It was a good thing for Luke that he had been refreshed and had returned hungry for work; for he found himself in the midst of a fierce battle with the evil one. Unbelief was spreading, and his congregation gradually diminishing. One or two of his best workers were leaving the town, and two of the four men who had left the Church Council on the night of the discussion on the amusement question, had attached themselves, while he had been away, to a neighbouring church, where they considered the young people were better looked after. But Luke's faith had been renewed, and he determined not to give way to depression or discouragement, knowing that that was the atmosphere in which the devil did some of his worst work.
So the summer wore away, giving place to autumn and winter, and on January the first, his little son was born, and they called him Patrick, after his maternal grandfather.
[CHAPTER XIX.]
GWEN WRITES TO THE BISHOP.
"I don't know what is to be done about Rachel," said Gwen, as she stood looking at her sister Sybil weeding in the garden.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that she won't live long at the rate that she is working."
"Don't be silly, Gwen."
"I am not silly; I am only thinking of what Rachel is doing in that horrible Trowsby. No girl could do all that she is doing and not pay for it. There is Luke in the first place who seems to require no end of her attention; then there's the baby and the house; and now she is doing Mrs. Greville's work."