Luke fancied he heard a little catch in her voice and looked at her kindly. He could hardly refrain from laughing out loud at her.
"Well you can put it out of your head and not think of it any more. I quite appreciate the fact that it was out of your love and anxiety for Rachel that you spoke as you did, and so we will be good friends again."
Gwen looked down and her lips trembled. "Thank you," she said. "And you will take care of her, won't you."
He patted her on the shoulder and told her to run away as he was busy. And Gwen, having no more to say, obeyed; but she felt rather small.
She resented the pat on her shoulder just as if she were a child. She was not sure that she liked Luke at all.
"I can't think," said Gwen after dinner, as she and her sister were sitting working in the drawing-room, "how it is that you don't show in the least that you do any house work. You look as dainty and as pretty as ever."
Rachel laughed.
"When I began to realise that a great part of my day would be taken up with dusting," she answered, "I bought the prettiest overall I could find."
"You look as if you had just come straight out of the garden and ought to have your hands full of roses." Gwen looked with adoring eyes at her sister, adding:
"But there is a new expression on your face somehow. I think you are really prettier than ever."