Stella Rosevelt — page 398: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

362 REHEARSING THE PAST. - Another blissful half-hour slipped unheeded by, and then he Said : ‘Come, dear; people will begin to wonder what has become of us, and besides, I want to introduce you to my mother and sister. ” He arose as he spoke, and drew her toward the conservatory, through which they must pass in order to regain the drawing- room. — ‘‘] have already seen your sister,” Star answered, with a bright smile, ‘‘and I began to love her immediately, and to mourn what I had lost in not having her for my sister, too.” ‘She zs a dear girl, but I begin to think we shall not keep her with us very much longer,” Archie returned, with a regret- ful sigh. ‘‘T thought so, too, when Mr. Meredith introduced her to me to-night,” Star said, archly. ‘Ah! then you read the signs of the times,” he answered, smiling. ‘‘ But here comes my mother, and she is looking for me, I know, by the expression of her face.” They were just entering the drawing-room as he spoke, and Lady Sherbrooke was coming toward them, looking right and left for her son. Her handsome face lighted as she saw him, and she quick- ened her steps, while she wondered at that new light in his eyes, at the bright and youthful expression on his face. ‘‘Mother,” Archibald Sherbrooke said, and there was a proud ring in his tone, ‘‘I want to introduce to you Miss Gladstone, a friend whom I met while I was in America.” Lady Sherbrooke shot a keen glance into that lovely, blush- ing face, and there came a look of surprise into her own, while for once she lost something of the graceful self-possession that was habitual to her as she greeted Star. Her heart went forth to the young girl at once, and she GComicbooks;co