When he reached it, he bent suddenly down and touched her forehead with his lips; and Star, with a low-spoken “good-night,” went away with a sorely aching heart, indeed, but greatly comforted by his sympathy, while a spirit of submission had succeeded to the bitterness and rebellion of the previous hour. Jacob Rosevelt locked the door after her, and went back to the table where he had been sitting when she came to him. Opening the drawer, he took out a package of papers and letters, which he carefully looked over. When he had read them all, he selected a portion, tore them into atoms, and throwing them into the grate where there was a slow fire, watched them until they had burned to ashes, with a white, stern face. Then he sat down again, and wrote far into the night. The next morning when Mrs. Blunt went up to see how Star was feeling, and if she had any appetite for her breakfast, she found her room empty. “Goodness gracious! the child has got up and gone to school, and without a mouthful to stay her stomach, or I’m much mistaken,” she said, in a voice of dismay. Then, as her eye fell upon the open drawers of the bureau and the empty closet, a sudden fear oppressed her. A little note lying upon the bed now attracted her attention, and she eagerly pounced upon it. It was directed to her, and with trembling fingers she opened it, and read: “DEAR MRS. BLUNT:—Something has occurred which makes it impossible for me to remain here any longer, and I am going away to take care of myself. You have always been very kind to me, and I thank you very much for it, and shall never forget it. Sometime I hope to see you again, and I trust you will always think kindly of “STELLA GLADSTONE.” The good woman sat down and wept bitter tears over this brief note, for she had learned to love the bright, kind-hearted girl who always had a cheery word for her. She knew the house would never seem the same again without her. Then she went down to tell the news to her master. She met John Mellen in the hall, who had come with the intelligence that Mr. Rosevelt left the lodge early that morning, taking all that belonged to him—“which was not much, yer honor,” he volunteered, and he handed Mr. Richards a note which the old gentleman had left for him. CHAPTER XXI. FRUITLESS EFFORTS. Mr. Richards and his family were thrown into considerable confusion by the double surprise which this morning revealed to them. He was really a kind man at heart, and had been very much troubled by the way that his wife had conducted herself toward her aged uncle, and also by her unfeeling usage of Star.