Yet, to be quite positive about it, he had told her that it had belonged to a gentleman named Archibald Sherbrooke; and then when he saw her start, and the color flame into her face, he knew that Star had parted with it for some reason or other. It had caused him a pang to know that she should have prized it so lightly as to give it away, while he had treasured that lock of gold as one of the most precious things in his possession, and had learned to love the face which he had painted as he never expected to love any object on earth.
Then he had met Star, and she had told him—not that she had given his gift away, but that she had “lost” it.
The two stories did not agree, but looking into her glorious, truthful eyes, he had believed her, and felt that some time she would make the mystery plain.
He had told her, on parting from her Saturday evening, that he should come to her Monday or Tuesday, and he had really intended doing so, and was deeply disappointed at not being able to keep his promise.
But all day Tuesday he had seen no time that he could escape from the company of which he seemed to be the center. He had about made up his mind to ask Mr. Richards to direct him to No. 56 —— street after dinner, and go away to spend a quiet evening with Star; but Mrs. Richards upset this plan by laying out a programme in which he would be obliged to figure largely, and he was forced to bear it with what patience he could, hoping that the morrow would bring him the opportunity he desired.
He had never imagined that he could be a guest in the very house which he was so anxious to visit, and which was the home of his beloved; and now the knowledge was not pleasing to him, for Star’s bitter words, and the fact that she had not mingled with the family, told him but too plainly how she was undervalued there.
How she must have suffered, sitting at her window, as she said she had done, and been a witness to the reception which had been tendered him by her proud, cold-hearted relatives; and to have been led, too, by them to believe that he had come there as a suitor for Josephine’s hand.
This had been rather a startling and unpleasant revelation to him, for he had never once imagined that any such construction would be put upon his visit there.
He had been drawn toward Mrs. Richards upon first meeting her, for she was really a fascinating woman, and upon learning that she was of English extraction, and that he knew something of her relatives, he at once felt almost like an old acquaintance, and in this way had been led to attach himself to her party.
Josephine was a brilliant and attractive girl, and had made herself very agreeable to him, and he liked her as a friend and acquaintance; but no thought of love for her had ever entered his mind. That fair face, with its crown of gold, its starry eyes and coral lips, which had lain upon his breast at sea, had made too deep an impression upon his heart to be easily forgotten.