“True; but I was not aware of the fact until within the last hour. Miss Gladstone gave me her address last Saturday evening. Here it is; you can read it. It was late when I asked for it, and she wrote it hastily upon this card.”
The young man passed it to his companion as he spoke, and Mr. Richards read the street and number of his own residence.
“You will remember,” Lord Carrol continued, “that I am an entire stranger in this place, and that I do not even know the name of the street upon which you reside, as Mrs. Richards was kind enough to say that some one should meet me at the station upon my arrival. I wished very much to go to Star to-day, but courtesy demanded that I should not disarrange Mrs. Richards’ plans. I fully intended, however, to ask you to direct me to the place designated on that card to-morrow, never once suspecting that I was already in the house where the lady of my choice resides.”
“And has Star never mentioned our name to you?” Mr. Richards asked.
“No; she has been very reticent regarding everything connected with herself save her studies and her music, and I have not thought to question her on that point.”
Mr. Richards’ face clouded.
Star had good cause for being reticent, he knew, and the subject was becoming an awkward one for him.
“You say you met her to-night?” he said.
“Yes; I went out for a stroll and a smoke after dinner, and came upon her suddenly in the grounds. She appeared to be greatly distressed, and I, never suspecting the cause, pressed her to tell me. She turned upon me like an outraged queen, and denounced me in a manner that fairly took my breath away. She believed me to be simply Archibald Sherbrooke, an artist, until last night, when she saw me driven to your door and received as Lord Carrol; and, having heard exaggerated reports of my attentions to Miss Richards while at Long Branch, it is not strange that she should resent the seeming deception, for appearances are certainly against me. But a few words will set everything right, if you will explain something of this to her and secure an interview for me.”
“Then it is our Star whom you want to marry, my lord,” Mr. Richards said, reflectively, and as if he could hardly comprehend it even yet, while he wondered if they could ever live through the tempest which his wife would surely raise when she should discover that Star had won the lover whom she was bending all her energies to secure for Josephine.