“Very well,” he said; “I presume she will be satisfied with this arrangement. She said she was willing to work if she might only be allowed to study.”
“Satisfied or not, it is all the concession that I shall make; and mark my words, George, I shall not love her any better for this interference on your part,” his wife said, hotly.
“Fie, Ellen! I thought you had a warmer heart; and it would not sound well outside if it should become known that you were making a servant of a relative. It would make quite a stir, let me tell you, if she should appeal to the courts to have a new guardian appointed,” Mr. Richards returned, in a conciliatory tone.
Thus the matter was settled, to Star’s great joy. Mr. Richards made arrangements at once for her to enter a select school for young ladies, which was located quite near their residence, and she began her attendance there the following Monday, having passed a most “creditable examination,” the principal informed her.
When she was advised of this pleasant change in her life, she thanked Mrs. Richards in a few well-chosen words for consenting to it; but the irate woman shut her up instantly by saying:
“You owe me nothing, and I wish the subject never mentioned again in my presence. You will assist about the chamber-work in the morning before it is time for you to go to school, and help Mrs. Blunt with the mending on your return in the afternoon. Miss Baker will attend to the provision of suitable clothing for you, and you will work with her Saturdays. Now we will consider this matter disposed of until such time as you may deem your education finished;” and with this heartless speech, Star was summarily dismissed from the august matron’s presence.
She was greatly rejoiced with even this ungracious permission to pursue her studies, and the hours spent in the school-room were a source of great delight to her; but her position at home was anything but agreeable.
Mr. Richards treated her kindly whenever he chanced to meet her, but his wife and daughter ignored her presence when they could do so; when they could not, they took pains to make her feel her obligations and dependence in the most uncomfortable manner.
With Mrs. Blunt she was comparatively happy, for the woman, though brusque and peculiar, was very kind-hearted, seeming to have conceived a great liking for the lonely orphan; and often she would sit up late at night to get the piles of mending out of the way, in order that Star—who was studying very hard to make up for having entered school in the middle of a term—might have more time to herself.
Miss Baker, the seamstress, too, was very kind to her, and her Saturdays were often passed very pleasantly in sewing and chatting in the cozy sewing-room.