“Very well; I will go to her, and send her to the library. You will be free from intrusion there,” Mr. Richards said, and immediately left the room in search of Star.
He came back very soon, however, saying that she had not returned to her room, and no one had seen her that day save Mrs. Blunt, who told him that she had been very ill, and not able to attend school.
Lord Carrol’s face fell at this information, and he realized more forcibly than ever what Star must have suffered from this unfortunate misunderstanding.
“Perhaps it will be best for me to wait until to-morrow morning,” he said, after a moment of thought. “She appeared so greatly excited when I met her this evening, and has been so ill all day, it may be well for her to get rest before exciting her any further. Yes, I will wait,” he concluded, with a sigh, for he was deeply disappointed and anxious.
“Is Mr. Rosevelt a member of your family also?” he asked, after a moment, and suddenly remembering that Star had told him they were inmates of the same house.
“Yes; well, not exactly a member of my family,” Mr. Richards returned, flushing over this, another awkward question. “He is my wife’s uncle, and one of us; but his health is so poor, and noise affects him so unpleasantly, that he prefers to have a room at the lodge rather than here where there is so much gayety and confusion.”
Mrs. Richards, still an eavesdropper, heaved another comfortable sigh over this rough place made smooth.
“You must have met Mr. Rosevelt also,” he added, as it came to him that Star and his wife’s uncle had shared that dreadful experience at sea.
“Yes; and I think him a fine old gentleman. I must see him also to-morrow,” his lordship returned; and then he went on to explain more fully how he had made the acquaintance of these two unfortunates, and described their sufferings and hardships so graphically that his listener, who did not know onehalf, was deeply moved.
“Miss Gladstone was considered quite a heroine on board our steamer after her rescue,” the young man said, “when the passengers learned with how much fortitude she had conducted herself during the disaster and the dreadful events following. The captain told me, with tears running down his cheeks, how she had denied herself both food and drink in order that the life of Mr. Rosevelt, who, she declared, had less vitality than herself on account of his age, might be sustained. She did not even take the rest which she needed, but watched and worked over him unceasingly—in fact, she saved his life.”