The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-04-14

to be listening to us.
What will you take for your
thoughts?' / said to him at last.
"Oh! they are not worth much. / was
thinking just then of an incident which
occurred once at club in a small
provincial town where l happened to
be staying"
Tell us about'it!" exclaimed one Of
the other men, and the captain lighted
a cigarette and, putting his elbow on
the mantel-shelf against which he had
been leaning, began his story:
We'll, it was when l was in garrison
at M, one of the dullest and most
stupid of provincial towns. There was
nothing in the world for fellow to do
with himself there, no theatre even,
only n low music hall.
When 1 was off duty I gradually
got into the habit of turning into the
Union Club, which, by the by, was the
only one the town possessed.
1T was called the Union" / should
imagine because there was always a
dispute of some kind or another going
on there. There was very little play at
this club except at the time of the three
annual fairs, each of which lasted a
week. One autumn afternoon, Just at
the opening of one of these fairs. hap
pened to go to the club rather early
There were a fair number of men there
that day who were strangers to me
wealthy farmers of the neighborhood.
who rarely came into town, and the
various owners of the country houses
round.
They are playing high today said
nP h. al.
j turned round toward the table TO
watch the game, and was so surprised
at the sight of one of the players that
j almost exclaimed
1T was young man of some % or o.
years of age, whom l knew by sight.
was very much interested in him. for
MS father had fought courageously at
Magenta and had been killed on tho
neld OF battle, leaving his widow and
son by no means we'll provided for. The
young man came very rarely to the
clup, and l had never seen him touch
card before. was stupefed there
fore to see him holding the bank, and
good bank 1t was. too, for there were
plenty of notes and gold coins, heaped
up in front of him.
How much?' called out one of the
players.
"'oh!' laughed a wealthy farmer,
M. de Mertens is in lucks way; he
can safely keep his bank open
II noticed that the young mans face
was deadly pale, and there was an ex-
cited look in his eyes.
Open bank' he said, and it
seemed as though the very words had
changed the luck.
Ten times running Mertens lost, and
in a quarter Of an hour his bank was
cleared out. Another man took his
place and the play went on. 1t got so
exciting that /, too, was fascinated, and
Joined in. There was no room to sit
down at the table, so ] continued
standing, holding my hat in my hand
and throwing my winnings into it,
/ had run of luck, and went on play
ing in the most excited way until I
was startled by some one calling out,
You are being robbed, Captainy
Il started, and instinctively seized
hand which had knocked against
mine through my sudden movement.
1t was NJ. de Mertens's hand, and he
held the forty-pound note which he
had just taken out of my hat. The
wretched mans face was conVulsed
with emotion. Our eyes met: his eyes
were dilated with terror, and there
was a look in them that seemed to
hold me spell-bound.
M. de Mertens is my partner I
said, haughtily to the man who had
warned me: and am surprised that
You should dare to bring such an ac-
cusation against a gentleman whose
reputation is so we'll known
THE individual who had called out
had never been to the club before, and
did not know M. de Mertens at all.
We had all been standing around the
table close to each other, and on see
ing another player put his hand into
my hat 1t was very natural that the
man should have thought of his duty
to warn me. On hearing my explana-
tion he apologized most humbly to NJ
de Mertens, and several of the ac-
quaintances of the latter gathered
round and expressed their regret that
such an insult should have been Of
fered to him.
I'VE then continued our play, and
NJ. de Mertens soon after left the club
Three days passed and / heard moth
ing more of the young man. In Shield
ing him as had done my first thought
had been of his father, and 1 had de-
termined to save from disgrace the
name of the brave soldier of Magenta.
OF course, / could quite understand
that the young man should now
shrink from seeing me again, but
still, 1t struck me as rather strange
that in some way, either direct or in
direct, he did not attempt to express
his thanks.
"One evening, however. just as |
was going out to pay some visits my
orderly informed me that a lady
wished TO see me. went into the
drawing room, and there I found a
woman of about forty-five years of
age. She was very dignifed looking.
and there was AN open, honest eX-
preston about her face which fasci-
mated me. .....
81 am Nine de Mertens,' she said,
simply.p My son told me everything
about the affair. at the club, and l
have come to thank you with all my
heart for having preserved for us in
tact the honor of our name
Madame began; but she in
corrupted me in her emotion and ner-
vousnesss
My son had got entangled in var
lous ways and in desperation had
taken to play. Ii appears that he lost
every penny he possessed that night
You know the rest, alas"
II felt very much embarrassed, for
the poor mothers grief was terrible
to witness. She was still standing
there In front of me. her face was
deadly pale, and the tears were trem-
bling on her long, dark eyelashes,