Luke's wife

by Evelyn R. Garratt

"You won't engage that room till you have thought a little longer about it," she pleaded.

"I shall engage it to-morrow if possible," he answered with decision.

And Rachel said in her heart, "You shall not engage it to-morrow."

Then she went out to find Polly.

"Polly," she said in a soft voice, "do you think your father could come round this evening and bring a man with him. I want to give Mr. Greville a surprise and make the spare room into his study. He will be out at a meeting till nine o'clock. Could you just run round do you think? I will get the tea."

The little spare room had been arranged with the hope that her sister Sybil would soon be able to come and pay them a visit. It was dreadfully disappointing that now she would not be able to take her in. She would have to get a room out for her which would not be nearly so nice. But anything would be better than for Luke to rent a room in his mother's house. She could not endure that. If he did that she would see less and less of him, and she did not think it could be good for a husband to get used to being a long time away from his wife. In fact she simply could not bear it. Sybil's little room at the top of the stairs must be turned into a study; and all the time Rachel was preparing the tea she was planning where to place the furniture and his books. The very idea of giving him such a surprise had the effect of sending away all melancholy thoughts, and Luke, who had been as startled to see such a look of melancholy on his wife's face as she had been to hear his somewhat irritable tone of voice, was relieved to see her as bright as usual, and determined never to allow any irritability to find its way into his heart towards her again.

At ten o'clock that evening Rachel sat by the open window in the drawing-room listening for her husband's footstep. She was very tired, as though Polly's father had, with the help of another man, taken up Luke's writing table and book shelves, etc., and moved other furniture into the spare room. Rachel and Polly had between them moved the books and had arranged them as near as possible in the same order in the shelves, as Luke had arranged them himself in the dining-room. She had taken out of the dining-room two of his favourite pictures and had hung them over his table; and she had placed a large armchair by the window so that he could read in comfort.

And now she sat wondering if Luke would be pleased, or if the very careful moving of his papers would again vex him. Her heart beat as she heard him open the door and she ran to meet him. She drew him into the drawing-room, saying:

"I have such a surprise for you."

But Luke hardly seemed to hear her. His face was radiant, and Rachel saw at once that something had happened to make him very happy and to engage all his thoughts.