“I do not begrudge you your jewels, Ellen,” Mr. Rosevelt continued, more gently, perceiving how keenly she felt his reproof, “but when you twit me of being indebted to you for the simple necessaries of life, it is rather more than I can tamely submit to. I was fond of making presents in the days that are gone, and I felt repaid for my diamonds by the joy that lighted up your face when I gave them to you; but I confess it is a little hard to be considered a burden by you now, while I am deeply grieved to have Star’s young life made so unhappy.” “I tell you you do not know the girl; she is as artful as she can be, and I can prove it to you,” Mrs. Richards exclaimed, glad to have the subject changed, for she was considerably conscience smitten over the diamonds. “I do not think you can prove anything of the kind, Ellen,” Mr. Rosevelt returned, quietly. “Listen, then,” she retorted, eagerly, “and I will tell you how to-night I have discovered her to be guilty of the most shameless conduct.” Star started and flushed at the accusation. She had not a suspicion that her secret had been discovered. “It seems,” continued Mrs. Richards, “that while going back and forth, to and from school this fall, she has been flirting in the most desperate manner with a young man—a perfect stranger to her, and one so far above her socially that it was rankest presumption in her to do as she has done. She has even entrapped him into—or rather, I should say, she has misconstrued his conversation with her to mean a declaration of love for her, and now that he has found her out and turns with disgust from her artful designing, she has shamelessly taxed him with unfaithfulness and treachery.” Star turned and regarded her accuser in perfect amazement. She could scarcely credit her sense of hearing. How did Mrs. Richards know anything about her meetings with Lord Carrol, alias Archibald Sherbrooke, or of her interest in him? And who had represented it in this disgraceful light? “This young man,” the cunning woman went on, “is no other than Lord Carrol, who, for the month that we were at Long Branch, paid the most devoted attention to Josephine, and accepted our invitation here with the intention, as we supposed, of formally declaring himself to her and securing her father’s consent to their marriage.” A convulsive tremor ran through every fiber of the young girl’s being as she stood there and listened to this artful tale, and Mr. Rosevelt, who still held her hand, was sensible of it, and wondered what it could all mean. He had not a suspicion that Lord Carrol and the handsome young artist whom he so admired were one and the same, but he knew that something must be very wrong to move Star so and make her look so deathly white. “You look astonished,” Mrs. Richards said, “and well you may, and your surprise will increase when I have told you all.” “I am sure,” he answered, glancing from one to the other, “that there must be some mistake.”