He apparently forgot to ask Rachel where she had been, or what made her go out in such rain. His mind had started to work on the conversation he had just had with his mother which put his wife's walk in the rain out of his thoughts, and Rachel was glad as she did not want to tell her good news till later. Her husband, she noticed, was rather more silent than usual, and she began to wonder if he had already heard that his choir were going to desert him that night. She could not find any topic of conversation to interest him. But when tea was over and he was beginning to look at his watch she said:
"Do you know Luke what is going to happen to-night?"
"Yes, I know," he said quietly, "we are to have no choir," He rose as he spoke and looked at his wife with a smile. "I am not altogether sorry," he said.
"Not sorry? Why?" said Rachel, a little crestfallen.
"Because I think it will be a good object lesson to those members of the Town Council who attend my church."
"How do you mean?"
"I mean that they will see for themselves the result of their decision to have public concerts on Sunday evening in the Public Hall. They will miss the choir and so of course shall I."
Rachel looked across at her husband with a smile.
"I don't think you will miss it much," she said with a little laugh.
"Perhaps not," he answered. "Possibly the singing may be more hearty in consequence. But I have no doubt that the Councillors will miss it, and I hope may feel a little ashamed. Nothing really could have happened more conveniently than a choir strike at the moment, as it is only the third Sunday after the concerts have been set on foot. If the men were going to absent themselves it is as well it should be done at once."