Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-12-18
THE CASTING COIN.
BY JEANETTE II. WALWORTH.


'Heads, co. tails, I stay"
A reckless laugh mingled with the
| jingling of loose coin. Five copper pen
MES tumbled upon the dark blue cloth
of the old library table.
With a superstitious impulse, from
which the wisest of us is not entirely
| free, five heads were suddenly bent
| above the spinning coins.
The five heads belonged respectively
to Major Duke Fairchild, his wife and
| daughter Loulou and the two ''Fairchild
boys" as they were locally called. The
two Fairchild boys had no other claim
on the name they bore than what was
due to the generosity of its rightful
owner.
Two friends of the majors had fallen
by his side in battle. He had breathed
words of comfort into two dying heroes
ears, ."Your sons shall be my sons if
ever they need father' Time held
him rigidly to his hasty promise, SO that
within few years after the surrender
he found himself with a wife and girl
OOOJ VI lIlo ONtl anu WV DOyc WIZ hteNi
grown up from early childhood to young
manhood as t'the Fairchild boys"
But the old plantation home was
large, and the majors heart was larger
still; SO no one had ever been sorry for
that hasty promise made on the battle
field.
The old plantation house was still
large, and the majors heart was still
as large, but value had shrunken, and
times were hard, and for months past
the problem the copper coins were to
settle had consumed much Of the fam
ily's time and attention.
One of the boys must strike out and
get into business of some sort. 1t was
the only hope for the major and Mrs.
Duke and Loulou.
Which cne of them should it be?
The question had been argued from
every possible point of view. Raymond
was the stronger physically and the eld-
er, but he had come to take the major S
place SO completely on the plantation
that it seemed as if he could not be
spared. Dabney was less essential to the
routine life Of the place, but every fiber
Of Mrs. Fairchild's heart clung about
the handsome lad, and woman's heart
is the veriest hotbed CT arguments in
favor of what she wants
And so for months now the question
had come up for daily discussion, right
", too, for that matter, as the boys
themselves talked it over in a manly,
amicable way after going TO their room
Of nights, and the major and his wife
carried the question to bed with them,
hoping perhaps that some new light
would be mysteriously she'd upon it by
the snuffing out Of the tall sperm can
die i'll the old fashioned silver stick
which stood by their bedside year in
and year out And then Dabney, with
that reckless laugh, had flung the whole
matter into the scales of chance:
''Heads, go; tails, stay
Five pennies spun dizzily Oh the blue
cloth. One leaped all bounds and tum-
bled to the floor. Loulou's pretty blond
head disappeared beneath the table il
pursuit Of it.
"Two heads, two tails!" Raymond
said excitedIy.
"The casting vote is in Loulou s
hands," Dabney said gravely and cast
an intense look at the girl as she reap
peared with one small hand clinched
about the coin. She looked at him ap-
pealingly. Her tender little heart would
be quite broken if he should go away.
This innocent byplay irritated Raymond
unreasonably. He spoke out somewhat
sharply:
''Honor bright, Lou! As you lay it
down the thing goes. -
"Honor bright, Of course, Lou. We
would not have it any other way" said
Dabney.
With averted eyes and fingers that
tremblcd in spite of her, she laid the
penny in line with the four on the ta-
BILE and drew back with sigh Of re-
laxed tension. Whichever way it was to
go it was done, and she had had hand
i'll it
''Headsl" The note of triumph was
Raymond's. 81 go" The note of final
ity was Dabney's.
He said it almost solemnly. The OF
deal had been Of his own contriving, and
he would not discredit it. Ee took the
five pennies up and pocketed them with
unslniling deliberarion.
Five Of them. That means five years.
trial A good deal may come and go in
that length Of time. -
''Long enough for a man to gain q
fortune, said Raymond encouragingly.
Long enough for man to lose"--
But LOuleu was not there, and the
sentence We ald mean nothing at all if
addressed i any other pair Of eyes, SO
he amended it. "Long enough for q
man to loae his temper several times
over if he wants to make an ass of him
self. "
(which, of course, you do not, - said
the major conclusively.
The time that ensued between the
coin adjudication/andt the date of Dab
ney's departure was q very full one.
s'Of course you are not going away be-
fore Christmas" Loulou said tearfully,
bedewing the big F she was embroider-
ing in the corner of masculine hand
kerchief. "And, Dabney, now that we
are all by ourselves, I want you to say
that you hold me guiltless of that cast
ing vote. How could l tell which side
of that dreadful copper was going to
come uppermost?'
"To be sure. how could you? And you
are not to make yourself unhappy about
this business. I love you, dear. You
know that And if were not man
absolutely without calling or an occu-
! patton l should have told you long age
inst hcE loved you and how I Eaases