Stella Rosevelt : $b A novelSheldon, Georgie, Mrs.
General
Stella Rosevelt : $b A novel
Sheldon, Georgie, Mrs.
Dime novels; Love stories; Romance fiction
The name had made her think of Mr. Rosevelt, and he had been in her
thoughts most of the time since; but she had not imagined that they were
referring to him, or that he was a relative of the family. Now she saw
that he was the “Uncle Jacob” to whom she referred, but she could not
understand his being sent out of the house to sleep.
“No room in the house! What can they mean?” she murmured, with tingling
cheeks, for she knew of three unoccupied beds that he might have had as
well as not.
To be sure they had been made up for company that was expected, but the
visitors would not arrive for a day or two, and it seemed such an
inhospitable thing to send that old man away down to the lodge, with its
close, small rooms, to sleep.
“I hope I shall never be rich if it would make me hardhearted like
that,” she said, with indignation. “I would prefer to struggle all my
life with poverty, and have a kind and generous heart—one that can feel
for others in trouble and sorrow. How tired and ill he looked, too,” she
went on, recalling his pale face and drooping attitude, “and he is such
a splendid man!”
“It makes me think of those other words,” she said, the tears springing
to her eyes: “‘And there was no room in the inn,’ and of One who, in
consequence, had to lie in a manger. _That_ could not be helped, for
there _was_ no room; but this is shameful, for there is plenty and to
spare here. How can any one treat one’s father’s brother so?”
CHAPTER XI.
FILTHY LUCRE.
The next morning word was brought from the lodge that Mr. Rosevelt was
quite ill, and not able to come up to the mansion for his breakfast.
“Breakfast, indeed!” muttered Mrs. Richards, with a toss of her proud
head; “as if he supposed he was going to be invited to sit at the table
with my fashionable guests in his shabby clothes.”
She had received a full account of his arrival and appearance from her
husband the night previous, after Mr. Rosevelt’s departure for the
lodge.
Mr. Richards went at once to see him, and to give orders to Mrs. Mellen,
the wife of the gardener, to do everything for his comfort.
Later, his wife, with much inward fretting and fuming, followed his
example, not because she had any desire to see him or felt in any way
anxious about him, but to save unpleasant remarks and comments.
She met her uncle with anything but a cordial greeting, and which, even
in the midst of his suffering, he could not fail to feel keenly.
“I am very sorry, Uncle Jacob, that you are ill, especially as I am full
of company just now, and cannot personally give you the attention that
you ought to receive,” she said, trying to speak sympathetically, but
failing utterly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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