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

smile. for she felt that ner words nad Deer
harsher than guest ought to receive from
| her under her brothers roof
Il beg a thousand pardons," he said
but | was goaded to it. | am glad you
have spoken so plainly. You know how
feel, and although my own way looks black
before me could not bear
Stop" she said with decision but gen
tly enough; I'VE have had too much of this
already 1t isn't pleasant. There, dinner
Is announced at last and you are still smok-
ing"
| Ray felt himself to be a man of distinc
| ton; he certainly was famous actor into
whose hands great wealth had fallen; but
| it now came upon him that Mile. Rou-
| quette set herself far above him socially.
| Something evil in the mans nature sprang
| up at once and took full control of him.
That night he could not sleep. He
| tossed on his bed and cursed fate. What
was fame, what the plaudits of the thea
ter, what the value of money to a man
baff1ed as be was? 1t was the old, old story
of love frenzy.
Late in the night he arose, dressed him
self and stole forth to walk in the shadows
of the old trees. The moon had fallen to
the westward and lay like disk of white
flame against the dusky blue of the cloud
less sky. Not sound was in the now
motionless air. He found the spot where
Mile. Rouquette had walked with him on
the ever memorable evening when she told
him that his love was hopeless.
Meantime, Armentine herself had found
little comfort in her couch. She was not
thinking of Ray. however but of the fish
erman, Felix Bruyere-his superb form,
his manly face, his rich, deep voice, his
songs, his guitar. Many and many time
had he come to play under her window at
night singing quaint old lays, the ballades
and rondels of gay France-the France of
the far past.
She was thinking over all that had hap
pened since she had first met this strange
man. In her hearts deepest wells she felt
a vague but pervading guilt She had not
drawn Felix Bruyere on by any positive
effort; indeed, she had preserved well her
distant dignity and air of superiority, but
her conscience told her that this had been
mere superficial show; that below it the
active fascination of her beauty and her
passionate nature had been even more
powerful on account of her reticence anc
hauteur.
Although he was fisherman. wearing
the coarse garb of his calling, Bruyere ap
peared to be educated. His manners were
admirable, his conversation full of mag
netic surprises, and beyond question he
played the guitar with the art of a skilled
musician. Still, for him to aspire to marry
a Rouquette was something so absurd to
Mile. Armentine's mind that the thought
was a shock.
Why, then, had she permitted him to
come nearer and nearer until the inevitable
had befallen? She could not say that she
did not know what was approaching. The
heart of a woman is not to be taken I'M
aware in such case She had sailed with
him in his boat many time. True, their
relations were ostensibly those of boatman
and passenger-of hired sailor and pleas
ure seeking employer; but why would she
sit against the gunwale and find such
pleasure in conversing with him? And
why, after the mysterious monitor in her
breast had warned her, over and over
again, that dangerous ties were forming
between one side of her nature and this
man, did she continue to seek his company
more and more until at last he broke forth
with all the ardor and eloquence of a
powerful and passionate lover, only to be
Indignantly and cruelty repulsedS
She had kept her secret. Her brother
knew nothing Of this phase of the matter
What he had observed had led him to sus-
pect nothing, and his remark about the
ghost had it's root in mere
but it went home like bullet
to her heart. The wound was already
there and it required but touch to make
all its pains start afresh. The actor, too
had borne his part in narrowing her con-
science She knew that he had OWNED
her feelings and was aware of the whole
situation.
She had not seen Bruyere lately-not
since that distressing interview, ever
word, every tone, every attitude of which
was burned into her heart. Now as she
sat by her chamber window, looking forth
into the solemn distances of the night, she
realized how bitter wrong she had done
and for the first time she was fully aware
that she loved the fisherman. Her heart
sank and a sadness as deep and strong as
the reaction from mood of perverse self
could make it overwhelmed
her like sudden premonition of death.
The actor, nursing his own bitter
thoughts, walked to and fro under the
trees beside the bayou. Presently he was
aware of a quick change in the air. A
puffy breeze ran across the water, group
Of uneasy looking clouds was flung up
against the sky in the southwest, and |
low, sbivering sound crept away through |
the forest. He felt that storm was COM |
ING.
Far out on the bayou a white sail shone |
NJ ho lirybt re St FOL QA Sho
" against the distant masses of cypress |
foliage and long festoons of moss. Bently |
Ray knew that it was Bruyere's boat, but |
5omehow-it may have been the state of |
MS nerves-the simmer on the water, |
whose bosom was beginning to ripple, /
made it look like phantom craft.
How rapidly the wind rosel Within five |
minutes it was a gale; the black clouds |
boiled against the sky and heavy roaring |
,ame out of the distance. He was forced /
house was trembling
Armentine Rouquette, with the strange /
and overmastering revelation in her heart, |
had no room for a thought of the storm in /
,he air. The sail on the bayou had caught /
1er vision She wrung her hands and gave
way TO bitter weeping
InroD upon throO the gaze grew more
furious. The enormous weight and swing
If the palpitations fairly Jared the earth.
It tore the bayou into crashing, seething,
oam capped fragments that hammered
md broke against the shore with detona-
ions like thunderbursts.
The Rouquette household came together
n the hall CONSERVATION looked from
very face IS shutters went crashing of
Ind the giant arms of the live oaks were
Trenched and dragged over the root.