The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1888-08-10
LITTLE BISMUTH.
A Story of Artist Life in Munich.

An artists procession in Munich has caused {
suspension of business for the day. Toward
dusk an elderly appearing woman, black
eloaked and yelled, enters a drug shop in q
street a little removed from the business por
ton of the town.
The clerks of the establishment are among
the thousands viewing the pageant then pass
ing a few streets away. When the heels OF
the woman's boots rattle upon the marble
flooring the proprietor of the shop comes for.
ward from the back of the long room, where
he has been brooding under the single gas Jet
lighted in the place. He is a yonng man,
white of face, and wild of eye, looking as
though he were undergoing q severe mental
strain.
What is your wish?" he asks in a voice
that has an English ring in it.
The woman was fumbling at her pocket as
though in search of her purse.
Il should like a small quantity ofbismuth, :"
she answered, when he had addressed her a
second time.
The druggist picked up a horn spatula,
went to the back of the shop, returned with
the spatula filed with a white powder, put
COllt Olili III lut SlthtI etdte u lHt DOIlSUtu
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 loo 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," he said almost
harshly.
Then she caught up the little package, toss
ed down a piece of money and walked rapidly
to the door. The knobin her hand, she paused.
rs there anything else?" he asked.
She opened the door and was gone. A
band in the procession was playing the live
lest of tunes; wisps of the melody entered the
shop. The druggist groaned, and picking
up 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
and during his absence a clerk
had taken the bismuth from the
drawer where it had always been kept and
substituted for it a 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
given 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
looked up and Town in the gathering gloom,
but 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 wOman's purchase and which
she must have torn OFF as she ~agitatedly put
the package in her pocket. This label
bore his name. His first sensation was al
most of relief. The mistake might not now
be traced to him if the poor creature swal-
lowed the drug he had given her.
Where was the happiness of life? Here
was an elderly bowed woman whose mourn
ing weeds bespoke sadness and loss. Might
he not ave placed within her reach relief
from care and memory? Then he revolted
from this morbid reasoning and the enormi-
ty of his responsibility flashed across him.
He 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
Let 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
Her brow contracted.
Blame your own weak SELF she said.
mo, | blame you," he retorted.
How me-" she demanded rising to her
feet. Explain yourself"
'sHave you not made me as | am?" he
said, unft for business, unfit for anything
whatsoever"
II nave not" she answered, "but the act
woman has"
With a stride he was beside her, his hand
lpon her arm.
DO not touch me" she said, shaking him
''and listen to me-"
"Well?"
you have. not for days allowed me to
speak. | shall speak now"
'.Well?"
His insolence of manner cast a glow in her
ace and made her harsher than she meant
10 be.
4 say that you should blame Lilli, the
actress, if aught of harm comes from your
eprehensible carelessness, she said. II have
old you hat she maddened you-you knew
hat no good could come of your intimacy
With her."
Il know that 1 love her." 1
"A woman barely knowing her name, a i
voman acting upon the stage. You are of
rreprOachable descent; your dead father was {
gentleman, your mother is a lady. Could 1
'rook an alliance which hould bring into |
'ur family a player whose face has turned the
leads of half the youth in Munich? Let her 6
AttiL olO vi lO ohh L . OhC WV L
Jews her trade from the art standpoint. A |
marriage with you was simply impossible. i
rom the first [ told you how it would be. '
bid you take warning? You but allowed 6
'ourself to be all the more carried away by G
our infatuation, and were on the point of /
declaring yourself to her when l came to the
T
"And how did you come to the rescue?" '
e asked. Tell me that I
"By appealing to the woman herself" she
answered, las you well know"
Eyes, by going to the back door of a thea s
er, asking for an actress and laying before '
er your ~puritanical ideas, to such a degree !
her your distaste for her that she
eeds must see in mt the weakest of men be-
auSe OF your presumption, and SO she gives t
le up. And this is the woman you say is
Ot fit to enter our poor family hat sendsits
ons to foreign countries trying to exc out an t
xistence on a b~eggarly income which at h
ONE would not keep us according to tradi- f
and in the "set" we call our own. In go b
lg to Lili as you did you showed that she v
Ias equal to the highest womanhOod; a b
less than q lady would never have re- v
ented your visit as she has done-would c
ever have given up the man who loved her." a
She was putting on her bonnet. b
you are scarcely accountable for what p
on are saying" she said. 81 did that for b
GU for which you will yet thank me. Lilli-" e.
'ls as true q woman as you are Q
She raised her chin. AS though [ should p
ave zone to her had she not been, she said: t
as though a Clark would harbOr a feeling
f admiration for a woman who is not as IT. t
aproachable in every respect as the ladies of y
is own family. She is a good woman, byt e
o are there many good women of unfortus- s.
tie parentage, and with miserable ways of b
arning a living. A ballet dancer, a waitress il
l q cafe may possess all that the Fraulein a
ILL has ascribed to her: but would you mar
V the d~ansuese or the waitress? 1t is all f.
yer, and happily over; tomorrow night is @
er last i'll Munich. In Berlin she will renew n
er early triumphs, while you will have a
rown calm enough to recognize the force of b
" reasoning-especially when the fraulein
larries a title" She had not mean ito say b
nat.