The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-25

'"rhe idIotr exclaimed Placide. II,
should be confined in an asylum"
The song and accompaniment arose as
the storm arose-higher. stronger, sweeter,
more appealing. Sometimes the strains
| were, it seemed, tossed about BY the TEN
pest and so divided. that they sounded like
a Multitude of echoes scattered through
hubbub of waves and flashing the tree
boughs
Presently the stress of the wind was 50
great that they felt the house moving from
its foundations Timbers strained and
cracked. and at last a part of the roof went
off with terrible noise.
Placide ran to Armentine's chamber She
was gone. Her window was open to the
night, and through it he could see the
great trees leaning almost level under the
pressure of the wind current. He ran and
leaned out. The moon was covered with
racing clouds, but he saw distinctly two
shadowy forms flying under the trees to
ward the bayou
Could they be Felix Bruyere and Armen-
tines
Before he could more than think the
final crash came, and the mansion went to
pieces. 1t was sudden lurch of the tenn
pest, so to call it, a furious dash, with an
appalling medley of wild noises; arending,
tearing, dragging, bursting, multitudinous
roar, and then all was over.
Strange to tell, with the exception of
slight cut on Piacide's hand, no member
of the household was hurt, although the
mansion was quite destroyed.
The cyclone rolled on, and its wheel of
destruction at length spent its force far
away in the wild swamps Out came the
moon low in the west and glorifed once
more the expanse of the tumbling, froth
covered bayou. Sweet and soft as the
breath of child was the breeze that now
stole over the scene of desolation.
The houseless household of Rouquette
place drew together in a picturesque group
on the sand by the water side. Far out
and diagonally viewed across the bayou
they saw a sail gently leaning to the breeze
and swaying with the roll of the waves.
Both Placide and the actor felt sinking
of the heart. The catastrophe whose tum-
bled ruins lay all around them was for
gotten in the sudden overwhelming sense
of something awfully significant in that
spectral sail slowly receding in the watery
distance. Soon it disappeared.
Armentine was gone. Search far and
WlQo was lndue IOr ner dICerWarQ out not
trace could be found, nor was Felix
Bruyere ever again seen on the bayou. He.
too, had passed beyond the limit of discov-
cry.
The incident became legend among the
people, and fishermen and sailors declared
that whenever the wind was high on a
moonlight night, a phantom boat was seen
fitting over the waves, bearing man and
a girl, while the tinkling of guitar and
tender strain of song trailed in the flashing
wake.
Long years afterward, however, a creole
by the name of Richard d Artois returned
from a visit to France, and brought back
the story that in a remote hill region he
had found Felix Bruyere and his wife Ar
mentine living happily. but in comparative
poverty.
1t is known that Placide, after the death
of his parents, went abroad and returned
a year later, but he never spoke of his sis
ter. So the matter rests today, save that
in the settlement of Placde's estate, when
he had died bachelor full of years, a let
ter was found, which, though it bore
neither address nor signature, appeared to
have been written by Armentine from
in France Placide willed his
estate to Observation-Disclosures Thompson in
New York Ledger