Stella Rosevelt : $b A novelSheldon, Georgie, Mrs.
General
Stella Rosevelt : $b A novel
Sheldon, Georgie, Mrs.
Dime novels; Love stories; Romance fiction
It was very late when the stately ship rolled slowly up to her pier, too
late for the customs officers to visit her that night, and the impatient
passengers were forced to wait until morning to appear before them and
undergo that much dreaded ordeal of taking oath upon their possessions,
dutiable or otherwise.
But early the next morning the hurry and bustle began, and there was the
usual rush to claim baggage and get away as soon as possible from the
place where they had spent so many monotonous days.
Star had no baggage to claim, and, not knowing what else to do, she sat
still in the saloon and waited, watching the departing people with
mingled feelings of curiosity and sadness.
Mr. Rosevelt had told her not to be anxious about her own fate, for he
should see that she was kindly cared for, and if her friends did not
come for her, he would provide for her until they could advertise her
arrival in the papers. It was unfortunate, he said, that she lost their
address, since it would be liable to cause something of a delay in
reaching her destination. So, while he went to arrange some little
matter with the captain, she sat and watched the hurrying crowd.
Archibald Sherbrooke came to seek her there, and found her alone.
“I’m off!” he said, with animation. “I’ve got through with the customs,
and have come to wish you good-by. Mr. Rosevelt says he is going to take
care of you. I hope everything will come out right for you, Miss Star,
and that you’ll find a pleasant home with your friends. I’m very sorry
that you’ve lost their address, for I’d call and see you before I go
back to England if I knew where to find you. I trust, however, that we
shall meet again, sometime; and—will you please always consider me your
friend?”
He placed a card in her hand as he spoke, and she saw that his address
was written upon it.
“Thank you,” she said, with a rising flush. “I shall never forget you,
for you have been very kind to me. But wait—I nearly forgot to give you
your pin,” she concluded, suddenly remembering that she still had it,
and she took the beautiful cameo head from her shawl and held it out to
him.
“Please keep it as a souvenir,” he said, gently, adding: “And I wish you
had something to give me in exchange.”
“I’ve lost everything, you know. I could give you naught but a ‘tress of
my yellow hair,’” Star said, with a light laugh, and lifting the heavy
braid which lay over her shoulder with a look of mock dismay.
“Oh, _would_ you?” he asked, eagerly, and taking her literally at her
word.
“It would be but a poor return for this lovely cameo,” she answered,
flushing beneath his eager glance.
“No, indeed, it would not,” he returned, earnestly. “May I have just a
lock of its shining gold, please, Miss Star?” and his fingers touched
the massive braid almost tenderly.
“I have nothing with which to cut it off, and—I’m afraid it would be
very foolish,” she said, with drooping eyes, but a quickly beating
heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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