The Halifax Comet. — 1894-09-15 (Halifax, West Yorkshire, England)

THE COMET.  A NIGHT IN A GAMBLING  HOUSE.  I ENTERED the principal gambling-house of the Palais Royal, and staked a small sum. Luck was against me ; and it was not till I had lost five times that I desisted. One sat opposite to me who seemed to have astonishing success. What envy and malice came over me as I watched this successful player sweeping his winnings into a small canvas bag, and tempting fortune again and again, without meeting a repulse to his temerity: I sighed, and walked towards the roulette table, at which I remained about half-an-hour, amused with looking on, and remarking the various changes of countenance, as the numbers proved favourable or adverse; I then asked for my hat, and descended the well-worn staircase, heartily regretting the broad gold pieces I had left behind me. I shortly after entered the Mules Colonnes, bowed to the limondiere, received one of her sweetest sniiles in return, took an ice, and again made my way into the garden, threaded its mazes, thinking unutterable things, and at last reduced to gaze at Ursa Major and look on Orion's Bell (the brightest ornament in a winter's sky), for want of thought. I had not been five minutes thus engaged, and was leaning against the palisade, near the cannon which on every bright day at noon is fired by the rays of the sun, when the near report of a pistol created a sudden alarm amongst those who were walking about the spot where I stood. We ran towards the place from whence the noise came, and found a man weltering in his blood; his hat lay at a small distance' from him; his head, as he fell, had struck against the marble circle of the basin; and his hand grasped a morocco pocket-book with gold claps, and a small canvas bag. I assisted those who stood near the body to remove it towards the Galerie de Bois, and I shall never forget the sensation I experienced when, on looking at the face, I discovered the features of the successful gamester ; successful he had been while I was in the room ; the canvas bag, emptied of its contents,sand his present condition, told too plainly how the game had gone after I left. There was nothing in the appearance of the suicide that denoted penury or unhappiness. His costume was• that of a retired officer; a blue military undress frock, with the ribbon and cross of the Legion of Honour appending to a button hole ; a hat a la Bolivar; light black pantaloons; hessians ; a riding whip, mounted in gold, with an amber head; a pair of kid gloves, on which, with some surprise, I remarked the word " Dundee " ; and white cravat of batiste, marked A. A. V. He was of that age at which any one might reasonably suppose he was married; or he might have a mother, or sister, or some aged relative depending on him for support. Alas! where was their hope now? where was the husband and father? where was the son, the brother, the benefactor, at whose coming the old had wept, and the young smiled ? where was the prop of age, the hope of youth, where the delight of both? Dead! and by his own hand ; an assassin, the worst of murderers, for he had done that which left no time for repentance; he had forgotten that the Everlasting had fixed "his canon against .self-slaughter," and had rushed with all his sins upon his head into the presence