“Yes, sir. Now will you please read Mrs. Richards’ reply to my father’s letter, and tell me how you interpret it?”
Star did not care to dwell upon the subject of her obligation, since Mrs. Richards had seen fit to pass it by so lightly.
“I interpret it just as it reads,” he said, after glancing over it; “that she would be very happy to grant your father’s request, do her utmost to make a good and useful woman of you, and follow out his wishes regarding your future education as nearly as she could.”
“Yes, sir, that is the way papa understood it; that is the way I understand it,” Star said, rising and standing erect before him with a gravity that made him wonder what was coming next.
“My father,” she continued, “as you know, was a clergyman with a very limited income, and he conducted my education himself until he became too weak to do so, therefore I am pretty well advanced for one of my years. I have read seven books in Virgil, have read two years in French, and am nearly through trigonometry, and have read a good deal in history. I was studying harmony in music when papa died, besides doing a little in painting and drawing. I do not tell you this,” Star interposed, with a sad smile, “to boast of what I have done, but that you may understand what my feelings are when I tell you why I came here to-night. Papa wished me to keep on with my Latin, reading Horace and Tacitus, with French, music, and history—in fact, he left a written programme for me to follow out as nearly as I was able. I am ambitious myself—I am hungry for knowledge. I want a thorough education, and as I must in the future earn my own living, I know of no way so congenial to my feelings as through literary pursuits. Perhaps I made a mistake in appealing to you just now, but I could think of no other way out of my difficulties, for of course I am wholly ignorant of the manners and customs of this country. I mentioned these things to Mrs. Richards this morning——”
And now Star’s voice trembled, and the beating of her heart nearly choked her, for she did not know how this man would receive her appeal to him against his own wife.
“Well, and what did she say?” he asked, feeling somewhat perplexed over the matter.
“She told me that I could not go on with my education as papa wished; that—I was to take the place of a girl named Maggie Flynn in your family.”
“What!” exclaimed the gentleman, in tones of the most emphatic astonishment.
“Maggie Flynn, I understand,” Star went on, gathering courage as she noted his surprise, “was a sort of chamber and waiting-maid, and Mrs. Richards says that I am henceforth to perform her duties. I cannot tell you,” she continued, earnestly, “how repulsive such a life would be to me—to give up all my hopes, to forget, in the ceaseless routine of such an existence, all that I have already acquired; and I have come to appeal to you—to ask you if you will not try and persuade your wife to allow me to continue my studies? I am willing to work, and work hard, but I must have some time to improve and develop my mind. There are plenty of girls who can be employed in my place”—Star did not know of the curtailing business—“and who do not care for an education. Papa authorized a friend of his to dispose of his library and our household goods, and give the proceeds to me, after paying all bills. I have a letter of credit to the amount of a hundred pounds. I do not know the expense of schooling in this country, but could I not be sent to some institution for a year or two, and take this money to pay for it? I should be fitted by the end of that time, I think, to teach, and could relieve Mrs. Richards of all responsibility regarding my support.”