She very softly opened the door and looked in.
Luke was on his knees, his arms on the writing table and his face buried in them. He was praying out loud.
Rachel closed the door and went downstairs again. Her heart was heavy, and anxious. She knew that his habit was to pray out loud; but his prayer to-night was mingled with groans and probably tears. What had happened? Rachel moved restlessly about the room. Her impulse was to go to the piano, and soothe her anxiety by playing. But she was afraid of disturbing Luke. Then she took up her work and sat waiting.
It was late before she heard him coming down the stairs.
His face bore no trace of the anguish he had apparently been going through. He came and sat down by Rachel's side without speaking.
"Well?" she said.
He was silent for a moment, then he said:
"I have never had such a fight with evil as to-night. I feel sure that the Devil is working with all his might to destroy any good that may have been done."
"What happened?"
"We have been discussing for nearly three hours the articles of our faith. The men had primed themselves with all the arguments they could lay hold of against them. The Divinity of our Lord, the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection; and the very men who I had hoped were on the eve of making the great decision have been thrown back."