New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-07-18
A LITTLE BISMUTH.
A Story Of Artist Life In Munich.

suspension OF business Ior The day. Toward
dusk an elderly appearing woman, black
cloaked and yelled, enters drug shop in a
street a little removed from the business por-
zion of the town.
The clerks of the establishment are among
the thousands viewing the pageant then pass
ing few streets away. When the heels of
the woman's boots rattle upon the marble
flooring the proprietor of the shop comes for
waTd from the back of the long room, where
he has been brooding under the single gas jet
lighted in the place. He is yonng man,
white of face, and wild of eye, looking as
though be were undergoing a severe mental
strain
What is your wish?" he asks in voice
that has an English ring in it.
The woman was fumbling at her pocket as
though in search of her purse.
81 should like a small quantity ofbismuth, .
she answered, when he had addressed her q
second time
The druggist picked up horn spatula,
went to the back of the shop, returned with
the spatula filed with a white powder put
some oft in the silver scaleupon the polished
counter, wrapped it in a bit of fine paper
and handed it to his customer.
She did not Immediately take it from his
hand which caused him to look at her and
note her apparel thus he was able to de-
scribe her appearance to the police a little
later on. He also noted that the eyes back of
the veil were fixed upon him This, in his then
frame of mind irritated him.
Here is your bismuth' y he said almost
harshIy
Then she caught up the little package, toss
ed down a piece OF money and walked rapidly
to the door. Theknobin her hand she paused
is there anything ese?' he asked.
She opened the door and was gone. A
oand IN the procession was playing the live
nest OF tunes; wlsps OF the melody entered the
shop. The druggist groaned, and picking
mp The spatula went to put it in the drawer
from which he had taken the powder left over
from the quantity he had weighed out for the
woman. When he came to the place he
started back with an exclamation. He had
neglected the shop for several days
and during his absence a clerk
had taken the bismuth from the
drawer where it had always been kept and
substituted forit newly discovered drug,
one OF the deadliest and most subtle poisons
IN the pharmacop9ia- He had properly
marked the drawer with the name of the
poison, but the druggist had automatically
gone to the usual receptical of the bismuth
and had not noticed the change. He had
!grVen the unknown woman enough of the
poison to kill her.
He flew to the door. The woman was no
where to be seen He ran to the corner and
cooked up and down in the gathering gloom,
out no one was in sight. He retraced his
steps to the shop and found on the threshold
the label marked "Bismuth," which he had
placed upon the womans purchase and which
she must have torn off as she agitatedly put
the package in her pocket. This label
his name. His first sensation was al
most of relief. The mistake might not now
DE traced to him if the poor creature sWaI-
lowed the drug he had given her
Where was the happiness of life? Here
was aaelderly bowed woman whose mourn
ing weeds bespoke sadness and loss Might
ne not have placed within her reach relief
from care and memory? Then he revolted
from this morbid reasoning and the enorm-
Sy of his responsibility flashed across him.
lie went to the parlor back of the shop, Here
he found his mother reading:-a stern, cold
woman, in whose eye was a power of will I'M
possessed by her son.
fsLet me tell you what have DONE" he
said in English
She slowly closed her book.
What do you mean?" she asked leisurely
as though she expected some extravaganza
story of an escapade. He told her what had
occurred. Her brow contracted
Blame your own weak SELF she said
seNo, blame you," he retorted
How me?" she demanded rising to her
Geet. Explain yourself"
Have you not made me as [ amp he
said, unfit for business, unfit for anything
whatsoever"
4 have not she answered, s'but the act
ing woman has"
+ With stride he was beside her. his hand
upon her arm.
DO not touch me-" she said, shaking him
off and listen to me-
6Well?"
s'4ou have not for days allowed me to
speak. | shall speak now"
ssWell?'
His insolence of manner cast a glow in her
face and made her harsher than she meant
TO be-
say that you should blame Lilli the |
actress, it aught of harm comes from your
repTehensible carelessness, she said 81 have
told you that she maddened you-you knew
that no good could come OF your intimacy,
with her"
81 know that love her.
g woman barely knowing her1name. a
woman acting upon the stage You are of
descent; your dead father was
q gentleman, your 81 other is lady Could
pro alliance which should bring into
49, 80 1amlly player whose face has turned the
heads of half the youth in Munich? Let her
marry one Of her own fraternity, one who
views her trade from the art standpoint A
marriage with you was simply impossible.
From the first told you how it would be-
Did you take warning? You but allowed
yourself to be all the more carried away by
your infatuation, and were on the point of
declaring yourself to her when came to the
rescue"
TAnd how did you come to the rescue?"
ne asked. ''Tell me that"
BY appealing to the woman herself" she
answered "as you SNOW"
Yes, by going >eback door of a thea
ter, asking for Sfress and laying before
her your purit,. cal ideas, to such a degree
showing her your distaste for her that she
needs must see in me the weakest of men be-
cause of your presumption, and SO she gives
me up. And this is the woman you say is
not fit to enter our poor family that sendsits
sons to foreign countries trying to exc outan
existence on a beggarly income which at
home would not keep us according to trad-
tion and in the set we call our own In go
ing to Lilli as you did you showed that She
was equal to the highest womanhood; a
woman less than a lady would never have re-
scented your visit as she has done-would
never have given up the man who loved her.
She was putting on her bonnet.
You are scarcely accountable for what
you are Saying" she said. 81 did that for
.lfs,a Tor which you will yet thank me. Lilli-'"