"Habberton, John - Everybody's Chance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Habberton John)

ashamed of, but I put him into the one good chance which I had here, and I went
away to shift for myself. I don't deny that I hoped that something would happen
to break their engagement, but there didn't. I wish Luce were my daughter, for
there's no one I would rather see her marry than you, but there are some things
which one can't changeЧ some chances which a man loses. Your chance is just as
I'm putting it; I'm advising only what I did myself, and what I never had cause
to regret. I know, though, it isn't the sort of thing to press on a young man
too hard, and I'm sure that, while you're in your present frame of mind, you
don't care to listen to any more of this kind of talk, soЧ good-night."
"Good-night," was the response, as sharp as the crack of a rifle.
"Shake hands with me, won't you, Champ?" said the old man softly. "No one else
knows so well how to sympathize with you. Don't forget that I loved her motherЧ
and lost her."
They shook hands as they parted, but Champ's head was in a whirl, and his heart
was thumping angrily. What? Help the man who had just taken from him the prize
toward which he had been struggling for years? Pruffett had probably told the
truth, butЧ well, men were not all of the same clay. Love Luce for her own sake?
Why, what else had he thought of but what he would do to make Luce happy? Had
not his delay been entirely because of his doubts and fears for her? What was
most in his mind whenever he thought of herЧ himself? Never! He thought only of
herЧ her great, deep eyes, her noble face, her womanly composure, her strength
of character everything that was best in womanhood, so far as he knew women. He
was sure that through his very admiration of all that was best in her, he knew
best how to make her happy, while Charley, a mere good-natured, happy-go-lucky
fellow, who had seemed to be in love with half-a-dozen other girls for no
especial reason, would be utterly unable to comprehend the needs of so superior
a nature.
Yet there was some truth in what old Pruffett had said about the ways in which
Charley could be helped to become a more fit husband. If some one else could
help him, well and good, but as to ChampЧ . He struggled hard with himself a few
moments; then he suddenly stopped, bared his head, looked upward, and exclaimed:

"Heaven help me, I'll do itЧ for her sake! 'Tis my chanceЧ but what a chance."
IIЧ IN THE CAMP OF THE ENEMY
Luce Grew told herself, after Charley had reluctantly gone home and she found
herself alone with her thoughts, that she wondered how she had come to say "Yes"
to the very pointed question which Charley Wurring had put to her during a
certain point of the lecture. Charley had one of the sympathetic natures which
are rare among men, or, perhaps, less rare than the willingness of their owners
to manifest them, so Luce had always liked him. He was quick to see the
application of an argument, or the inner and better sense of almost anything
that might be said, so Luce had never failed to find him good company, although
she regarded him very much as if he were a boy, although he was fully as old as
she. She had been deeply interested in the lecture, and her better self approved
all that the speaker said; so it pleased her greatly that when she looked at
Charley for sympathy his face was frank and open, and he seemed to be of exactly
her own way of thinking; while most of the young men about him were looking
grim, or were sneering, or exchanging satirical winks with other young men.
So, when the lecturer told the hearers that their chances were all about themЧ
nay, right at their side, waiting only to be accepted, Charley had whispered: