A Pinch of Dust — Carol Buchanan

It's Christmas Eve, 1864, in Virginia City, the gold mining center of Montana Territory. When a young girl begs Daniel Stark for "a pinch of dust," he is torn between his duty to his own family and his sympathy for the child's plight. Just giving her gold dust will not change her situation, but maybe he can beat her father, a gambler, at his own game -- five-card stud. Martha, his wife, is outraged. "Playing poker on Christmas Eve?" she says. When the Lord comes, you'll be sittin in the seat of the ungodly." Or will Dan be on the side of the angels?