CHAPTER III. LOVE OR DUTY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 387, 24 July 1889, Page 6

CHA PTER 111. LOVE OR DUTY.

But during the month which I had supposed would see the political horizon clear, Mississippi, Florida, and all the Gulf States seceded, and evevy day made it further and fuither from being- 'all right.' The Southern Confederacy was formed, the various branches of its government completed, and company after company and regiment after regiment thronged through Columbia en route for Charleston, to encircle with bristling batteries and frowning guns the only fortification in South Carolina that still flaunted the llaoof the United States. ° This immense transportation oi troops and military material made my railroad duties exceedingly arduous ; consequently I had little time to visit the Peytons, though every spare moment of mine -was devoted to my sweetheart, and we passed, even at that time, many happy hours together. Laura informed me that, upon learning from her father of her contemplated matiimonial union with me, Mr Pierson had left the next day for Savannah, having wished her — rather ironically, she thought — a happy ending bo her engagement. During this time, however, two occurrences took place t» which I gave but little heed at the moment, but which affected me very seriously afterward. They were these : One day young Caucus came into my office, and, in his excitable darky manner, said : 'Mas' Bryant, dar am sev'rai officers below dat am anxious for a interview.' I ordered them to be admitted, and found that they were two members of the staff of General Beauregard who was then in command of the Confederate forces about Charleston. One of them, Stuart Bee, a Georgian and a particular friend of mine, handed me a letter tendering me a staff appointment upon the transportation corps of the Confederate army. He said they had called to ask if I did notwish to take immediate charge of the movement of the troops then being pushed forward to reinforce the Confederate soldiers already about Charleston. I replied that I did not wish to join the Confederate army in any capacity. 'Why not?' asked Bee. 'Do you not now forward to us all the troop 3 that pass here ?' * Yes,' I replied, 'as engineer of the South Carolina Railroad, but not as a member of the Confederate army.' ' Well,' he replied, ' you do your work in a very satisfactory manner ; but I had hoped that yon would accept the appointment because it would put an immediate stop to the local prejudice thac i 3 growing up against you. For your own sake, you should make it plain that you are favourable i feo the Confederate cause. The report that you have refused this ofier will only tend to make your position here more uncomfortable ; with our people who surround you. 5 I ' I am very much obliged,' I replied, * for the honour tendered me, but must still refuse. I am fully sensible of the inconvenience tha u my declination may bring to me, but cannot reconsider the proposition. Do you know, by the by, who was it that recommended me for the position ?' ' I believe Mr Amos Pierson, of Savannah, who has lately accepted some large contracts for army supplies for the Confederate Government,' replied my friend. With this the two officers said good-bye, leaving me to reflect that Mr Amos Pierson, through his recommendation to General I Beauregard, had succeeded in compelling me to assume a stand that in this exciting time would probably cause my social ostra" cism by most of my neighbours in Columbia. Evidence of this in the next few days became Jipparenb. My refusal to accept an office upon the staff of General Beauregard was noted by the local papers and commented upon in no flattering terms, and the cold shoulders that had been turned to me for some time past during my business and social intercourse with the citizens of the town became much more cold. Even Laura remarked this with a feio-h as she said : k What a pity, Lawrence, "that you are not one of us— one who loves the South.' 'As well as I do one of its maidens,' laughed I, but the laugh had a rather forced and unpleasant ring in it. The second event was the departure of young Arthur Peyton with his company to join the forces about Charleston. The lad went off in high spirits, laughing and happy as if he were going to a picnic or a frolic, but after that a little of the coming gloom of the war descended upon his family. His father sighed more often, and "Miss Laura and Miss Belle seemed to be even more Southern than before in their sentiments, the latter young lady saying to me one day :_ 'If I don't soon make a true South Carolinian of you fey coaxing and by being your friend in your suit for Laura, I fchall begin to try sterner measures, MiLawrence Bryant.' She said this with a very sweet sixteen-year-old laugh, but I felt, notwithstanding, that there was an unpleasant tone of truth in her remark. So things drifted on and on, always for the worse, until one day Columbia became a ferment of excitement under the news of the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter by the Confederate forces. From that time on 1 knew that there was no hope of any peaceful solution of the difficulty that had begun by the secession of South Carolina four months before. I felt that my duty called me to the North, that my love bound me to the South, and so I lingered, despite the warning of Mr Tom Baxter, who arrived the day afterward from Georgia. 'Are you going with me, Lawrence?' he asked. • Going where ?' 'North, of course, while you have the chance.' ' Not at present,' I replied. 'Not at present?' he echoed. »If you don't go now, you will never go. When two armies face each other in Virginia and Tennessee, it will not be so easy a matter to pass through their contending lines as it is to buy a through ticket for ty ashington and get north in less than two days, as I am about to do.' ' Still,' I replied, ' I shall remain here for the present.'

'Ah ! I suppose it is the young lady who still delainn you ? Marry her, and take her north with you !' • At such a time she would not leave her father and her sister. I fear that I will lose her if I leave , her, and I love her too well to give her up.' • Well, my boy, 1 returned the sententious lorn, ' if you stay here two months longer, you will not bo able to leave peaceably, and you'll lose the girl anyway.' • What makes you think that '—Laura ley ton lovos me i J muttered I, in almost a tremble. Laura Peyton loves you noio : but wait till the fighting begins, and your sweetheart will very soon grow cold to a man who is not willing to risk his life for the cause .she loves. You will not be able to stand against her prayers and entreaties ; and if you do not, you and I, my dear oH chum, will perhaps meet in combat upon the battle-field. Take your last and only chance to do your duty. There'll bo no half measures in this conflict. Go north and be a northern man, or remain in the South and you, nofam volcw>, will have to fight for the Confederacy.' With this Mr Baxter proceeded on his way, but though out of my view, his remarks lingoied in my mind, and had it nob been for tho beautiful eyes, welcoming arms, and beguiling smiles of tho girl I loved, t should boon have followed Mr Baxter north. Thus, undecided, struggling between love and duty, I remained until the /trol day o; July, 1861, drew near. From that day the Confederate Government had decreed that all people remaining under its jurisdiction should be considered subjects ot the Confederacy and not permitted to leave its boideis without its permission. Such permission it was considered a military necessity not to grant, save to women, children and persons not subject to military duty. I was now compelled to take some dofinite action. After a night spent in alternate wavering between my love for my country and my love for Laura Peyton, I decided to return to the North, if possible taking her with mo as ray wife,— if not, hoping that she would be true to me through the few months which I thought it would probably take to settlo the contest now beginning between the North and South. Actuated by this idea, I rode out through the pretty streets of Columbia to the home of my sweetheart. It was a very c»lm beautiful summer evening, but I hardly noticed it, so engrossed was I in the misery and anxiety which my resolution had brought to me. As I rode up the avenue, a horseman rapidly passed me, apparently coming from , Judge Peyton's house. He was muttering to himself in some trouble apparently | greater than mine. His features were not so distorted by misery, however, that I failed to recognise in the uncertain light : the face ot Harry Walton. He was dressed j in the uniform of a captain of the Hampton Legion, and rode by me so rapidly that I did not think he saw me, for he uttered no word of greeting, and gave me no salutation. This was not altogether surprising, though we had been great friends a few months before, and chums at college in '55, and it was partly owing to his friendship that I had obtained my railroad cositiou. Still, ever since the bright face of Laura Peyton had come between us, he had grown colder and colder, and his hearty shake of the hand had gradually changed to a bow, the bow to a nod, and the nod had become colder and colder, and we were now almost strangers. This was partly due to our different political sentiments, but more from his suspicion that I had found favour in the sight of the woman he loved, though as Laura's engagement to me had never been formally announced, he had by no means given up all hope of winning her hand, and his visits to her home in the last few months had been almost as frequent as my own. On entering the house, I was greeted by Miss Belle, who rather cavalierly informed me that her sister would not be visible for a few minutes, but if I could waste a little of my time on her, she would tell me something that would perhaps prove to me that, notwithstanding my lukewarm southern sentiments, she was still my friend— 'though 1 am not going to be so much longer,' she said, rather savagely. ' Well, what have you done forme?' I asked, trying to turn the conversation. ' Done for you ! I have this evening, I with consummate tact for a girl of my years, prevented your sweetheart's being proposed to in full form with all the romantic advantages of military uniform, bioken heart, and instant departure for war and bloodshed by one Harry Walton, once attorney-at-law, but now captain in Wade Hempton's gallant legion. He looked so handsome in his regimentals, that J would not have given much for your chances had he ever asked Laura,' remarked Miss Belle, rather sarcastically ; ' and if he ever comes back wounded for our glorious cause, I wouldn't give much for them any way,' continued the girl, with a little laugh, partly of merriment, and perhaps partly 1 of malice. • He didn't see her, then ?' 'Oh, yes, he saw her: but he didn't have any chance to propose to her, for I took care to make the third at the parting, and didn't give him a single second ior a tete-a-tete. Nevertheless, their parting was very affectionate, and perhaps a little tender. There were tears on both sides as he bade her good-bye. That is the reason she won]t see you now — red eyes are not becoming.' ' And why have you done Lhis thins 1 for me— one whom you half dislike ?' ventured ' Because,' replied the lady, airily, 'I still have hopes of you ; and until I give up in despair, am perfectly willing to be your friend ; but when Ido make up my mind once, definitely and forever, that you will never become one of us, that moment my good offices will leave you, and I shall do my best to assist Harry Walton in gaining the love of my sister. You see I'm an artful recruiting officer for the C.S.A.' This conversation was now interrupted by the entrance of Laura, whose white sum- j mer dress made her look to me prettier ' chan ever— perhaps because I thought 1 should soon part from her. \ There was a suspicion of redness in her eyes and a teariness about her smile which indicated that her sister had not exaggerated the effect of Captain Walton's farewell. After a few moments' conversation, Miss Belle left the room, and I began to explain my motives and my plans to my sweetheart, once or twice interrupted by a gasp of pain and a sob that carried with it no tears. When I had finished she looked at me and faltered : ' Lawrence, I know if you part from me now, it will be forever.' 1 For ever !— no, no. I'll come back for you, as sure as I stand by you now. But come with me north— leave" all the trouble behind you — ' { ' Leave my poor old father— my little I sister — who have just now given Arthur to their country's cause — leave them ? No, no, Lawrence ; you may love me, but now you do not honour me.' JNot_when I beg you to be my wife?'

1 Yes, but if I accepfced— if I let myself be happy— if I deserted the South and my deai' father and sister, I should despise myself. Lawrence, if you wish to retain my love, never ask me to do this mean thing again!' This last the girl said in a haughty despair, walking up and down the room, bub sometimes to kiss and fondle, and at others to flash almost angry glances at me. The scene was becoming cruel. Fortunately it was interrupted by a servant bringing in a letter addressed to Miss Laura Peyton and marked 'Immediate.* As she tore it open, I recognised that the handwriting was that of Harry Walton. She glanced through it, handed it to me and said faltoringly; 'Harry Walton asks me to marry him ; and you leave me at such a moment?' . 1 What have you or I to fear from Harry Walton ? He is a gentleman,' I answered/ 1 But there is one who is nob a gentleman,' she gasped. ' Amos Pierson, through his bushiest, hold upon my father, still thinks to win me.' ' Still thinks to win you ? A man whom you despise?' ' Yes ; here are the proofs,' and she handed me a bundle of letters. 'I had intended to show you these some time ago, but circumstances compel me to let you read them at once. Thi& man will not give up his hopos of my love,— will not givo up his desiro for my hand. Can you at such a moment, oven for your political principles, leave me, the woman who loves you, who lias stood against the advico of tho friends of her youth and the entreaties of her relatives, to be true to the promise that six months ago sho gave to be your wife ? Can you desert and leave me alono ioran indeunite period in a land that may perhaps become the scone of actual warfare '! Can you part from mo and hope to win me ? Stay here", and 1 will love you for ever ; desert me, and I shall doubt the truth of your affection. Is it my love, our happine&s, and your presence by my sido,— or do you leave me surrounded by enemies to my affection for you to be parted more and more from you each day by the political passions of this awful time? Will you, dare you— date I let you — tako such chances the happiness of our lives ? Do" you remain in tho South or do you go North V.«•V ••■<.«• Enfoiced by pleading eyes, clinging arms and loving kisses from the woman he loved, what man could give an anbwer other than I did ? 'I remain !' As I left her that evening, T thought there was triumph as well as lovo in Laura Peyton's eyes. The first of July, 1861, passed. I still stayed in South Carolina, was considered a citizen of the Confederacy, and became subject to Confederate military law. ,