Everybodys Chance | Page 5

waiting only to be accepted, Charley had
whispered:
"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 good--
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."
"Keep that to start your fortune with," said Champ. "There's money
here for you if you choose to work for it."
"Here? Where? How?"
"By cutting away these trees. If you'll do it, and keep at the job until it
is done, you may have all of the wood. Good firewood brings three
dollars a cord in town during the winter months, which aren't far off,
and the supply is none too great. There's at least a couple of hundred
dollars' worth here, and I want it out of the way, but I've not the time to
do it myself."
"'Tis mine, then!" exclaimed Charley joyously. "I'll go home at once for
my axe."
"You needn't take that trouble," said Champ, anxious to get away from
the spectacle of a man so happy, and from such a cause. "You may use
mine for the remainder of the day. When you come back after dinner,
perhaps you can persuade your father to help you; I'm