She was dressed all in white; she wore it almost constantly now, for she knew she looked lovelier in it than in anything else; everybody had told her that she had never been so beautiful as when she had stood beside Lord Carrol during that mock ceremony. There were great pearls in her hair and on her arms, and clusters of white lilacs on her bosom. Star held her breath as she looked at her, thinking that she was indeed wondrously fair, and that it was not strange that she should allure any one by her beauty; but she believed she was dressed thus because she was a bride. How bright and happy she looked, too, with the vivid color in her cheeks, her eyes sparkling from the excitement of the moment, and with that light laugh just leaving her red lips! Why should she not be happy, Star thought, bitterly, as the wife of one of the noblest men in England, and occupying one of the proudest positions in the land? A heavy sigh involuntarily escaped her, and, hearing it, Josephine turned quickly to see whence it came. “Stella Gladstone!” she exclaimed, and instantly all the color went out of her face, all the light from her eyes, the laughter from her lips, and she stood regarding the beautiful girl with lowering brow and angry eyes. CHAPTER XLI. REHEARSING THE PAST. Star arose as she addressed her thus, and with the act all her pride arose as well. “Yes,” she said, speaking with cold politeness. “I suppose you are surprised; you did not expect to meet me here, Miss—Lady Carrol.” Josephine’s face lighted at those last words, and a wicked gleam leaped into her black eyes. “No, I did not,” she returned, trying to call a happy smile to her false lips. “And—and—you have heard, then?” and, dropping her darkly fringed lids as if in confusion, she played with some flowers which she held in her hands, and looked the modest bride to perfection at being addressed by the title she had so lately assumed. “Yes, I have heard of—or at least I saw your marriage in a paper which was sent me recently,” Star answered, trying hard to steady her voice, and resolving that the girl who hated her so should not suspect the torture she was enduring. But Josephine did suspect it, and was determined not to let her go without wringing her heart with something of the agony which she had suffered. Lord Carrol had dared to tell her, in the midst of her humiliation, that he loved Star, and she was bound to be revenged in some way for it. She had sent her the Cheshire _Gazette_, even as Star had mistrusted, but she had not expected to get any such satisfaction as this out of it. She had been down to the American Legation and found out where Mr. Rosevelt was stopping, and then had marked that paragraph and mailed that paper to Star, just to arouse her jealousy and show her that she had been a guest in Lord Carrol’s home for a week.