A Service of Love (Henry)
Short summary
Joe Larrabee came from the Middle West to New York to pursue his artistic dreams.
Delia Caruthers arrived from the South to study music. They met at an art studio, fell in love, and married quickly.
They lived happily in a small flat while Joe studied painting and Delia took piano lessons. When their money ran out, Delia claimed she found a pupil - the daughter of General Pinkney - earning fifteen dollars weekly. Joe then announced he sold his artwork to a man from Peoria for eighteen dollars. For two weeks, they continued this routine. One evening, Delia came home with her hand burned, claiming her pupil spilled hot Welsh rabbit on it. Joe discovered white strands under her bandages - the same cotton waste he had sent from the engine room to help a girl who burned her hand with an iron. They both confessed: Delia had been working at a laundry ironing shirts, while Joe fired the engine in the same laundry. Their invented General Pinkney and Peoria buyer never existed.
And then they both laughed, and Joe began: 'When one loves one's Art no service seems—' But Delia stopped him with her hand on his lips. 'No,' she said—'just When one loves.'
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Joe and Delias artistic dreams and marriage
The story began with the premise that when one loves Art, no service seems too hard, though it promised to prove this premise incorrect. Joe Larrabee came from the post-oak flats of the Middle West with artistic genius, having drawn pictures since childhood.
Delia Caruthers came from a pine-tree village in the South, showing such musical promise that her relatives pooled money to send her North to finish her education.
Joe and Delia met in an atelier where art and music students gathered to discuss various artistic topics. They fell in love and married quickly, beginning their housekeeping in a small flat. Joe studied under the famous Magister while Delia learned from Rosenstock.
Financial struggles and secret sacrifices
But the best, in my opinion, was the home life in the little flat—the ardent, voluble chats after the day's study; the cozy dinners and fresh, light breakfasts
Their happiness lasted as long as their money did. When funds ran low and they could no longer afford their teachers' fees, Delia announced she would give music lessons. She soon found a pupil - supposedly General A. B. Pinkney's daughter Clementina on Seventy-first street.
Delia described her pupil as delicate, always dressed in white, with sweet manners. She earned five dollars per lesson, three times a week. Joe protested against letting his wife work while he pursued art.
Do you think I'm going to let you hustle for wages while I philander in the regions of high art? Not by the bones of Benvenuto Cellini!
Delia convinced him to continue his studies, arguing that teaching was still connected to her music. Soon Joe began selling his sketches, claiming a man from Peoria had purchased his watercolor of an obelisk displayed in a shop window.
Both seemed successful in their endeavors, bringing home money each week. However, one Saturday Delia returned with her right hand bandaged. She explained that Clementina had insisted on making Welsh rabbit after her lesson, and the girl had spilled the boiling mixture over Delia's hand. The General had rushed to help, sending someone from the basement to fetch medical supplies.
The revelation of mutual deception and true love
Joe noticed white strands beneath Delia's bandages and asked about the burn's timing. When she mentioned five o'clock, he grew suspicious and gently questioned her about her recent activities.
She braved it for a moment or two with an eye full of love and stubbornness... but at length down went her head and out came the truth and tears.
I couldn't get any pupils... And I couldn't bear to have you give up your lessons; and I got a place ironing shirts in that big Twenty–fourth street laundry.
Delia confessed she had invented General Pinkney and Clementina entirely. Unable to find music pupils, she had taken a job ironing shirts at a laundry on Twenty-fourth street. A girl at the laundry had set down a hot iron on her hand that afternoon, and she had created the Welsh rabbit story on her way home.
Joe then revealed his own deception. He admitted there was no purchaser from Peoria, explaining that he had recognized the cotton waste and oil sent up from the engine room for a girl who had burned her hand with a smoothing iron.
I've been firing the engine in that laundry for the last two weeks... My purchaser from Peoria and Gen. Pinkney are both creations of the same art
Both had been working at the same laundry, each sacrificing their artistic dreams to support the other's supposed success. They laughed at the discovery, and when Joe began to repeat the story's opening premise about loving one's Art, Delia stopped him, saying simply that love itself was enough. Their mutual deception had revealed the depth of their true devotion to each other rather than to their artistic ambitions.