"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."