Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-12-28

in his pocket to pay the tax known by
the house habitues as 1.-THE Poles
Pence"
He passed into the hall, put on his
hat, his coat, then descended the stairs
with the haste Of fevered person.
| During the four hours he had been In
doors heavy snow had fallen and the
street. central one, walled in by high
houses, was all white. Multitudes Of
cold stars shone In the blue-black purg-
ed sky.
The ruined man walked rapidly, re-
volving 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 heart breaking scene.
On stone bench. placed according
to the old-time custom beside the
monumental door of palace, little
girl of or 7. barely covered by rag
ged block 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 a moment before he had
found
a 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 a night shelter. had
he not seen something shining in the
old shoe as 1t lay In the snow.
He bent over. 1t was gold louis.
Some charitable person, a woman,
doubtless, in passing by this Christ
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 louis! 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 have been
out OF the club. You can cut off my
fist II II does not come out when the
clock strikes midnight"
Then the young man of %, coming
OF honest stock with magnificent mil
ltary record. never failing In honor.
this young man suddenly conceived a
dreadful thought. fell prey to wild,
hysterical, monstrous desire. Assuring
himself with one glance that the street
was deserted he swiftly stopped, ad-
vanced trembling hand, and stole the
louis from the old shoe With a 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 IT."
Seventeen won.
With turn OF his hand he showed
| the 36 louis on red.
| Red won.
| He left ~ 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
punting 200 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 pock-
cts were already crammed with rolls
o. bank notes and gold pieces. He now
! had to stuff them into his inside pock-
cts, his vest and trouser pockets, his
cigar case, his handkerchief, and ev-
erything that could hold them. He still
played. He stu won; uks . lunatia.