"Well if I loved a girl," she said, "I"d make her listen."
"I would have done that but Mrs Fuller saved you."
"You might have written," she suggested in a tone of injury.
"I did."
"And the letter never came--just as I feared."
She looked very sober and thoughtful then.
"You know our understanding that day in the garden," she added. "If you did not ask me again I was to know you--you did not love me any longer.
That was long, long ago.
"I never loved any girl but you," I said. "I love you now, Hope, and that is enough--I love you so there is nothing else for me. You are dearer than my life. It was the thought of you that made me brave in battle. I wish I could be as brave here. But I demand your surrender--I shall give you no quarter now.
"I wish I knew," she said, "whether--whether you really love me or not?
"Don"t you believe me, Hope?
"Yes, I believe you," she said, "but--but you might not know your own heart.
"It longs for you," I said, "it keeps me thinking of you always. Once it was so easy to be happy; since you have been away it has seemed as if there were no longer any light in the world or any pleasure. It has made me a slave. I did not know that love was such a mighty thing.
"Love is no Cupid--he is a giant," she said, her voice trembling with emotion as mine had trembled. "I tried to forget and he crushed me under his feet as if to punish me.
She was near to crying now, but she shut her lips firmly and kept back the tears. G.o.d grant me I may never forget the look in her eyes that moment. She came closer to me. Our lips touched; my arms held her tightly.
"I have waited long for this," I said--"the happiest moment of my life!
I thought I had lost you.
"What a foolish man," she whispered. "I have loved you for years and years and you--you could not see it, I believe now."
She hesitated a moment, her eyes so close to my cheek I could feel the beat of their long lashes.
"That G.o.d made you for me," she added.
"Love is G.o.d"s helper," I said. "He made us for each other.
"I thank Him for it--I do love you so," she whispered.
The rest is the old, old story. They that have not lived it are to be pitied.
When we sat down at length she told me what I had long suspected, that Mrs Fuller wished her to marry young Livingstone.
"But for Uncle Eb," she added, "I think I should have done so--for I had given up all hope of you."
"Good old Uncle Eb!" I said. "Let"s go and tell him.
He was sound asleep when we entered his room but woke as I lit the gas.
"What"s the matter?" he whispered, lifting his head.
"Congratulate us," I said. "We"re engaged.
"Hey ye conquered her?" he enquired smiling.
"Love has conquered us both," I said.
"Wall, I swan! is thet so?" he answered. "Guess I won"t fool away any more time here in bed. If you childen"ll go in t"other room I"ll slip into my trousers an" then ye"ll hear me talk some conversation.
"Beats the world!" he continued, coming in presently, b.u.t.toning his suspenders. "I thought mos" likely ye"d hitch up t"gether sometime.
"Tain"t often ye can find a pair s"well matched. The same style an gaited jest about alike. When ye goin" t" git married?
"She hasn"t named the day," I said.
"Sooner the better," said Uncle Eb as he drew on his coat and sat down.
"Used if be so t"when a young couple hed set up "n held each other"s han"s a few nights they was ready fer the minister. Wish"t ye could fix it fer "bout Crissmus time, by jingo! They"s other things goin"if happen then." s pose yer s"happy now ye can stan" a little bad news. I"ve got if tell ye--David"s been losin" money. Hain"t never wrote ye "bout it--not a word--"cause I didn"t know how "twas comin" out.
"How did he lose it?" I enquired.
"Wall ye know that Ow Barker--runs a hardware store in Migleyville--he sold him a patent right. Figgered an" argued night an" day fer more "n three weeks. It was a new fangled wash biler. David he thought he see a chance if put out agents an" make a great deal o"money. It did look jest as easy as slidin" downhill but when we come slide--wall, we found out we was at the bottom o the hill "stid o" the top an" it wan"t reel good slidin. He paid five thousan" dollars fer the right o"ten counties. Then bym bye Barker he wanted him t"go security fer fifteen hunderd bilers thet he was hevin" made. I to!" David he hedn"t better go in no deeper but Barker, he promised big things an" seemed if be sech a nice man "at fin"ly David he up "n done it. Wall he"s hed "em t" pay fer an" the fact is it costs s"much if sell "em it eats up all the profits.
"Looks like a swindle," I said indignantly.
"No," said Uncle Eb, "tain"t no swindle. Barker thought he hed a gran"
good thing. He got fooled an" the fool complaint is very ketchin". Got it myself years ago an" I"ve been doctorin" fer it ever sence.
The story of David"s undoing hurt us sorely. He had gone the way of most men who left the farm late in life with unsatisfied ambition.
"They shall never want for anything, so long as I have my health," I said.
"I have four hundred dollars in the bank," said Hope, "and shall give them every cent of it.
"Tain" nuthin"if worry over," said Uncle Eb. "If I don" never lose more"n a little money I shan"t feel terrible bad. We"re all young yit.
Got more"n a million dollars wuth o" good health right here "n this room. So well, I"m "shamed uv it! Man"s more decent if he"s a leetle bit sickly. An" thet there girl Bill"s agreed t"marry ye! Why! "Druther hev her "n this hull city o" New York.
"So had I," was my answer.
"Wall, you am"no luckier "n she is--not a bit," he added. "A good man"s better "n a gol"mine ev"ry time.
"Who knows," said Hope. "He may be president someday.
"Ther"s one thing I hate," Uncle El continued. "That"s the idee o hevin"
the woodshed an" barn an" garret full o" them infernal wash bilers.
Ye can"t take no decent care uv a hoss there "n the stable" they"re so piled up. One uv "em tumbled down top o" me t"other day. "Druther "twould a been a panther. Made me s"mad I took a club an" knocked that biler into a c.o.c.ked hat. "Tain"t right! I"m sick o" the sight uv "em.
"They"ll make a good bonfire someday," said Hope.