El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-25

HE"7 liz S1OEA OF my MARRIAGE AO4
wish to hear it? Wen you viii
= find there is nothing common
place about it.
A pale disheveued girl in a thread
bare dress sold me lottery ticket
one night outside a cafe 1 paid her
an enormous amount for it-a whole
silver dollar. and she rewarded my
munificenCe with charming smile ana
q blush.
ut viii surely bring you luck,
senor.' she said in the low clear voice
peculiar to the young girls OF the
lower class in Aos2drid-
Are you quite sure.' ] asked laugh
ingIy, as ] put the ticket into my coat
pocket and butJened my OvercOat to
protect myself against the crisp De-
cember air.
Yes. / am quite sure, senior That
number VIII be Drawn You see II Is
1920 and Il is the number of my years
and % the number of days since my
last birthday. That is the reason 1
bought it,"
I'm that case. my child, we will play
together and if the number is drawn
bali of the pEize is yours
Her pretty little face beamed with
joy.
Then, senior, give me your name and
your address. i know the big prize
viii be ours inside of four days"
Half reSreCIing my joke, I gave her
my name and address Ten minutes
later. as I walked from Porta del Sol
10 Gale MOntera. l had forgotten the
whole incident
Three days later. before I was out OF
bed in the morning, / heard the news
boys selling the list of winning num-
bers and told my valet TO get me
copy The first thing I saw when 1
opened it was 1920 in fat type Ny
600 dollars. grew quite excited,
jumped out of bed and began to look
for the ticket
remembered putting it into the
pocket Of my OvercOGt But where was
the COat2 Oh. Of course. il was hang
ing in the wardrobe. I opened the door
and found it, searched all the peck
ets-they were empty. 1 rang the bell
and asked my valet if he had brushed
the -Overcoat during the last three days
and he replied that he brushed and
beat il the day before after carefully
emptying the pockets but there was m
lottery ticket in them. I looked at him
sharply and his face convinced me that
he spoke the truth. Besides, he had
been in my service for more than five
years and had always found him Loyal
and faithful.
I blush when I think. that I lost my
temper and abused him for my own
stupidity. I upset everything. emptied
the wastebasl1et and turned everything
in the room upside down found
nothing My hands were trembling as
throat but I was at last forced to
give up the search
In the evening when ] lay on my
sofa smoking my cigaret I suddenly
heard the door bell ringing. followed
by angry words between my servant
and another person A moment later
the girl who had sold me the ticket
rushed into my room and threw her
arms around my neck.
"Oh. senior, we have won the great
prize
I felt utterly miserable. I thought l
had got over the worst and now came
this cruel discovery StammerinE like
a criminal I had to tell her that I had
lost the ticket. that I had searched for
il high and low. and that I had given
up every hope of finding it.
In her eyes I thought I saw a CLEAN
of doubt and suspicion, but she raised
her tear stainde face to me, looked at
me with a gay smile and shrugged her
shoulders.
Ny conscience left me no peace I'M
til I made up my mind to look after
her. 7 sent her to boarding school,
had her educated and at last I married
her
And the strangest thing Of all is that
7 found happiness