The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-05-21
A PIECE OF GOLD,

aranc note grlpped by the bank
keepers rake, and rose from the
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 tottering legs
he went and threw himself down upon
the broad leather settee surrounding
the play table.
For some minutes he gaZed vacant
Iy 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 home the pair OF regulation
pistols which his father, General Hem,
;then a simple captain, had used so
well in the attack of.Zaatch 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 imperious need for breathing
ed q quarter before midnight. While
rising and stretching his arms, Lucien
remembered that it was Christmas
eve, and, by an ironic trick OF memory,
ne saw himself u little child, putting
dts 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 stains-approached Lucien,
and muttered a few words in his
sgrizzled beard: "Lend me 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
Alike, but I'll suffer my hand to be cut
off il 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
coat, and descended the stairs with
feverish rapidlty.
Since 4 o'clock, when Lucieh 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
.pletcly white
In the calm sky, blue black, the cold
stars glittered
The ruined gambler shuddered I'M
der his furs, and walked away, his
mlnd still teeming with thoughts of
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
Jew steps, he stopped suddenly before
"a heartwringing sight.
On stone bench, placed according
TO old custom near the monumental
door OF a mansion, 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 reposing on the icy stone. One
of her wooden shoes had fallen from
her foot, which hung helplessly and
iugubriously before her.
With q mechanical gesture, Lucien
put his hand to his waistcoat pocket,
but a moment afterwards he recollect-
ed that he had not been able to find
even 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 ap-
preached the little girl, and might,
perhaps, have taken her in his arms
and given her q 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 OF the sleep.
ing child, and, recalling the touching
F legend, had placed there, with a secret
Aland, magnificent Offering so that
this poor abandoned one might be.
aieve in presents made for the infant
Savior, and preserve, in spite of he1
misfortune, some confidence and some
nope in the goodness of Providence.
A gold piece! 1t was several days Of
rest and riches for the beggar, and
iucien was on the point of waking her
70 tell her this, when he heard neal
.tnNC n L
the voice of the Pole, with it's coarse
drawing accent, almost. whispering
!t's now two days since stirred out
'ot the club, and for two days the 'sev.
f'enteen' has never turned up; III suffer
any hand to be cut Off, if that number
does not turn up on the stroke d
midnight. 49,. r..
Then this young man OF three anG
u twenty, descended from race O.
shonest men, who bore a proud mill
. -. o. I d. . T.