Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1891-07-11
4 PIECE OF GOLD,


roulette table, where he had lost the
last fragments of his little fortune,
collected for this supreme struggle, he |
felt giddy and thought he was going
to fall
With dizzy head and totteriug legs
he went and threw himself down upon
/ the broad leather settee surrounding
the play table.
For some minutes he gazed vacant
] " 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 a home the pair of regulation
pistols which his father, General Hem,
| then a 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 clammy
mouth, he saw by the clock that he
had slept for barely half an hour, and
felt an inperious need for breathing
thess1ight arr. The clock hands mark
ed quarter before midnight. While
rising and stretching his arms, Lucien
remembered that it was Christmas
eve, and, by an ironic trick ofmemory,
ne saw himself little child. putting
it's shoes into the chimney before
going to bed.
At that moment old DronsEi-a
pillar OF the gaming house, the classic
Pole, wearing the threadbare hooded
wooden cloak, ornamented all over
with grease stains-approachedL ucien,
and muttered few words in his
grizzled beard: LEND me a 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, ii you
like, but I'll 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
feyerish rapidlty.
Since 4 O'Clock, when Lucien had
shut himself up in the gaming house,
snow 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
I pletely white.
: In the calm sky, blue-black, hecold
, stars glittered.
The ruined gambler shuddered I'M
der his furs, and walked away, his
mind still teeming with thoughts Of
d despair, and more than ever turning
to the remembrance of the box of pis-
tolls which awaited HIM in one OF his
} drawers; but after moving forward a
: few steps, he stopped suddenly before
Il a heart-wringing sight.
d On stone bench, placed according
to old custom near the monumental
> door OF a mansion, q little girl OF 6
d or years of age dressed in a ragged
y 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 reposing on the icy stone. One
e of her wooden shoes had fallen from
Il her foot, which hung helplessly and
lugubriously before her.
y With a mechanical gesture, Lucien
IS put his hand to his waistcoat pocket
IL but moment afterwards he recollect.
is ed that he had not been able to find
even forgotten piece of 20 sous, and
% had been Obliged to leave the club
d without giving the customary tip
IS to the club attendant; yet moved by
,r an instructive feeling OF pity, he ap
preached the little girl, and might
perhaps, have taken her in his arms
Ie and given her 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.
III.
Some charitable person, doubtless
D. some lady, had passed by, had seel
70 on this Christmas night the littl
wooden shoe lying IN front ofthe sleep
W ing child, and, recalling the touching
7, legend, had placed there, with a secre
to hand, magnificent, Offering, so tina
re this poor abandoned one might be
4 lieve in presents made for the infan
" Savior, and preserve, in spite OF he
9 misfortune, some confidence ana som
ry hope in the goodness of Providence.
b. A gold piecel 1t was several days O
.,v rest and riches for the beggar, AM
" Lucien was on the point OF waking he
~ to tell her this, when he heard nea
o. his ear, as in hallucination, voice
u the voice OF the Pole, with its coars
m drawing accent, almost whispering
"It's now two days since stirred on
VI Of the club. and for two days the 'sev
az enteen has never turned up; I'll suffe
n, my hand to be cut off, if that humble
lis does not turn up on the stroke G
i midnight"
20 Then this young man OF three an,
~ twenty, descended from a race G
honest men, who bore a proud mill