The Opelousas courier., 1898-04-02
Was He a Brute?
by OP1E READ.

crowded streets. It was six o'clock q
evening. At a corner where a luma
ide swept like a torrent from a broke.
lam a womaa stood under a lamp
post. She was tall and dark, and s,
n%otionless that she might have been
statue. Her arms were folded unde
aer cloak. A policeman edging hi
way through the crowd, touched hi
zap (for she was neatly dressed), ant
asked her a question. She shook he1
head slowly, and did not look at him
The policeman passed on, and the mex,
moment there we're two quick pistol
shots, a scream and a stampede. The
officer ran back, fighting his way
through the swirling crowd. He
found the woman, pistol in hand, bend
ing over a man lying upon the pave
nent. The officer seized her wrist.
and looking at him with a strange
smile, as she relaxed her hold on the
pistol, she said:
II am a woman, and I demand to be
treated as SUCH"
When she had been taken to the
station and asked to make a state
nent, she said: "My name is Laura
Hoytt. The name of the man I shot
IS Douglass Brown. I shot him be-
aus he ought to be killed. He was
engaged to marry my sister. He did
not keep faith with her, and she died
Of a broken heart. He is a brute. and
ought to be dead"
Brown was taken to the hosnita1
His wounds were pronounced danger
An effort was made to interview
him. But all he would say was, 81
guess she thought she had a right to
shoot me-" He asked if they had put
her In jail, and appeared to he pleased
when told that influential friends had
given bonds for her release.
Three weeks later the wounded man
vas sitting propped up in bed, when
! card bearing the name of Laura
was handed to him. He looked
1ard at it, rubbed his eyes, held it
'urther away, then closer, and then
'emarked, 81 don't understand whv
the should want to see me. Let her
,ome in"
With a timid, awe-struck air the
woman approached the bed. She
onghed in embarrassment as she
Gated herself on a chair which the
|urse placed for her. She put back
.er hair, made aimless motions in her
onfusion, and then, looking straight
t Brown, said:
I'm awfully sorry I shot you"
Brown smiled. "And are you sure
Oh haven't come to shoot me again9"
9 asked.
She frowned in reproof. "You know
haven't. If you had thought that,
Oh would have told them to keep me
"No, I wouldn't. You have come
:ar out here that I couldn't have
und the heart to disappoint you"
"A plaster of sarcasm won't draw
1t a soreness, Mr.. Brown. I have
Iffered SO with remorse that I have
me to see if I could not find some
rt OF consolation. You don't know
w l have suffered. And [ must go
rough a hateful trial, too, with
erybody looking at me. Oh, I do
[ hadn't shot yout"
Eyes" he drawled, "I rather wish (
myself. So, you see, we have t
.ething in common. But Won Z
edn't be worried over the trial.
'hall not appear against you" a
The nurse had withdrawn. Thev c
re alone. She put back her hair I
sin, and he followed the movement
her graceful hand-the hand that q
4 shot him. "No, I will not ap- b
ar,' he went on. cit is something W
a distinction to be shot by the hand S
nest woman in Chicago" He hest 4
ed as he saw the tears gathering in II
eyes. II take it all back" he F
d. She wiped her eyes, and sat IL
king far away through a window. 9:
mystery that lies in the cloud Il
q was reflected in her eyes, and he d
ed at her. She turned her ewes o.
IN him, and the mystery few from ju
m. I'll
Yes, | am sorry I shot you," she ~
"but 1 hate you, and can never &C
give you" X
All! and I am therefore consoled &c
the thought that you never can 81
ret me-"
Brute!" she said. sI almost wish
I'd killed YOU"
When a woman almost wishes a be
g, she wishes it doubly," he tn
led. in
I don't know but there is some att
b in that" she assented. "But PIT
t a beast you were to treat Helen plt
How could your" be
Because / was a beast, L suppose" to
Yes, you were. She was taken
n with fever shortly afterward. but sa,
IS q broken heart that killed her. 1t
eyes shot shafts OF hatred at him. les
t ! didn't come to reproach you" en-
said. the
Then why did you Gomez" he fec
70 ask why you could have been .a.'
eartless. l simply want to know. NC,
it because you had no heart at a ae,
the
: was because I had too much Of ,
wal
9 darted a fierce look at him. cen
It was because you loved another ing
an?" nIs3
es. Helen made me promise to S
ler H-if | should love any one of t
tnan | dld her. It was not my clail
II anotner woman set my soul tive
wren Helen had only warmed viii
cart; God knows fought against be t