Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1897-12-24

! street, central one, Wdll6u III ny ulSH
| houses, was all white. Multitudes of
cold stars shone in the blue black purg-
ed sky.
The ruined man walked rapidly, re-
vClving desperate thoughts in his mind,
and was more than ever drawn to the
pistol box in his dressing case drawer.
Suddenly he stopped. He was con-
fronted by a heart-breaking scene.
On a stone bench, placed according
to the old-time custom beside the
monumental door of a palace, little
girl of or Z, barely covered by rag
ged black frock, was sitting in the
! snow. She had gone to sleep there, in
spite of the cold, in painful attitude
of utter WEAKNESS, with her poor lit
tie head and shoulder propped in an
angle of the icy stone.
One of her old shoes had fallen from
the foot which hung over and lay in the
snow.
Lucien de Hem felt mechanically for
his vest pocket, and was suddenly re-
minded that D moment before he had
not even found forgotten franc, nor
pourboire for the valet.
However, stirred by an instructive
pity, he approached the little girl, and
would perhaps have carried her in his
arms to give her night shelter, had
he not seen something shining in the
old shoe as it lay in the snow.
He bent over. 1t was gold louis.
Some charitable person, a woman,
| n in, nv Chric
mas eve had seen the shoe in front
of the sleeping child, and had remem-
bered the touching legend. This gen.
erous aims had been given so that the
little one might believe in the gifts of
the holy child, and in spite of her dis
tress retain some hope in the goodness
of Providence.
A lOuisi 1t meant many days of
plenty for the beggar, and Lucien was
about to waken and tell her so, when
he heard voice in his ear, drawing,
thick voice, mumbling:
Here are two days since l have been
out of the club. You can cut off my
fist if II does not come out when the
clock strikes midnight"
OF honest stock with a magnificent mil
itary record. never failing in honor,
this young man suddenly conceived
dreadful thought, fell prey to a wild,
hysterical, mOnstrOus desire. Assuring
himself with one glance that the street
was deserted he swiftly stopped, ad-
vanced a trembling hand, and stole the
louis from the old shoe. With wild
rush he reached the club again, cleared
the stairs in one impetuous rush. flung
open the door of the reeking hall, and
threw the gold piece on the green, Just
as the clock chimed the first stroke of
midnight.
"All on 17r'
Seventeen won.
With a turn of his hand he showed
the SO louis on red.
Red won.
He left Y louis on the same color.
Again it appeared. Three times he put
up the doubled stakes with the same
luck. There was now a great heap of
gold and bank notes in front of him,
and he began frantically to SOW them
broadcast over the table. Every COM
bination favored him. The little ivory
ball jumping about the divisions Of the
roulette seemed to be magnetized by
the gamblers gaze, and obeyed it. In
10 plays he had recovered the few
thousand francs, his last resource, that
he had lost early in the evening. BY
L punting zoo or 800 louis at once he
:, would soon have far more than the
heritage he had fooled away.
In his haste to play he had kept
on his heavy coat, and the great peck
e cts were already crammed with rolls
I o. bank notes and gold pieces. He now
/. had to stuff them into his inside peck
t cts, his vest and trouser pockets, his
t cigar case, his handkerchief, and ev-
e erything that could hold them. He still
played. He still won; like a lunatic,
: like a drunken man! He threw the
j gold anywhere on the table with dis
y dainful certainty.
S In his heart redhot iron was burn
ing; he thought only of the child
s asleep in the snow; of the little beggar
s he had robbed.
/. "She is still there, of course; GER
n tainly, she must be there! In a min
e ute, when it strikes II swear it