Page:Dave Porter at Oak Hall.djvu/56

42 you did a great deal when you saved Jessie from burning to death."

"Yes, but—but it will cost a heap of money, Mr. Wadsworth."

"Not such a tremendous sum—for one situated like myself. I have taken a strong liking to you, and—I hope you like me?"

"I do, sir, very much!" cried Dave, heartily.

"And what of my offer? Do you wish to accept?"

"Yes, sir, but I don't see how I can do it," and the boy's face fell suddenly.

"Why not?" came from both the manufacturer and Caspar Potts simultaneously.

"I can't leave Mr. Potts. It wouldn't be right."

"It's good of you to say that, Dave, but I—I—can get along alone, somehow," faltered the old professor. "You mustn't allow this opportunity to slip because of me."

"I haven't finished with my proposition yet," went on Oliver Wadsworth. "If Dave goes to school and then to college I want you, professor, to come here and live under our roof. You are too old to work on the farm. I think we can rent the place out to somebody until such time as the land becomes ripe for improvement."

"I to live here!" gasped Caspar Potts.

"Yes. You see, by such an arrangement we