In "A Service of Love," Delia secretly ironed shirts at a laundry service shop in order to earn her weekly wages of fifteen dollars. Meanwhile, her husband would have been none the wiser if a chance accident at the laundry shop hadn't happened.

Accordingly, Delia took the job because she did not want her husband, Joe, to have to give up his art lessons. Knowing that Joe would never have consented to his wife slaving away for his benefit, Delia made up an elaborate story about having found a new piano student. The student, a daughter of the supposedly wealthy General A. B. Pinkney, was claimed by Delia to be a model pupil. The general, too, was proclaimed to be an indulgent father whose only delight in life was his daughter's happiness.

One day, when a co-worker accidentally set a hot iron on Delia's hand, the resourceful wife realized that she had to concoct a believable alibi to ease her husband's suspicions. However, Joe eventually discovered the truth, as he was the man who sent up the cotton binding and oil for Delia. It came out that Joe had been working in the engine room of the laundry shop for the past two weeks. Basically, both Joe and Delia sacrificed their personal comfort because of their love for each other.