The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1914-02-13
The Bullet That
Killed a Man
By MARGARET ELDRIDGE

~ 49, A"N - tAIN hAhc 3'NA
the parliament anne Oh | was think
ing OF marrying the eldest son Of u
marquis, Lord TintertoD.
A bedrdless boy of my acquaintance.
Ralph Chester. not more than nineteen
years old. took it into his silly head
to fall in love with me. The worst of
1t was that his father was "A strong adj
herent Of the parliament, and this fired
the sympathies Of the son. Ralph bad
joined Il troop OF the psalm singing
Roundheads and was preparing to go
with them TO a rendezvous where the
parliamentary forces were being col
lected. The evening before he left he
came to sec me to say goodby, sup
| pose. for we had been n~eighbors and
our now being on different sides did
not affect our friendliness. What WAS
my establishment when he told me that
he loved me.
| shall never forget the boyish look
on his face as he spoke the words.
seeming TO feel that he was presump-
tuous in addressing one he considered
so superior to himself. A woman IS
pleased with any mans devotion. be
be respectable. and ! confess that
was secretly pleased. | made my re-
fusal rs easy 10 bcar as possible. but
my young lover took 1t hard
The war had beer fought out in Eng
land. and Cromwell went TO Scotland
A. n,rn iIn ttnNan1alf psglinGt him
there. One day n trooper returning
from the war stopped ut the gate ana,
dismounting. tramped into the ground
! ana. Knocking at the portal. landed i'll
n letter for me. | opened it and,
Glancin. ut the bottom, saw the sigma
| ture Of Ralph Chester. The letter was
accompanied by IL little box. Ralph
wrote that he was dying. y surgeon
had extracted n bullet from his wound
and had promised the poor boy that he
would send ii 90 me. 1t was in the
box.
| did not ut first realize the effect
This yrcwsome Gift would have on me-.
lt was some time before | opened the
box and did so at last from a strange
desire that came over me to see the
bullet that had killed Il man and that
man my lover. Ii was like any other
bullet. but not 80 10 me. II seemed to
be talking to me. telling me II myriad
OF things. all about the young man
who had loved me. but whom | had
not loved. | replaced il IL the box. re-
solving that | would put it away and
never see it again.
1t was not Tong before a desire came
TO me to take it out and look mt it. |
resisted the desire. ] e~ndeavored to
interest myself in other subjects. Lord
Tinlerton. who had been fighting I'M
der Prince Rupert. returned and re-
newed his suit. To help me get rid OF
tho effect Of my dead lovers gift |
tried to listen to him. But my heart
was not with Tinterton. and put him
off. I yielded to my desire To see the
bullet and. opening the box. took 1t
out. 1t seemed to reproach me. and
FOR my life I could not consider ii what
il was-notling but an inanlmate lump
of lead
My mind every day came under the
strange influence of this lnanimate OBJ
iect. 1t was a constant reproach to
me that | had turned away Il love.
What right had | to reject that which
WAS so sacred? Before the memento
! came I had considered marrying Tin
terton. though was Indifferent to him
personally. to be the most natural
thing in the world to do. He had fine
estates and by skillful diplomacy had
saved them from being cOnfiscated by
the protector. My future position as a
marchioness would be all that could
be desired. And yet | was deferred
from giving him an affirmative an
swer by this little lump Of lead. Or
was 1t not rather what that lump Of
leal represented? 1t did not seem so
to me. though | do not doubt that it
was.
At last | determined to try 10 break
the spell bv accepting Tinterton. The
evening after doing so. when | went
to my room. | tried TO keep away from
the drawer of my dresser. where |
kept the bullet. I stood looking ut the
drawer. using all my will power to
avoid going to it. All to no purpose.
| was drawn like n resisting animal
by Il rope to the dresser. opened the
drawer and took out the bullet. Ii
lay there in its box. inanimate. yet it
was to me Il reproof. | held it in my
hands till the tears came into my eyes.
Then | put it back in its place and be-
gan to wonder how I should recall all
| had said to Tinterton.
I'm growing old. King Charles III.
has reigned and been succeeded by his
brother James. am a spinster and
shall always remain a spinster. Tin
terton never forgave me for accept
ing and then rejecting him. for ! had
no excuse whatever to offer him. Tell
him that I had been forbidden to mar
~ him by a bit of lead! Impossible.
I broke with him without giving him
q reason and have since been consider
Ell by him a weakling. He has long
been married to another.
l have often wondered wherein lay
the power OF the bullet that killed my
lover. Was it merely an expression Of