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

"Luce, don't you think you could make a personal application of that remark? I
am right at your side; won t you accept me? I won't ask any other or grander
chance than you while I live."
She felt like laughing at the boy, but he looked so earnest, so manly, yet at
the same time so appealing, that she did what many another woman has done in
similar circumstances she began to wonder. Life was long; Brundy was a small
place; there were other young men in the village, but very, very few whom she
could by any possibility marry. She did not like the possibility of remaining
single all her life. Charley was not the kind of man upon whom she had set her
fancy, but young men were disappointing creatures; she had never been in love
with one, but girls of her acquaintance had made dreadful mistakes in marrying
men whom Luce herself had thought quite good. Charley was goodЧ she never had
heard a word against him: he was very attentive to his mother and kind to his
sisters. He had nothing upon which to marry, but engagements generally were long
in Brundy; perhaps if she were to accept him it might be the means of making him
everything he now failed to be.
"Does it take you so long to make up your mind?" whispered Charley. "I know I'm
not worthy of you, but, on the other hand, neither is any one else; I'll be
anything you wish, if you'll think me good enough to begin with."
She looked down into his eyes; they were very honest eyes, and at that
particular instant they were very earnest. Luce blushed slightly and dropped her
own eyes, Charley's hand sought hers, pressed it, and received a gentle pressure
in return; then he whispered:
"Thank you. God bless you."
On the way home she talked to him kindly, but not enthusiastically; she told him
that his proposal had been a great surprise, and perhaps she had accepted it too
hastily, for she really had never thought of loving him; but Charley was so
grateful, and so willing to wait, and so astonished at his own temerity, and so
overwhelmed by his new joy, that she could not help being deeply affected, so
she made but a single condition; the affair must be a secret between them until
both of them were certain that they were not mistaken. Charley promised
willingly, for he was concerned, for Luce's sake, about what people would say
should they know of what had occurred. Marriage was a serious matter in Brundy,
from the dollar and cents point of view; and he knew that every one in the
village knew that he had neither money nor prospects, and that his only
employment, thus far, had been several months of school teaching, during the
winter months, and such occasional work as he could find in the village and
among the farmers during the summer. He well knew, too, what people would say
about a woman like Luce entering a family such as the Wurring family had become,
through the habits of the head of the house.
The next morning, therefore, Charley made haste to find Champ, the only man to
whom he had betrayed his feelings, and beg that young man to keep the matter a
profound secret.
He found Champ in the marshland forest, working as if he were determined to fell
all the trees in a single day. Champ rested upon his axe and kept his eyes on
the ground while the communication was made; then, without raising his eyes, he
said:
"What have you to marry on?"
"Not a cent," was the reply, "though here's the half dollar you lent me last
night."