The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-08-31
The Piece Of Gold.

last bank-note raked in by the banker
ne rose slowly from the roulette table
and threw himself Imply upon the
ieatner-upholstered bench that followed
the fail around the room He felt weak
and dizzy. For a few minutes he gaze
vaguely upon the tables over which he
had wasted the best years of his youth.
| He recognized the tired faces of some
| OF the players, yellow beneath the lamp
shades; heard the rubbing OF the rake
over the green cloth: told himself that
ne was ruined; saw as wildly as if they
were before him the two hoister-p pistols
in the left-hand drawer of his desk, up
In his room-the sarne pistols which his
father. General de Helm, then captain.
had used so braveiy at the assault OF
Zaatcha; then he fell asleep.
When he awoke, broken with un-
healthy fatigue he was surprised OF see
that he had slumbered only a haif-hour
The big clock On The other side of the
room marked a quarter to twelve. With
bitter smile, he realized that in a few
minutes II would be Christmas A
great longing for the fresh cold air of
night seized him.
| At the door, however, cid Dronski, the
| classic Pole of the den. intercepted him.
| Lend me five francs, monsieur" he
mumbled in his unkempt gray beard.
| For two days I have not left the table
and for two days No. II has not come
| up. Mock if you please, but I would
| stake my arm upon it; II will come at
| the stroke of twelve"
Lucien de Helm shrugged his shoulders
and passed by. Five francs, He did not
! have even that He went out into the
! hall, put on his hat and pelisse and,
with feverish agility, ran down the
stairs into the street During the twelve
| hours that he spent in the den much
snow had fallen and the streets were
white. In the blue-black sky the stars
scintillated colby. The gamester shud-
dered and started to walk rapidly drawn
on irresishbly by the picture Of the two
! pistols awaiting him UP there in his
room. Suddenly he stopped.
Beneath the monumental archway of
| a private residence, on the stone bench
placed according to a bygone custom
against the wall. a little girl sat fast
asleep. Her black dress was in rags and
the collapse of the whole body told of
fatigue, misery and despair. One of her
shoes had slipped off her foot and lay
in the snow. With a mechanical ges-
ture Lucien's hand moved to his empty
pocket, and then he approached the child
in an instructive movement of pity.
Something glittering in the slipper &c
her feet drew his attention. He stopped
down to see. 1t was a piece of gold.
Some charitable person had zen the
shoe before the sleeping child, and, re-
Numbering the Christmas legend, had
dropped the munifcent gift into it so
that on awakening she would know her
self remembered by the little Noel
the children's Christ-who, on the ami
versary of his nativity, goes about in
the dead of night filing with presents
the shoes which the little children place
for him at their hearths.
Twenty francsi 1t meant days of rest
and well-being to the little beggar. and
Lucien was just on the point of waking
her to tell her of her good luck when
right in his ear, with the distinctness OF
hallucination, he heard the voice of
the Pole murmur:
For two days have not left the ia
bles and for two days No. II has not
come out l would stake my arm upon
it; at the stroke Of midnight II will
come"
And then a fearful thought took pos
session of him. a mad. hysterical, mon
strous desire. He looked about him, saw
that he was alone, and, with Bonded
knee and trembling, hand, he stole the
gold of the sleeping child. Then, on the
run, he rushed back to the gamb log
hell, clambered up the steps in few
mad bounds, burst into the room and,
just as the clock sounded the first stroke
of midnight, threw the piece of god up
on the green cloth with a hoarse cry;
''On seventeen, ALL"
And seventeen won.
With a nervous jerk of the hand, he
raked the thirty-six pieces he had won
over to the red.
Red Won
He left the seventy-two louis on the
red Again, red won
And then he was seized with a mad
exultation. He could not lose. All of his
combinations succeeded. 1t was super
natural luck. The little ivory ball hop
ping about in the compartments OF the
roulette seemed magnetized fascinated
by the eyes Of the gambler In ten
strokes he had regained the nights loss,
and now, risking enormous sums at each
punt, he was winning back the hered-
itary fortune which he had squandey ed
through many mad nights of dissipation.
The pockets Of his pelisse which, in his |
haste to begin to play, he had not re- |
moved. were bursting with gold and bank !
notes; now he was stuffing with coin
and paper the pockets of his frockcoat |
and vest and trousers, his cigar-holder. |
his handkerchief, his hat, everything |
which could serve as a receptacle And !
he kept on playing and winning, mad |
with the frenzy of gain, throwing gold !
upon the table with insolent certainty !
Of success.
But hot iron seemed pressed against
his heart and the picture of the little 4
beggar maid asleep in the snow would /
not leave him.
she is there yet" his thoughts ran, (
'she certainly is there yet In an hour,
yes, when l o'clock sounds, I'll go there
Il swear it; I'll go out; I'll take her
up, all asleep, IN my arms and I'll put
rar n hed in A. d
her. I'll love her Ike my daughter. bring I
her up like a princess; I'll care for her,
always"
But the clock struck /, and the quar-
ter, ard the half, and the three-quarters
and Lucien was still at the Internal
table.
Just before the stroke of the banker
rose. "The bank has failed. messleurS,"
he said. Enough for tonight"
In one bound Lucien was W and cut. I
From afar, in the light Of gas jet.
he saw the child. still on the bench
God be thanked he cried. she Is
still there
He approached her and seized her
hand.
How cold she is. poor little girlr' ne
murmured
He took her up in his arms Her head
fell back Imply. and she did not awake
How they sleep at that age" he
thought.
He pressed her against his heart 10
warm her, then. seized with vague
fear. bent his head close to hers. in
tending 10 awaken her with a kiss
But he perceived Their her eyeIds we're
helf-cpen and that her eyes were CLASSY
and modonless
While he Rad been anessing \ fortune
with the piece of gold that be had stolen
from her. the poor. relsss ch "a had