The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-08-28

slrOnSnOlQ OF the government, strong.
~ ruled by one OF its most inexorable
mobiles. Since his appointment many
years before to the post my lord. the
governor Of the rock, had ever been
regarded as a man who conceded
nothing to the people and pursued
only the set tenure of his way. Dur.
ing the long period Of his reign he
committed but one indiscretion; gen.
orally regarded as a man confirmed
IN apathy for the gentler sex. he sud
denly. when already past middle age.
welded. Speculation concerning a
step so unlocked for was naturally
rife.
In hovel and hut was 1t whispered
the bride Claire, only daughter of the
Comtesse de la Mart, had wept at the
altar, but that her mother had an.
peared complacent. as we'll she might:
for the Governor of the Mount and
the surrounding country was both rich
and powerful; his ships swept far and
wide. even to the Orient, while the
number OF metayers, or petty farmers
that paid him tribute, constituted a
large community. Other gossips. bend.
Ing over peat fires within mud walls.
afhrmed-beneath their breath. lest
the spies of the well-hated lord OF
the North might heat them!-that the
more popular, though impoverished
Setgneur Desaurac had been the
favored suitor with the young woman
herself, but that the family of the
bride had found him undesirable. The
Desaurac fortune, once large, had so
waned that little remained save the
rich, though heavily encumbered lands
and. In the heart Of the forest, a time.
worn. crumbling castle.
Thus 1t came to pass the marriage
OF the lady to the Governor was cele-
brated in the jeweled Gothic church
crowning medley of palaces. chapels
and monastery on the Mount; that the
rejected Seigneur Desaurac, gazing
across the strip of water-for the tide
was at It's full-separating the rocky
fortress from the land, shrugged his
shoulders angrily and contemptuous-
~, and that not many moons later,
as II to show disdain of position and
title. took to his home an orphaned
peasant lass. That a simple church
ceremony had preceded this step was
Doth afhrmed and denied; hearsay de-
scribed marriage at q neighborinp
village; more malicious gossip dis
credited 1t. A man OF rank! A won.
an of the soil! Feudal custom for
bade belief that the proper sort of
nuptial knot had been tied.
Be this as 1t may, for a time the
sturdy, dark brown young woman pre-.
sided over the Seigneur's fortunes
with exemplary care and patience.
She found them in a chaotic condi.
ton; lands had either been allowed
TO run to waste, or were cultivated by
peasants that so long had forgotten
to pay the metayage, or owners due.
they had come to regard the acres as
their own-a delusion this practical
helpmate would speedily have dis.
pelled, save that the Seigneur him.
self pleaded for them and would not
permit OF the poor people" being
disturbed. WhereupOn she made the
best OF an anomalous situation. and
all concerned might have continued
TO live satisfactorily enough unto
themselves, when unfortunately an
abrupt break occurred in the chain
OF circumstances. In presenting the
Seigneur with child, half.peasant,
half-lord. the mother gave up her own
life for his posterity.
At first, thereafter, the Siegneur re-
mained a recluse; when. however, a
year or two had gone by, the peas.
ants-who had settled In greater num-
bers thereabouts, even to the verge
OF the forest-noticed that he grad
ually emerged from his solitude, ven.
tured into the world at large, and oc.
casionally was seen In the vicinity OF
the Mount. This prediction for
lonely walks clearly led to his undo
ing; one morning he was found
stabbed in the back, on the beach at
the foot Of the Mount.
Carried home. he related how he
had been set upon by band OF mis-.
creants, which later, coming to the
governors ears. led to an attempt to
locate the assailants among the
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