The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-07-25
CHAPTER II.
vlssEUR AND HIS JEWELS.

yAssEUR AND HIS JEWELS.
As Fairfax walked back toward
yasseur's. he was filed with sense
of indescribable satisfaction. The
whole world just then was, so far as
his feelings went, condensed so that
all its essential delights were pressed
together in this lonely nook, as flower
petals are sometimes pressed into q
potpourri.
He was old enough and certainly
stalwart enough to be a man his age
was twenty-six-but just now he
sauntered and smiled like great
pleased boy. His latest adventure
had been of a sort to dash into his
experience o good strong element of
the tender strain Of romance so dear
to young men.
How did Mr.. Vernon know that he
was the son of the late Colonel Stir
ling Fairfax? OF course, our young
friend was not aware of the means OF
knowledge sometimes possessed by a
man whose wealth and peculiar lnhu-
ence control far-reachiRg and compre'
hensiye combinations of force and in
telligence.
From MIR. Vernon he had heard the
story of old Burns, the preacher, and
that, too, was adding its thrill OF
strangeness and pathos to his rehec-
tions.
But most of all, he thought OF
Pauline. Her beauty OF form and
face had captirated him, and the
sound of her voice was yet echoing
through his heart with q certain
timbre which no other voice ever had.
It was past sundown when he
reached Vasseur's, and he heard the
mocking- birds futing tenderly in the
macnolius rs he entered the low, odd
iy constructed house. A little way
off, the sea was pounding on the
beach with heavy throbbing and
swashing.
Vasseur himself met him at the
door.
"Mo'sieu has had good day, I
hope" the little creole said, in his
soft, insinuating voice. ''1t ware fine
wetter Zis day"
Fairfax looked down at him with a
comprehensive smile, but only nodded
response. He flung aside his bur-
den of implements and weapons.
"Mo'sieu is ware 'ungry, is it not?
Suppaire it come soon," Vasseur went
on. rubbing his brown little hands to-
gether and grimacing violently.
ssNo; I dined late and well" said
Fairfax, in French. "I am not at all
hungry"
It was one of Vasseur's hobbies to
speak English. He pretended to
fancy himself quite at home in that
language.
Fairfax had become sincerely fond
of the little dark man, whose restless
eyes, bushy. black hair and slngularly
mobile mouth in some way reminded
him of the descriptions he had read OF
certain fascinating outlaws famous IN
Martinique-men of half or quarter
breed, at once gentle, soft-voiced and
murderous, who would die for you one
day and rob you the next.
Vasseur looked no particular age.
He was fifty, perhaps, though not a
gray hair or wrinkle proclaimed the
years. A long, narrow forehead,
slender black brows, deep.set black
eyes, o high straight nose, mouth
small and expressive and protruding
chin made his face one to be remem-
bered. In stature he was below the
medium, but he was strong, tough,
supple, restlessly active. IT would
seem contradictory to add that Vas
seur's general air was that of extreme
Incidence, but such o contradiction
existed in the mans makeup. He
was not indolent, and yet his greatest
activity was seen through an at.
mosphere OF languor and Indifference.
Fairfax found Vasseur's house 6
delightful lodge. Itwas built of pine
logs and covereN with long, rough
boards; its rooms, large and airy,
were yet huddled in appearance, and
seemed to have no system in their
arrangement. The floors there was
but one story-were of dried mortar,
smooth and even, and the walls were
hung with q great variety of dressed
skins, while the chairs and tables, the
bedsteads and the armoires were oil
every grade of finish. from O rude
stool to the most exquisitely carved
piece of mahogany. 1t was plain that
this heterogeneous furniture had been
obtained, piece by piece, in the course
of life devoted to snatching treas
ures from the sea; hotsam and jetsam
had found their way into the house
of the creole; and the mishaps oi
others had in this degree, at least,
contributed to his enrichment. The
reputation of having once been g
pirate chung to Vasseur, though he
stoutly denied it. But how came he
by all the odd and valuable things in
his possession, especially the precious
stones? These latter he had shown
to Fairfax-diamonds, rubies, emer'
aids, topazes, sapphires, opals, anne
thysts-hundreds of them, none O.
the more precious ones large or very
valuable; but still, in the aggregate
the lot was worth quite pretty sum
One amethyst, however, was remark
ably large and beautiful, and had beer
cut to the form of q cross; the work
manship showed that a master hant
had done it, and the color of the stone
almost a sapphire blue, was exquisite
clear as summer sky and as trans
parent rs the purest water.