“I am neither insolent nor overbearing, Mrs. Richards. Ever since I came into your house I have striven to do as nearly right as I knew how, and to make as little trouble as possible. It is _you_ who have been overbearing, who have wounded me by insulting the memory of my parents, and have tried to crush and trample upon me. In no way have I rebelled against your authority, except in the determination not to become a common servant and to pursue my education. This I did in justice to myself, and because I had promised my father I would do it. If you have ‘tolerated me in your house,’ believe me, there has been as much toleration exercised upon my part, for in no sense of the word has it been a _home_ to me; instead, it has been merely a place of shelter, a spot to exist in until I could complete my education. I can bear it no longer. I shall consider your house no longer my home,” Star concluded, with a decision which rather startled Mrs. Richards. But she retorted, derisively: “Your independent spirit ill becomes you. Where could you go? Who would take you, a penniless beggar, and give you the advantages which you have been enjoying during the past year? But it is folly for me to give heed to your idle words. I command you to return directly to your room, and hold no intercourse with any one, and to-morrow I will decide what course to pursue with reference to your future.” She had been planning to pack her off to Brooklyn with one of the servants until Lord Carrol’s visit should be ended, and thus avoid all possibility of an interview and its attendant explanations. But Star did not move. She remained standing quietly by Mr. Rosevelt’s chair, as if she had not heard her command. “Did you hear what I said?” she demanded, sharply. “Yes, madam.” “Well, do you intend to obey me?” “No, madam.” “What!” “I refuse to recognize your authority over me from this moment. I refuse to obey any longer one who, from the first, has been governed only by feelings of personal spite in all her dealings with me,” Star returned, firmly. Mrs. Richards could scarcely credit her ears. She had not imagined that the usually quiet girl possessed a tithe of this spirit. “Well, Uncle Jacob, what do you think of your little pattern of excellence now?” demanded the astonished woman, turning with an injured air to her uncle, who was nearly as much amazed himself. “I think the child has been severely tried,” he returned, quietly, whereupon Mrs. Richards flew into another rage. “I must say, Uncle Jacob, that I consider it very bad taste in you to take sides with her against me; and let me warn you, that you have both got yourselves into trouble by the doings of this night.” The arrogant dame did not wait for any reply, but turned abruptly and left the room, retiring, however, with a sense of defeat which it was not pleasant to contemplate.