She told him just as little as was possible, but said that circumstances obliged her to make a change, although she had not yet decided where she should pursue her education.
She was surprised at the recommendation which he gave her, for it was indeed the very best that he could put into words, and she felt very sad when he shook her cordially by the hand and expressed his regret at being obliged to part with her.
On her way back to New York she decided, if she could pass the examination, she would enter the Normal College, believing that among the multitude who attended there she would escape observation more easily than in a smaller school.
She went immediately to the corner of Sixty-ninth street and Fourth avenue, had an interview with the president, who consented to give her a private examination; but the curriculum was a little different from that of Professor Roberts’ seminary, and she was not quite up to the standard in some of its branches, and being unwilling to go back into another grade, she was admitted to the senior class, “upon conditions.”
She was not long in showing him, however, that such a stipulation was wholly unnecessary.
She gave up all thoughts of music for the present, and bent all her energies to her studies, and soon not one of the forty who were to graduate gave promise of a more brilliant ending to her career as a scholar than she who had been admitted “upon conditions.”
Meantime Mr. Rosevelt had found three furnished rooms in a cheap but respectable locality, where they took up their abode, the woman, who owned and lived in the house, agreeing to furnish their meals and act as sort of housekeeper general for a reasonable amount.
Mr. Rosevelt would not hear a word to any other arrangement, although Star declared she could do a portion of the work herself.
“No; you shall do nothing of the kind. You will have all you can attend to to keep up with your classes,” he said.
“But it will cost so much, Uncle Jacob,” Star answered, ruefully, for she found that her poor hundred pounds was melting rapidly away—at least, it would do so if they paid for having all their work done. Mr. Rosevelt smiled.