Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-16

kept referring to its serried columns of fig
ures. 1.-The winners will be paid month
from to-day" he read out, 'at the Bank of
France
Shortly afterward he asked me If would
care TO play a game. l consented, althougn
was anxious to be of. l have often since
compared myself on that occasion to the dog
who gets nice bone, and whose hrst impulse
is to carry it away and ENJOY 1t In some
lonely spot. / wanted to be alone some
where very far of, to enjoy in solitude my
delightful thoughts. Nevertheless, L &C.
eented the game For some inscrutable rea-
son / thought that extreme dissimulation
was needful. l played the game, and.
though l was very careless and inattentlye,
won. W hen had called out CHECK.
mate" Brunot said, SIT is evidently my un-
lucky dav; but you may have noticed that L
was not very attentive. was thinking how
pretty that arbor on the lawn would have
looked with the Virginia creepers over II.
No, by the way, think we had decided on
Spanish haricot beans!"
As soon as l had hidden my friend good
night and found myself in tine street my one
impulse was to get back to my room as fast
as might be and enter on the credit side Of
my private account book, under the paltry
sums registered in il as the receipts, the
splendid figure of 600, 900. l do not think
anything connected with my good fortune
gave me more pleasure than the act of pen
manship, performed with great deliberation
and scrupulous neatness. By a piece OF
further coed fortune, it happened that this
sum came Just at the bottom of the page, so
that had the further pleasure of including
it in the sum of nv balance, and of carry
ing il majesticaily forward. When this was
done 1 turned to go TO bed, my usual hour
for retiring having come. Suddenly, how
ever, as though a gadfy had stung me, L
halted, turned round, caught up my hat,
and rushed wildly from the room with my
head on fire. When came to myself, L
found myself on the Louvre quay, walking
in the direction of the Place de la Con-
corde, and muttering to myself:
"Marie shall have 0,0O0 francs"
Marie was the servant of the Malllards
who had bought me the ticket.
Yes it was only fair that she should have
10000 francs. As matter of TACT, l owed
NV good fortune to her. 1t would be
handsome present, and would enable her to
realize that project of hers OF which the
Maillards had often spoken to me, and to
marry the waiter in the cafe in their house,
and settle down IN the catering business in
the provinces.
Yes. that was decided. "Marie shall have
10000 francs.'' Perhaps 10000 francs would
be a fair proportion, but too much money
might cause her unhapplneSS, len thou
sand would suffice
Then there was Brunot. Poor Brunot,
whom 1 had treated SO badly, and about
whom 1 had had such unfriendly thoughts.
He was an old friend of mine-my only
friend, indeed. Who more than he hau a
Il = ! L.. Il
cult for me to give him position equal to
the one he had hoped for, and, at the same
time, 10 do SO might be TO render him no
real service at all. But what was to pre-
vent me buying him a little country house
near Paris, and placing sufficient sum at
his credit at the bank to enable him to keep
it up. Ii could easily be done with 20, ,000f
half for the little house and half for the
account at the bank. then began TO think
about Celestine. 1t has since struck me as
strange that the names of those who
had claims upon me presented them
selves IN an inverse order of
importance With reference to my
affianced, two suggestions presented them
selves. The first was that now 1 was too
rich to marry, and that it would be foolish
to throw away my liberty almost as soon
as had acquired it. The second was that
/ should at once make my offer and astonish
my bride and her parents by the munif-
cence Of my settlements and the splendor of
the ceremony and celebrations. l did not,
however, tarrv long on this subject. 1t
was my relatives who next occupied my
thoughts. What was l going to do for
them? Here my business knowledge stood
me by. decided to purchase for my sister
a life annuity sufficient to assure her future
and that of her guardian. my grandmother.
! fixed the amount at 9150 per annum.
As TO myself l hesitated. had had of
course to put up with much annoyance at
the hands CT my employer-which is is
doubtless the experience of everybody In a
dependent position-and more than once it
struck NE that I would take delightful re-
veuge L would be purposely negligent,
and at the first rebuke Inform nv employer
how independent l was o. him, and how lit
tie l cared for the meager salary he allowed
me, put on my hat and saunter with arro-
gance out OF the room, slamming the door
behind me. But the disadvantage of such
an arrangement would be that by such an
announcement everybody, including Brunot,
would hear of my good fortune. l did not
want that. WANTED to have the enjoyment
OF feeling that they thought me poor while
I knew 1 was rich. Besides this, it would
bc dnSllA ~ lCt tNGI Dou hAOh Va SOOu
fortune. 1 should never have moments
peace.
No. l would return quietly to the Office
in the morning and continue as in the past
until / had come to resolution.
Twenty thousand pounds-what mag
nifcent sum it was! Twenty thousand
pounds-that is to say, sum representing
what l should have earned at the the end of
a period of 1.700 months at the salary that
was being paid me-1. 700 months, that is to
say, 142 years. l mad suddenly become
possessed of what would have taken me by
working close on one and half century to
amass, without deducting a single penny
for nv board, lodging, or other expenses
during that period. 1t represented 81, 900 a
year l had thousand pounds year to
spend, or close on three pounds day. 1t
was too delightful to think of. l was now a
rich man, a very rich man.
After walking aimlessly about for some
time totally taken up by my thoughts, /
suddenly turned homeward. As soon as
had reached my room l sat down at NV ia
BILE and prepared the letters in which
should announce to my friends the various
gifts | destined for them. 1t was very pleas
ant work. The letters were anonymous, ex-
cept the one that l addressed to NV sister,