“Well, miss, you have played your cards very cleverly, haven’t you?” she finally found breath to ejaculate, and turning with blazing eyes upon the fair girl who, all unwittingly, had usurped her place in her uncle’s affection and will. Mr. Rosevelt’s face grew stern. “She certainly has, Ellen,” he said, before Star could speak, even had she wished to do so, “especially as she could not, by any means, have known that there was anything worth winning by her acts of devotion and self-denial. And now let me tell you, that true kindness and sympathy will _always_ win, where arrogance and pride will only gain contempt, and lead to disappointment and regret.” “Uncle Jacob, you cannot mean what you have said. Surely you will not discard those of your own blood, your kin, for the offspring of a stranger!” Mrs. Richards said, appealingly. Mr. Rosevelt looked down at Star with a tender, tremulous smile. “The offspring of a stranger!” he repeated, softly; then added: “Ellen, there is a stronger bond uniting this dear child to me than _ever_ bound me to either of my brother’s children.” “What do you mean?” cried his niece, in a startled tone. “Surely, at _your_ age, you do not contemplate——” Mr. Rosevelt stopped her with a motion of his hand before she could complete her sentence. “No; you are wide of the mark; although I am not surprised that a designing woman like yourself should jump at such an absurd conclusion. But, lest you should wound her by your foolish insinuations, I will tell you that Star is the granddaughter of the only woman whom I ever loved; and, therefore, you perceive that I had additional cause to be displeased with you on account of your unkindness to her.” “Really, Mr. Rosevelt, you have more of sentiment in your composition than I gave you credit for. There _was_ a love passage, then, in the old bachelor’s life!” sneered Mrs. Richards while an angry flush mounted to her brow. Then, with more bitterness than she had yet betrayed, she continued, with a look at Star: “I can congratulate Miss Gladstone upon being more successful in wheedling you out of your fortune than she was in her maneuvers to become Lady Carrol.” This was a cruel thrust, and wholly unexpected on the part of either Mr. Rosevelt or Star. A shiver of agony ran through every nerve of her body at this rough probing of the still unhealed wound, and a painful crimson shot over her beautiful face. But it quickly subsided, leaving only the bright spots on her cheeks. She arose from the chair where Mr. Rosevelt had placed her, drew herself up proudly, her eyes gleaming as bright as the diamonds in her ears, and, entirely ignoring the coarse woman’s malicious thrust, she looked up at her companion, and said, in her clearest, sweetest tones: “Uncle Jacob, I believe we were going out to see the illumination.”