RACHEL'S PEARLS.
Rachel took out her pearls from the jewel box and looked at them. They
were certainly very beautiful. She had not worn them since her wedding
day; and she did not see any chance of wearing them again.
In case the parting with them should grow a little hard she packed them
up quickly and went to the post to register them.
It seemed to her as if she was parting with another link of the old
life. But after all what did that matter! She had Luke; and it was true
what Gwen had said, that Luke compensated for the loss of all else.
Besides which, she knew that they both needed a change and rest, and
certainly sea breezes were of more value just then than pearls locked
up in her jewel case could be. Nevertheless it cost her something to
part with their beauty. It was not so much their value that she had
thought of as their beauty; and more than once she had taken them out
simply to have the pleasure of seeing something very lovely. There was
so little beauty surrounding her that she revelled in the sight of her
pearls.
[Illustration: RACHEL TOOK OUT HER PEARLS—AND LOOKED AT THEM.]
It was some time before the cousin, to whom she had sent them, wrote
and told her that he believed they would fetch a very good price; and
one morning at breakfast she opened a letter that was lying on the
table beside her, and a cheque, much larger than she had hoped for,
fell out.
Her exclamation of surprise and pleasure caused Luke to look up from
the paper he was reading.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Something delightful," she answered. "We can now go for our holiday."
"What do you mean? Have you come in for a fortune?"
"I feel as if I had in our present strait," said Rachel still looking
down at the cheque in her hand. "Would you like to see what I have?"
She held it out to him.
Money meant little to Luke, except that it enabled him to carry out
plans on which he had set his heart. And there was a plan of his that
sprang at once into his mind as he looked at the cheque. His face
glowed.
"Where did it come from?" he asked, astonished and delighted.
"I sold my pearls."
The smile on his face faded for a moment.
"I did not know you had any, I have never seen them."
"I have never shown them to you as I know that that kind of thing is
not in your line, you don't care for jewels; but I wore them on my
wedding day. I hope you saw them then."
"No, I only saw you. But why didn't you tell me what you were doing?"
"Because I was afraid you would not let me part with them. Uncle Joe
gave them to me, and I was fond of him."
"I shouldn't have prevented you from parting with them. What is the
good of pearls?"
"The good! Why their beauty is their good. They are gifts from God just
as everything else is that is lovely, and of good report. Don't despise
them. Besides," she said, feeling a little sore, "Uncle Joe gave them
to me, and I loved him." Then she added, determined not to give way to
any feeling of disappointment, "and now we can think about our holiday.
Where shall we go?"
She was folding the cheque up and putting it again in the envelope of
her letter. But on noticing that Luke did not answer her question, she
glanced up and found him looking out of the window with a dreamy happy
smile on his face. He was evidently thinking of the holiday. Perhaps
his thoughts had flown to Southwold and the moon's silver pathway on
the sea. The happiness displayed in his expression of face made her
feel that the small self-denial that she had exercised was well worth
while.
"I do believe," he said, still looking out of the window, "that at last
my dream will be fulfilled."
"What is your dream?" asked Rachel. She had been right. He was
evidently dreaming of Southwold.
"Why, to put electric light in St. Marks. Think how attractive and
bright it would make the place. I never thought I should be able to do
it. How much do you think it would cost?"
Rachel was silent from astonishment and disappointment.
Then she said slowly:
"You don't suppose, do you Luke, that I have sold my pearls to be able
to do for the Church what the people are far better able to afford to
do than we are? You seem to forget that we are really poor, much poorer
than many of the congregation. No, the first thing we must do," she
said decidedly, "is to pay our bills and to start afresh, and then to
go for a holiday."
Rachel's tone of voice was so decided that he turned and looked at her
in surprise.
"But," he said, "it is God's work that you are refusing."
"No," she answered, "I don't think it is. To provide the luxury of
electric light in a place where the gas is quite good and sufficient,
seems to me to be not so much doing the Will of God as paying our
debts, and going for a holiday, which will give you strength to do His
work better."
Luke was silent.
"Besides," she added in a lower voice and smiling, "you forget next
January."
Luke looked mystified. Then noticing the expression of his wife's eyes,
he remembered.
"I forgot for the moment," he said. "You are quite right."
At the thought of January Rachel's face had lost all the surprise and
disappointment as she looked down again at the envelope containing the
cheque. Then she suddenly drew it out with a gay laugh and flourished
it in his face.
"Happily it's mine," she said, "and you can't get at it."
[Illustration]