The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-03
MY LOTTERY WIFE.


means of a lottery may sound very
dreadful in the ears of some folks, an6
yet 1, Jack Drummond, owe mine tC
nothing more nor less than ticket No
0,O5S, 80 in the Brussels Grand Inter
national lottery of a few years ago.
1t occurred thus: 1 was in the lowest
of low water. I, a playwright. whose
pieces possessed-of that the author al
least was convinced-the power OF
drawing large sums from the pockets
of the multutidinous pleasure seekers
of the metropolis. Alasl l had not
convinced the managers that l, a rank
outsider" whose only dramatic fame
rested upon the production of a farce
at suburban church entertainment,
could possibly write a three-act comedy
which should make the boxes smile, the
stalls litter, the dress circle grin, the
pit roar and the gallery scream with
understandable merriment.
l was, as L have said, in low water.
had sent my latest Sober
sides, the Funny Man"-to the acting
manager of the ThesDian and was a
little more than doubtful of the result
With "Sobersides, the Funny Man,
pigeonholed at the Thespian, had
nothing to do but to struggle along as
DCSl L COQlQ On the Oh caSn
obtained by doing sweated reviewing
for supposed respectable journal.
One day when had scampered through
ten volumes and. written notices of
them for the princely remuneration of
half as many shillings 1 was surprised
land not altogether agreeably) by a
visit from my uncle. A worthy button
merchant of Birmingham, he would
never forgive me having quilted the,
position which he had found for me in
his office that I might seek to earn a.
"beggarly subsistence" by my pen
Pens he would say, ARE made for
bookkeeping-not for bookmaking.
And bookmaking in Fleet street was,
TO his mind, no less disreputabie than
bookmaking on the race course
We'll, Uncle Joe came, and if I did
not exactly welcome the coming, 1
was certainly delighted to speed the
parting guest. Before he left 1 had de-
cided that he was not so bad after all.
Tor he treated me to an excellent dinner
ana gave me-C"Ods bank and bullioni"
as Sir Lucius would have said)-a ESQ
note
l went to Euston. to see the old boy
on softened toward him almost to tho
degree of offering to return like a
prodigal to Birmingham and its but
TONS. AS the train was on the point of
starting Uncle Joe threw me an
stnNeiope saying, Il was fool enough to
puy tnat when in Brussels. You may
nave II, Jack, for all it's worth"
The envelope. much to NV amuse-
neht' contained a ticket to the Brus
selS grand International lottery.
On the way to my lodgings 1 revolved
the question: What shall l do now2 T
determined to husband my means so 7
llllght i've on the $50 as long as pos
slole while making further efforts ar
o o. work. Strong in my new cap
ltallstic conceit, L wrote the editor.
whose SWeated reviewer in chief I had
been, and threw up my connection with
MS paper; and then. leaving no ties of
work to bind me to London, 1 deter
mined to live on the continent as
cheaply as possible while / wrote an
other play. happy thought struck
me- Why not go to Brussels while
working and waiting for something to
turn up? owe are all more or less in
timately connected with the great fam
lily of Micawber). 1 looked again at
the lottery ticket and learned that the
drawing was at the beginning of July.
Ever creature of impulse. | was by
noon the following day in Brussels.
L had been in the Belgian capital be-
lore, and made my way at once to an
unobstrusive hotel in a side street or
the Rue de la Madeleine. In the hotel
entrance / saw a flaming bill about the
lottery. giving the exact date of the
drawing as July 4. A happy augury
this, thought ], for it will be Indepen-
dence day. The first prize represented
an enormous sum, the very considera-
ton of which gave me the dreams of a
millionaire. I began to consider my
ticket as really valuable possession.
almost as though it were an actual
draft for the amount of the first prize.
and at the very least as a kind of tails
man which was to pass me along the
road to good fortune. Such, indeed, il
way to prove. in a manner l could
never have imagined.
During my stay 1 determined to do
Brussels thoroughly. spent my. morn
ings in work, my afternoons in wander
ing in all quarters Of the city. and my
evenings at VauXhall. Gay with life,
light and music. the popular resort eX-
ercised a great fascination over me-
On the first visit my eye was taken
by an obviously English couple who
sat near mean old man and a young
woman. Her pale face was full of
character and lit up by large. clear,
gray eyes, the whole expression being
one of somewhat listless sadness.
found myself specializing as to what
she was, where she lived and why she
lived, as I soon decided that she did,
in semi-solitude with her morose faith
er-I took their relationship for grant
ed-who scarcely ever. while they were
within my ken, addressed a word TO
her.
Night after night I went to Vaux-
hall, drawn-though 1 would not then
have admitted it-by a pair of clear,
gray eyes. There the ill-assorted
couple always sat, scarcely speaking to
one another, she listening abstractedly
TO the music. he mostly reading news
paper. AS the last item on the pro-
gramme was begun they invariably
rose to depart.
one night confess it with a certain
feeling of shame-I followed them with
he object of finding where they lived.
Down the Rue de la Lilo and the Rue
Royal they went as far as the Palace
st. Gudule. and there, in a crowd close
% the cathedral, / lost sight of them,
l apostrophized myself as 4
)lanked fool for doing so. l, a penni-
ess PLAYWRIGHT liked the name,
hough still among the great unplayed,
Suppose I met them. suppose my in
atuation for a pathetic pale face, with
gray eyes should develop
nto real, passionate love for the living,
1ulsive personality to which they be-
onged: what could 1 dol, whose
worldly possessions consisted of about
e40 sterling. a few Enacted plays and
ome unpublished stories?
Thus l reasoned with myself. but
'eason has little to do in governing a
mans actions in these matters; and
besides. 1 argued, probably 1 shall be
disillusioned as soon as have
poken to Miss Gray Eyes"
The very next evening my oppor-