The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1891-06-05
A PIECE OF GOLD,
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keepers rake, and rOs from the
roulette table, where he had lost the
last fragments Of has Little fortune,
collected for this supreme struggle, he
set giddy and thought he was going
to fall.
With dizzy head and tottering legs
he went and threw himself down upon
the broad leather settee surrounding
the play table.
For some minutes he gazed vacant
ly on the clandestine gambling house
in which he had squandered the best
years of his youth; recognized the
ravaged faces Of the gamblers, crudely
lit by the three large shaded lamps;
listened to the light Jingle of gold on
the cloth-covered table; felt that he
was ruined, lost; recollected that he
had q home the pair OF regulation
pistols which his father, General Hem,
then q simple captain, had used SO
well in the attack of Zaatcha; then,
overcome by fatigue, he sank into a
profound sleep.
When he arose, with a clalnmy
mouth, he saw by the clock that he
had slept for barely hall an hour, and
felt an imperious need for breathing
~the5light ar. The clock hands mark
ed d quarter before midnight. While
rising and stretching his arms, Lucien
remembered that it was Christmas
eve, and, by anironic trick ofmemOry,
he saw himself Il little child, putting
its shoes into the chimney before
going to bed.
At that moment old Dronski-a
| pillar OF the gaming house, the classic
Pole, wearing the threadbare hooded
WOODEN cloak, ornamented all oVer
with grease talns-approached Luclen,
and muttered a few words IN his
grizzled beard: LEND me q 5-franc
piece, monsieur. It's now two days
since | have stirred out OF the club,
and for two days the seventeen has
never turned up. Laugh at me, if you
like, but III suffer my hand to be cut
off If that number does not turn UP on
the stroke OF midnight"
Lucien Hem shrugged his shoulders.
He had not even enough in his pocket
to meet this tax, which the frequent
ers OF the place called The Poles
hundred sous" He passed into the
antechamber, took his hat and fur
coat, and descended the stairs with
feverish rapidlty.
Since 4 O'Clock, when L1cien had
shut himself UP in the gaming house,
nov had fallen heavily, and the
street-a street in the center OF
Paris, very narrow, and built with
high houses on either side-was, COM
pletely white.
In the calm sky, blue-black, thecold
stars glittered.
The ruined gambler shuddered TN
der his furs, and walked away, his
mind still teeming with thoughts, OF
despair, and more than YER turning
to the remembrance. OF the box OF pis-
tolls which awaited HIM in one OF his
drawers; but after moving forward u
few steps, he stopped suddenly before.
a heart-wringing sight.
On q stone bench, placed according
to old custom near the monumental
door OF mansion, a little girl OF 6
or Z years OF age, dressed in a ragged
black frock was sitting in the. snow.
She was sleeping, in spite of the cruel
cold, in an attitude OF frightful fatigue
and exhaustion; her poor little head
and tiny shoulder pressed as If they
had sunk into an angle of the wall,
and Teposing on the icy stone. One
OF her wooden shoes had fallen from
her loot, which hung helplessly and
lugubriously before her.
With a mechanical gesture, Lucien
put his hand to his waistcoat pocket,
but a moment afterwards he recollect-
III that hn Nod NOT hohr ah1n tn HnI
even Il forgotten piece OF 20 sous, and
had been obliged to leave the club
without giving the customary Tip"
to the club attendant; yet moved by
an instructive feeling OF pity. he APP
preached the little girl, and might,
perhaps, have taken her in his arms
and given her Il nights lodging, when,
in the wooden shoe which had slipped
from her foot, he saw something gilt
ter.
He stopped: it was a gold coin.
II.
Some charitable person, doubtless
some lady, had passed by, had seen
on this Christmas night the little
wooden shoe lying IN front otthe sleep
ing child, and, recalling the touching
legend. had placed there, with q secret
hand, a magnificent Offering, so that
this poor abandoned II might be-
lieve i'll presents made for the infant
Savior, and preserve, in spite OF her
misfortune, some confidence some
hope in the goodness OF Providence
4 gold piece, 1t vas several days OF
rest and riches for the beggar, and
Lucien was on the point OF waking her
to tell her this, when he heard lei
his ear, as in Authorization, a voice
the voice OF the Pole, with its coarse
drawing accent, almost whispering:
"It's now two days since stirred out
of the club. and for two daysthe 'sev-
enteen' has never turned up; I'll suffer
my hand to be cut OFF, ii that number
does not turn up on the stroke OF
midnight"
Then this young man OF three and
twenty, descended from q race OF
honest men, who bore q proud mill