57 Star lifted her great eyes to his with a look of surprise. Could it be possible that he did not know the position she was destined to occupy in his household? It certainly appeared so, for he was looking down upon her with admiration and even something of affection. “Thank you, sir; you are very kind,” she said, with a sigh, as she turned sadly away and left him. CHAPTER VI. STELLA’S APPEAL. STELLA’S APPEAL. Star went down to the housekeeper’s room after her encounter with Mr. Richards, and ate her breakfast in a very thoughtful mood. Mrs. Blunt watched her curiously, and with a troubled expression on her honest face. “Child, if you don’t eat more you’ll die, or I’m much mistaken,” and she deftly slipped a dainty slice of buttered toast on her plate as she spoke. “Thank you, Mrs. Blunt, but I believe I am not very hungry this morning,” she returned, with a smile. “I should think not, indeed, nor at any other time. You haven’t eaten a ‘square meal’ since you came into this house,” the good woman said, with an injured air. Star was too deeply occupied to heed it, and finishing her coffee in silence, arose and proceeded slowly up stairs to the sewing-room, intending to finish her other dress that morning. 58There was a look of resolution on her young face; her eyes gleamed with a new purpose. 58 “I will do it,” she murmured, as she stood thoughtfully outside the door a moment, one small hand resting upon the knob. “I may as well make a bold stroke for myself at once, or I shall sink into nothingness. I must have an education; I cannot—I will not grow up ignorant, and have poor papa’s kind care in the past all go for nothing.” She turned the handle of the door and passed into the room. She found Mrs. Richards standing in the middle of the floor, holding up the unfinished dress in both hands, and inspecting it with no pleasant expression of countenance. She glanced at the young girl as she entered, and as her
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