"I care very much, but I'm not going to worry over what can't be helped. And after all it's nobody's fault but Rachel's. She chose to marry Luke and must abide the consequences." "I can't imagine what made her do it, when she could have had Archie. He is worth a dozen Lukes." "I don't agree with you. Luke is worth more than Archie." "Archie of course has his weak points, but for all that he is a dear. But if he did not suit her there was Sir Arthur, who was head over ears in love with her, and asked her twice to marry him." "Yes, he was a nice man, and yet she chose Luke. I thought it silly of her at the time, but I am not sure that I have not changed my mind." "But why?" "Because he is such a thoroughly good man. Of course Rachel recognised this about him. She could trust him; and after all that is what a woman wants to be sure about before she marries." "Oh, he is trustworthy I grant; but I don't like him. Rachel ought to have someone quite out of the common." "He may be a better parish priest than a husband; but it is not from want of devotion to his wife; it is from a certain denseness—I don't know what to call it. You don't understand him Gwen." "I certainly don't." "I am not sure however that he ought to have married. He is so wrapped up in his parish. Or he ought perhaps to have married someone different to Rachel—a real parish worker. I sometimes wonder if his parish does not stand for more in his estimation than his wife. But for all that he is good." "I don't call him good." "Well you don't understand him, that's all. He would do anything in the world for anyone who wants his help." "Except for his wife." "That is what I say; he is rather dense, and probably doesn't suppose she needs his help. I remember when I was at Trowsby, he sat up all night with one of the men of his Bible Class who was dying. No nurse could be got." "Well of course that was nice of him," said Gwen grudgingly, "but I doubt if he would think of sitting up for an hour with his own refractory baby to give Rachel a night's rest." "I own he is a little blind about those comparatively small matters, but for all that he is a good man and Rachel knew it, and that was why she loved him enough to marry him." "He is so blind that he is killing her with his neglect," said Gwen warmly. "Mother must not be told, but I shall write to the Bishop." "Don't be silly Gwen." "I love her much more than you do. You are evidently satisfied to leave matters alone without trying to remedy them; and as both father and Uncle Joe are dead there is no-one whose opinion I should care to take except the Bishop's." Sybil rose from her kneeling posture and rubbed the earth off her gloves. "I wish you would be more sensible," she said, "and see things in their right proportion. As for me I tell you that I envy Rachel." "Envy her!" "Yes, because she follows out our Lord's command so wonderfully. She denies herself daily, takes up her cross, and follows Him."