CHAPTER II. AMOS PIERSON.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 385, 17 July 1889, Page 6

CHAPTER 11. AMOS PIERSON.

' Beware ot Amos Pierson— why ? — because he is my rival ? Whab do I fear so long as I have your love? Laura, don't you ask me to dread all the suitors for this hand — Harry Walton, for instance?' replied I, seizing the fair member she had held out in warning gesture. ' Because Harry Walton is a gentleman — impulsivp, but always chivalries, always brave. Brave men are not so much to bs dreaded as cowards-. They strike fairly to your face— not behind your back. Amos Pierson is one of the kind you feel but do not see. He will wound you in the back !' ' Pshaw ! I'd much rather have Amos Pierson for a rival for your hand than Harry Walton — iifty is not so much to be

dreaded as twenty-five, anO. I have heard Mr Pierson's age stated at about the former figure, 1 laughed 1, anxious to relieve the anxiety of ray Jianhee, though by ,no means happy to hear of an additional enemy to my wooing, surrounded as it was with so many political obstacles. ' Therefore you understand the reason I wish you to see my fathet this afternoon — so that Mr Pisrson, when he arrives, will discover that ray future station in lite is already settled. That '—here she began to blush and falter — 'that— l am as surely and as truly yours as if I were already wedded to — you !' Tho last ' you ' was a little gasp, for what man could refrain from sealing such a declaration from the woman he loved ? ' So,' 1 replied,, ' you wish Mr Pierson to know he has no hope ) 4 At once and for ever ! ■ You will find my father, Lawrence, in his library. This action of South Carolina ha 3 disturbed him •very much. Heaven only knows to what it will lead !'' ;« Knowing tho hou°e very well, I turned from my sweetheart and found my way to her father, meditating on> the consideration of Laura, who, in all our interview, had never mentioned the political troubles that stood in our path almost forcing us asunder ; for my sweetheart's sympathies were all with the South in the struggle, as what southern woman's weie not, through that four years of famine, desolation, flame and bereavement, — to the end ? I knew, however, her father would mention the political aspect of our courtship, and was prepared tor it. On entering Judge Poyton's library, to my astonishment I tound him with the day's papers befoio him and a suspicious redness about tho eyes. He greeted me pleasantly, but talher sadly. ' You have been reading the news,' I ventured to remark, 4 with a good deal of interest.' ' With a good deal of sorrow,' he replied. 'This ordinance of our State legislature is, 1 feel, perhaps wrong — certainly hasty ; and may brine us more trouble than our politiciansreckon. They pa&s the oidinance, but if it comes to fighting, the people will have to do that, and I have a young boy ' — here the judge^ looked wistfully at tho picture of Arthur that hung upon the wall ; then continued with a sigh — 'and he is anxious to be in the front. 1 fear for him. Heaven only knowb what secession may bring to my family. !' Here was my opening. I remarked : 'It was in regatd to your family that I called to sneak to you. Miss Laura ' ' Ah !' ' 1 love her, and I have asked her to [ marry me. She ha& consented. I have now come to you to a&k your approval of my suit.' To this the judgo did not answer, so I went on and gave him a short history of my courtship of his daughter, stating that our affection was mutual. Here the judge stopped me b{y,,remarking, suddenly, ' You wish to marry my daughter at this time ?' j ' As soon as possible !i- You know my professional reputation in the South : that I am as well able to support her as most young men who depend; entirely upon their pi ofessional exertions. ' j, , ' Yes, I have no doubt of your ability,' i-eplied the old gentleman, ' as an engineer ; but, though I have respect for your prolessional attainments, the peculiar position that you hold in our community, makes me hesitate to give my consent to your pro position that a few mptiths ago I should have been pleased to consider.' 1 Why should the severance by South Carolina of her ties to the 1 Federal Government of the United States, compel me to sever the ties of love that bind me to your daughter?' ' I a?ked, impetuously. ' Because the ordinance of secession pa&«ed yesterday will make my daughter and you citizens of two different nations that bid fair, shortly, to become hostile te one another. If war should break out between us and the. United States, you would be unable to live in this community, and a wife must follow hei husband,' remarked the judge, slowly and delibeiately, as, it weighing hie woids. 'My daughter's sympathies are, ] hope, entirely with the people of her State in such a quarrel. , Political differences would • destroy eventually any love that theie now may be between you. You are both young, impulsive, and ardent, and you could not so entirely restrain yourselves as to prevent the excitement of the combat raging about you from entering into yoiu home. Therefore Lam opposed to any immediateunion between_yo,uand my daughter. Perhaps,' continued the'judge, with a sigh, ' this quarrel of the politicians may yet be &ebbled by the people without bloodshed. Pray heaven it may be. ! If so, come to me again, and if my daughter loves you as you say she does, my answer will be a different one, unless ' 1 Unless what ?' I in corrupted, hastily. 1 Unless ' here he checked himself suddenly and said : ' But that is an affair of the future. At present all I can say, MiBryant, is that I wish you to consider my daughter entirely freed from any promise she has made to you until the present political storm has ended. (Jod knows 1 wish South Carolina had not seceded !' ho continued impulsively. 'Ah ! you arc a Union man,' I cried. 'I love the Union, bub I love my State better ; and though, like many other men in the South, I have struggled to prevent yesterday's hasty and radical action by my native commonwealth ; still, that action being taken, I am for my State, right or wrong. I shall confer with Laura, and pei haps, after an interview with her, may write you further my views upon the proposition you v have dono me the honour to make. You have my highest personal esteom, Mr Bryant,' he said, shaking my hand as I rose with rather a gloomy and unhappy expression on my face. 4 Then you have no objection to my visiting your daughter ?' I asked. 'None in the world, as a Jriend. All I wish is that until the political horizon becomes clear, you entirely forget that my daughter has" given you teason to hope lor her hand. As a man of common sense, this should impress itself upon you. As a man of honour, a father's wishes in regard to his child at such a moment "should be binding upon you.' With this the judge returned to his reading, apparently anxious to close the interview. As I walked through the hallway I encountered a young gentleman whom_ I hoped would some day be my brother-in-law—young Mr Arthur Peyton, with the enthusiasm of twenty, excitement, youth and hope upon his face, had apparently just an ived from Columbia. His expression betokened intense joy. He cried out merrily : ' Hello, Bryant ! Isn't this glorious? Wade Hampton io about to raise a legion for the service of South Carolina in case of northern invasion, and has offered me a lieutenancy. There's promotion for you ! Quicker than if I had been at West Point.' •If the uniform is handsome, I presume you'll be very fatal to the young ladies about hero,' remarked I. 'Trust me for that,' laughed the boy, and continued : •By the bye, your fiiend Walton will rank me, a& he has been offered a captaincy.' 'That is the advantage of twenty-five over twenty in this world.'

* But I don't suppose you care much about this, as you are a northern man ; ' though perhaps pleaded with' — here the rogue winked at me — ' by my sinter, we may consider you as not the wont type ot " Black Republican," ' These remarks, which brought me once move face to face with the obstacle constantly growing larger and larger between my love and its happy consummation, gave mo a very surly and dogged air as I walked into the garden, which was instantly perceived by vayjiancee. As she came toward me, she whispered : ' Lawrence, bad news ? Papa refuses his consent?' 'Not so bad as that,' I replied. 'He only asks us to postpone our engagement until our political troubles are ended.' ' Postpone our engagement ? You mean postpone our marriage.' 'No — our engagement !' ' Impossible ! Our engagement was made yesterday. As well ask us to postpone our love.' ' Yes, he asks us to forget what we said to each other yesterday. Can you do that?' I' whispered into the dainty shell that she called her ear. 'Forget that you said you loved me? — Oh, Lawrence !' and the tears came into her eyes. ' That is what he asks ; but it is as impossible for me as to forget that I live. However, that is what your father wants.' i ' I can forget no more than you that I ' love you !' whispered the dear girl, emphasizing her words with a glance that set me to cotntovting her in the way most pleasing to engaged young ladies, Aftei- a few moments, her spirits having come back to her, Miss Laura said, airily : • Oh, I don't mind if papa asks us to postpone our inaaaiage, after all !' ' Indeed !' 1 said rather sullenly, ' I had supposed you wished to marry me immediately.' 'No, Lawrence, not immediately,' said the young lady, laughing. 'Trousteauxaxe works of time, and by the time my trousseau is ready, this political squabble between our southern fire-eating politicians and your Puritanical northern philanthropists will undoubtedly be ended. So when my LroMheau is ready, I shall be ready. As to fche engagement being suspended, 1 will see papa about that at once' — this with a libble laugh and playful threatening of the hand towards the judge's library window. ' Immediately ?' 1 cried, in rapture. ' Yes,' she said, starting and tui'ning pale. ' This matter must be settled within five minutes, for I see the man who will do all he can to prevent our union from being made complete.' As she said this she pointed down the avenue, and following the direction of her hand, I saw a gentleman riding up the pretty road thab led from Columbia. ' His name?' I gasped. 'Amos Pierson,' she faltered, and with that disappeared by one of the French windows leading from the old-fashioned southern portico into her father's library. I gazed very savagely at this supposed enemy of my happiness as he rode up the avenue, and did not think him handsome. He was a man üboub fifty years of age, rather inclined to be florid and stout, with brilliant steel*blue eyes, an honest forehead, but a treacherous mouth. He frequently laughed, and showed exceedingly white, large, fangy teeth. He was dressed in the southern style of that daj r , in black broadcloth somewhat too large for him, dark slouch hat, pronounced diamonds, and massive gold jewellery in the form ot rings and watch-chain. He was followed by a handsome young quadroon slave, carrying a valise and saddle-bags upon the horse he rode at a short distance behind his master. 'Ain't he horrid ?' whispered Miss Belle in my ear, as she came beside me to witness the new arrival. 'He is like Sol Smith, the actor, when he plays Jacqueb Strop,' for this young lady, though but sixteen, had a passionate love for the theatre, and regarded a visit to Charleston, where she could see any of the popular pieces of that clay, as one of the joys of her existence. Mr Pierson, however, not having heard this remark, flashed at the young lady a grinny smile, saluted her with a wave of his hand, and coming up to her, said enthusiastically : ' You have done this business in South Carolina a little ahead of us Georgians, Miss Belle, but we won't be far behind you. These northern abolitionists who would rob us of our property must be checked at once and for ever.' These remarks from a man who had not yet lost his New Zealand twang, and whose every manner and gesture indicated his Yankee origin, seemed to me as astonishing as they were disgusting ; but he was like most northern men who from self-inter-est or association took the part of the South in our late quarrel ; the further north a man came from, the more bitter, unrelenting, bloodthirsty and cruel he was in his sentiments, expressions, and denun ciations of his birth-place that he had disowned and upon which he was willing to make war. This was nob so astonishing as it would seem, for nearly all of these men had come down south as slave traders or ovei'seers-^two occupations that did not tend to develop the sympathy and kindliness of the human heart. Mr Pierson had begun as overseer some thirty years before I saw him, and from that had graduated to a slave dealer. Then, having accumulated considerable monoy by speculating in black flesh and blood, he had gradually drifted into the cotton trade, and was now supposed to be the richest cotton broker in any of the Gulf States. He was consequently a most pronounced secessionist and an intense haber of everything thab was not southern. ' You mean,' said Miss Belle, spicily, ' that we impulsive Southern Carolinians have stolen a march upon you lazy, sluggish Georgians ; — but permit me to introduce a reformed Black Republican — MiLawrence Bryant, Mr Amos Pierson.' It was vitally to my interest that Laura should conclude her interview with her father without interruption from the gentleman before me ; anxious to detain him, I joined the conversation. ' A reformed Black Republican ? Why, this is a cariosity !' sneered Mr Pierson. ' I would be a curiosity if I were one,' replied I, rather hotly, for the appeai*ance of the man before me irritated me to such an extent that I was not as careful of my words as my position at the moment should have dictated. ' Ah ! you are not a reformed Black Republican ?' 'Oh, yes he is,' laughed Miss Belle ; • Laura has reformed him.' 'Laura?' said Mr Pierson, giving me in ugly glance, while his face grew red with some emotion the mention of my beautiful bweetheart's name brought) to his mind. ' Laura ? What had she to do with it ?' • Oh, that you will discover in time,' laughed Miss Belle. 'He came here a northern man, but he has decided to remain south. He has concluded to be one of us if-^-' Here I interrupted hastily : ' Miss Belle imagine.", because I do not contradict her southern ideas, that I have forgotten what my relatives and friends in Illinois have written to me — thatitis the feeling of every one in my old home that the Union must be preserved at any cost, and in any way.' ' Ah ! then they would make war upon us V laughed Mr Pierson, showing his

•5 teeth. c Well, lam ready to eat' the first) northern Black Republican on the eacred southern soil of our Stato.' - ' Perhaps you had better begin with me,' I returned bobly, but the conversation was here brought to an end by iMiss Laura coming from the library, followed by her father, and welcoming in true southern hospitable manner the man she knew would do his utmost to frustrate what at that time I was confident irom her confession 1 must be very dear to her. As it was growing toward evening, it was time for me to return to Columbia. Mr Pieraon, with the judge, had entered the house, while I madei my, adieux to Miss Belle, who then kindly turned her back upon us and allowed her sister and myself a tete-a-tete as I rode down the avenue. • It's all right, Lawrence.' said my fiancee, as soon as we were out of Miss Belle's hearing. 4 Papa knows I can marry no one but you, and he has consented to our engagement, onjy stipulating that it shall not be announced, and that our marriage must be postponed until our political troubles have ceased. God grant the time may come soon.' 'I echo that prayer,' I whispered, as I kissed my thank 3, and waving my hat, I rode laughingly and happily away, only once turning around to look at the fair girl as she stood, the setting sun illumining and making bright her face, surrounded and backgrounded by the beautiful green foliage ot the avenue oaks. ' Good-bye,' she cried, waving her hand. ' It will be all right in a month,' while I rfeechoed her words, and, made foolish by love, believed them ! ( To (>c Continued. )