"May we have that dear little girl to play with us?" asked Star, going into Miss Peacock's room.
"Yes, dear; certainly. Rose is an old friend of Christian's, and seems quite a nice child. I believe her great-aunt wants to have her trained as a lady's-maid. Of course, I know nothing about her, except that she belongs to that particularly nice, intelligent old woman."
"Well, a little talk with her will do us no harm," said Star; "and perhaps," she added, "it will do Rose no harm either. She is quite as good as some of the girls in this school, and very much prettier."
"By the way, Star," continued the head-mistress, "in the great relief that Christian's recovery has caused, I have not forgotten certain things that have taken place in this school. There are one or two matters which need inquiry into. Your cheeks, my dear, are a great deal paler than they ought to be; and your eyes, which used to be so happy that it was a perfect pleasure to look at them, are now more sad than I like to see them. In short, there are matters which need to be inquired into and cleared up."
"Oh, there are—indeed there are!" interrupted Star, and she burst into tears.
"My dear Stella, have you made up your mind to confide in me or not?"
"I don't want to be hard on the others; and then I've not been a bit good myself," said Star. "If I could tell you everything without making the others dreadfully wretched, I would; but please don't question me."
"The time for questions is past, Star. I just gave you that one last chance. I mean now to act on my own initiative."
Star left the room. She stood for a minute outside in the great hall. This was a half-holiday, and it happened to be a pouring wet day. The rain seemed absolutely to stream from the skies; you could scarcely see out of the window-panes. The booming of the billows outside made a melancholy sound. The girls stood about in groups, as was their custom during a wet half-holiday. They grumbled at the weather. Who does not?
Suddenly, however, the appearance of little Rose Latimer coming rather timidly downstairs, wearing a dark-blue frock and a white pinafore, caused a diversion.