** Vailima " remained unoccupied, except
by caretakers, for a long time after the fam-
ily left the islands, for it was difficult to find
a purchaser for so expensive a place, situated
as it was so far out of town. Eventually,
however, it passed into the hands of a very
wealthy German gentleman, Herr Gustav
Kunst, who was in the habit of visiting the
islands periodically to escape the severity of
the northern winters. Chance brought him
to Samoa in 1893, *^^ thereafter he spent
several months here every year. When
" Vailima " was first brought under his notice,
he ofifered five thousand dollars for it, but
it is hardly necessary to say that he had not
thought the matter over seriously; the offer
was of course, refused; In conversation with
the writer, Mr. Kunst remarked how singu-
lar it was that the whole civilized world



220 WITH STEVENSON IN SAMOA

seemed always struggling to make money,
since the pictured enjoyments It was said to
bring in its train were all a myth. At fifty,
he said, he had accumulated a great fortune
by successful trading and banking operations
in Vladivostock, and desired to retire. His
partners, however, pleaded with him to re-
main in harness for another ten years, and
he consented. " I have always regretted It
since," he remarked. " Here I am, an old
man at sixty-four, with so much money that
I find it difficult to spend the interest. I have
neither wife, nor child, nor close relative;
and there remain to me only a few years in
which to enjoy myself. Take warning from
me, and do not hang on too long to busi-
ness."

It was during one of these conversations
that he told me the Stevensons had refused
his ofifer of five thousand dollars for Vailima ;
and I smilingly pointed out to him that here
was a case in which he allowed his old bar-
gaining proclivities to interfere still with his



AN APPEAL 221

last enjoyments. We need not wonder if
human nature puzzled Stevenson. Here was
a man conspicuously generous, and yet his old
trading instinct continued to master him, and
Jhe was even now — in the sixty-fifth year
of his life, with more money than he knew
what to do with — trying to drive a hard
bargain. 