The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-06-18
HAPTE III.
vAssEUR AND HIS JEWELS.

wNOlo WORTH Just tueu Was, 30 jar 10
his feelings went, condensed so that
all it's 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 t1 euty-si1-but just o he
sauntered and smiled like o great
pleased boy. His latest adventure
had been of q sort to dash into his
experience a good strong element of
The tender strain of romance 80 dear
TO young men.
How did Mr.. Vernon know hat 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
nan whose wealth and peculiar inhu-
cnce control ~far.reaching and compre-
hensiye combinations Of force and in
t~eiiigence.
From MIR. Vernon he had heard the
ssory of old Burns. the preacher, and
that, TOO, was adding its thrill OF
strangeness and pathos to his refec-
items.
But most of all, he thought of
Pauline. Her beauty of form and
face had captivated him, and the
sound Of her voice was yet echoing
through his heart with a certain
tirnbre which no other voice ever had.
It was past shutdown when he
reached Vasseur's, and he heard the
mocking-birds auting tenderly in the
magnolias as he entered the low, odd
Nv constructed house. A little way
Of. the sea was pounding on the
beach with q heavy throbbing and
smashing.
vasseur himself met him at the
door.
sMosieu has had a good day, I
hope" the little creole said, in his
soft. insinuating voice. "It ware fine
wetter zis day."
Fairfax looked down at him with a
comprehensive smile, bgt only nodded
aresponse. He flung aside his bur-
den Of implements and weapons.
ssIo'sieu is ware 'ungry, is it not?
Suppaire it come soon," Yasseur went
on, rubbing his brown little hands to-
gether and grimacing violently.
no; I dined late and WELL" said
Fairfax, in French. 81 am not at all
hungry."
II was one Of Yasseur'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, s~oft-voiced and
m~urderous, 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 a wrinkle proclaimed the
years. A long, narrow forehead.
slender black brows, deep.set black
eyes, a high straight nose, a mouth
seal and expressive and a protruding
chin made his face n 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 a contradiction
/ EXISTED in the mans makeup. He
was not INDECENT, and yet his greatest
activity was seen through an ct
atmosphere of lan3uor and Indifference.
Fairfax found Vasseur's house a
delightful lodge. TWAS built OF pine
logs end covered with long, rough
boards; It's rooms, large and airy,
we're yet huddled in appearance, and
seemed to have no system IN their
arrangement. The floors there was
hui one story-were of dried mortar,
smooth and even. and the walls were
hung with a great variety Of dressed
skins, while the chairs and tables, the
bedsteads and the armoires were Of
every grade of finish. from q rude
stool to the most eSquisitely carved
piece of mahogany. 1t was plain that
this heterogeneous furniture had been
obtained piece by piece, in the course
of a life devoted to snatching treas
nres from the sea; Gotsam and jetsam
/, had found their way into the house
OF the creole; and the mishaps of
Others had in this degree, at least,
contributed to his enrichment. The
reputation of having once been q
pirate chung to Yasseur, 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-dismonds, rubies, emer-
aids, topazes. sapphires, opals, anne.
thysts-hundreds of them, none of
the more precious ones large or very
valuable; but still, in the aggregate,
the lot was worth cuite a pretty sum-.