"You don't suppose, do you Luke, that I have sold my pearls to be able to do for the Church what the people are far better able to afford to do than we are? You seem to forget that we are really poor, much poorer than many of the congregation. No, the first thing we must do," she said decidedly, "is to pay our bills and to start afresh, and then to go for a holiday."
Rachel's tone of voice was so decided that he turned and looked at her in surprise.
"But," he said, "it is God's work that you are refusing."
"No," she answered, "I don't think it is. To provide the luxury of electric light in a place where the gas is quite good and sufficient, seems to me to be not so much doing the Will of God as paying our debts, and going for a holiday, which will give you strength to do His work better."
Luke was silent.
"Besides," she added in a lower voice and smiling, "you forget next January."
Luke looked mystified. Then noticing the expression of his wife's eyes, he remembered.
"I forgot for the moment," he said. "You are quite right."
At the thought of January Rachel's face had lost all the surprise and disappointment as she looked down again at the envelope containing the cheque. Then she suddenly drew it out with a gay laugh and flourished it in his face.
"Happily it's mine," she said, "and you can't get at it."