, for she had not expected
much from such face, she crept tlmldly on.
AS she did so his eye rested on her almost
unconsciously, and a half-spoken word OF
pity escaped him. She was truly a pltiably
Sight. Thin to emaciation, ragged, yet bear
ing her hard lot courageouSly, AFTER the man
ner of the children of the poor, she dragged
her weary limbs from one to another, speak
ing forlornly her tale of suffering. She soon
disappeared from the sight of Armand de
Guevres, but continued her quest among the
crowd. AT last, to her intense surprise, she
found sudden and great success. A tall,
authenticated soldier, decorated with many
scars and wearing proudly the uniform OF
q colonel in the Austrian Hussars, tossed
her a louis dor in answer to her tlmld ap-
peal She clutched it carefully, and went
away with daZed feeling of delight 1t was
almost too much for the starved mind to re-
alize. She went to deserted part of the
gardens, and sat downin the shade OF great
cypress The little life was almost gone, but
she dared not go now to satisfy her hunger,
lest her treasure be taken away by the po-
lice With sublime courage she stllled the
call for food, and quietly waited. The hour
of noon struck from many brazen throats,
and the sun was sending down hotter and
more sultry ray, and the little beggar girl
had fallen asleep.
Armand de Gueyres was in despair. A
soothsayer had crooned over to him proph-
ecy upon the play at roulette. Never before
superstitious, he now felt dim dread of ne
glecting the presage. "fwenty-threee, red.
he muttered to himself again and again. HIS
purse was empty. The solder OF fortune
was deserted by the goddess, and his last
franc was spent. Passing him were scores
of the great mobiles of Europe, many of them
his friends, their pockets filled with gold and
silver. Why should he not borrow? He re-
jected the thought Soon he espied more
familiar face. 1t was the SCARED visage of
the authenticated colonel Of hussars. Here
he would apply. Prince Ludwig Won Lin
denau was his friend and owed him great
debt. For the scar over his eyebrow was
the result of a stroke that would have taken
his life had it not been for the interposed
sword blade of Armand de Gueyres. He ac-
costed him hurriedly: ''Will you lend me
louis dor Prince ?''-"A thousand, Armand"
81 want only one" But the Princes face
clouded with vexation; u gave my last , TO
de GueVres laughed it off 1T is of no con-
sequ ence, truly" he protested, and to escape
the company of his friend he vanished into
the crowd.
Along the path near the great cypress
wandered a. weary looking figure. DE Gueyres
had found no way TO get even paltry louis
dor, The hour Of one, the hour OF success
on twenty-three, was approaching. Sudden
ly he came upon ragged figure lying under
the cypress. 1t was the beggar girl HIS
heart gave a great bound as he saw a glitter
ing gold piece in her hand. She was asleep.
Why not take the louis? He was sure to
win. re could restore it five minutes later.
He blushed at the thought and hurried on.
Soon with slow steps he returned. Stealth
ly, like thief, he trod upon the turf. Hes
itating, wavering. SIT weuld be no dishon-
orable act" he said. Then with quick mo-
ton he bent over the poor little figure, and
was in moment fleeing with the gold coin
concealed in his hand
that day. Some of the greatest players OF
Europe had piled gold on notes to fabulous
extent upon the tickle chance of the numbers,
and all had quietly lost. The famous Rus
sian. Princess Erloff, had with her own fair
hand placed great roll of gold on the red.
But there was a run of sixteen on black,
and the beautiful face was distorted by ter
rible frown as Their pincess arose to go, leay-
ing her thousands behind her. Madame las
chini the danSeuse whose grace had captl-
waited all France. swept proudly up to con-
quer and, the luck changing to red, she
shortly retired, loser by an enormous sum.
The clock was upon the stroke of one. The
rooms were crowded to the full. a run OF
the stakes for the next turn were beln g
placed. Immense sums lay on black, for all
thought il sure to come up A slight stir IN
the crowd was occasioned by the approach
of new conner, man intensely pale, with
a set, determined mouth, dark eyes. of great
quietly asked place in the front row to
stake a louis dor on twenty three.
A great bell struck the hour. One! 1t
was not sufficient to break the intense still
ness that awaited the. event of the play.
''Vint-trois, rouge" announced the crou,
pier A hum of establishment arose; several
players with muttered oaths hurredly left
their places. They were ruined, poor TEL
lows. The place of one of them was taken
by the new comer who calmly placed his
winnings on red.
II will play for five minutes" he promised
himself
Red won. De Guevres did not touch his
stake. Again and again red won. The gold
was piled high upon red, 1t was all the
property of one man. All the players were
betting furiously against him. Black mu st
come up; the insolent confidence of the win
ner would then be rebuked. The croupier
touched him on the shoulder to emphasize
his demand that part of the stake be re-
moved. The limit was passed.
$50 soon,', muttered De Guevres. He took
off part of the gold. Red again! The ex-
element was so great that the vast crowd
breathed with one great inspiration Of aston
ishment. But now stir arose. This mas
ter of fate withdrew his vest winnings. He
courage; some wanted red some black. At
the last momeut De Guevres suddenly placed
an enormous stake on black, and an equally
large one on odd. Black and odd was the
event.
whole horde of pleasure-seekers flowed into
the strangers hands. The hour of two struck
with clang and reused him to guilty con-
seriousness.
pered to himself.
The hour of three struck. He took no no.
tice. for his winnings had become immense.
But a great self-loathing possessed him as he
heard the four, resounding with new and
strange meaning. With a blind nope 70 tear
himself away, he now with lavish hand
placed his stakes on twenty-three. Strange
to say, it mad not appeared since his first
stake upon it. He placed the highest allowa-
BILE sum on the figure, the highest on red, on
odd, every form Of wager that could include
the number A hurried consultation took
place between the croupiers. Had they
enough to pay him if he won? The banks
had won enormously all the morning, but
this stranger was bringing their funds very
low. A quick survey showed just enough to
meet the loss if he should win. In deathly
silence the result was awaited The crowd
was awed into dpmbness by such mysterious
fortune None but the stranger had staked.
In voice of horror the croupier announced
"Vingt-trois, rouge!"
A great murmur, which swelled into a
storm. arose from the concourse of specta-
tors. With wild frenzy they rushed for
ward to share the luck Of this wizard But
they were met by the departure of their
wofIld-be guide. As he slowly paced from
The table through the lane of awe-stricken
paonIe who made war for him, he did not see
that he had broken the bank His thoughts
pressed forward to the little ragged figure
< short, hurried walk, breaking into 9
run as he drew nearer to the spot, brought
him into t,a ebada of the tree. His over