UNDER PROTEST.
Whatever Hollyhock's feelings may have been, she went to school on the
following Monday morning with a good grace. She was the sort of girl
who, when once she put her hand to the plough, would not take it back
again. She refused, however, to listen to any of the stories which
Jasmine, Gentian, and the others longed and pined to tell her of the
great school.
'I 'll find out for myself,' was her remark; and Mrs Constable advised
the other girls to leave this obstinate lass alone as far as possible.
'Under protest!' exclaimed Jasmine.
'If you think it right,' said Gentian.
'Yes, Jasmine; yes, Gentian. I do know what is really best for our
little maid. She will find her own way best in the school if she is
not interfered with. If she is in any sort of trouble, then she will
have her dear Flower sisters to go to.'
'I doubt it myself,' said Gentian. 'That's just what Hollyhock will
not do. I know Holly; she's a queer fish. Rare courage has she; I 'm
not fit to hold a candle to her myself.'
'Oh, you have plenty of courage of your own,' said Mrs Constable. 'You
can wile every girl in the place, but don't interfere with Hollyhock.'
'Well, I 'm longing to be off to school,' said Jasmine, 'and I only
trust Holly will like the dear spot as much as we do.'
'She 's certain sure to, girlies, if you don't tell her so. If you do,
I won't answer for the consequences. She 'd love to scare you all.
There now, my darlings, let her be, let her be.'
So the girls, who dearly loved Aunt Cecilia, and who thought a lot of
her counsel, were induced to be judicious in the matter of Hollyhock,
and to walk with her to Ardshiel as though it were an ordinary stroll
they were taking.
Hollyhock was certainly a very handsome little girl. With the
exception of Rose of the Garden, she was the only one of the young
Lennoxes who was really dark. Her great deep black eyes were
surrounded by thick black lashes. Her hair grew low on her brow and
curled itself into little rings here, there, and everywhere. In
addition, it was extremely long and thick, and, when not tied up with a
ribbon, fell far below her waist. Hollyhock had pearly-white teeth, a
very short upper lip, and a certain disdainful, never-may-care
appearance, which was very fetching to most girls.
The hour for the reassembling of the girls at Ardshiel was nine
o'clock, and Hollyhock, although her heart was beating furiously,
showed not a scrap of nervousness, but gazed dauntlessly and with a
fine defiance around her. Everywhere and in all directions she found
eyes fixed on her--blue eyes, gray eyes, brown eyes, light eyes, dark
eyes, the eyes of the pale-faced English, the glowing eyes of a few
French girls; but she felt quite assured in her own heart that there
was not one in that great group who could compare with herself.
Hollyhock, or, in other words, Jacqueline Lennox.
She resolved quickly (and Hollyhock's resolutions, once formed, were
hard to break) that _she_ would be _captain_ of this great school; she
would lead, and the others would follow, no matter the colour of their
eyes, no matter the complexions, no matter the thin, pale faces, or the
fat, rosy faces. These things were all one to Hollyhock. She would
compel these girls; they would follow her willy-nilly where _she_
wished and where _she_ dared to go. She knew well that she was not
clever in book-learning, but she also knew well that she had the great
gift of leadership; she would be the leader here. She rejoiced in the
fact that all the girls were staring at her. She would go carefully to
work and soon secure a band of followers, who would increase by-and-by,
becoming extremely obstreperous and doing all sorts of naughty things,
for Holly had no intention when at school to be good or to learn much.
She went solely and entirely for her own happiness, because she
preferred the girls with the blue, gray, and nondescript eyes to the
kitchen cat, Jean, and to the great loneliness which had descended on
The Garden.
Such a girl as Hollyhock could not but attract attention, and the Lady
Barbara Fraser, Miss Agnes Featherstonhaugh, and many others became
fascinated on the very first day. But Hollyhock, on that first day,
was outwardly meek. She was good, except for her flashing eyes; she
was good, except for the sudden and very queer smile which played round
her pretty lips.
The other Flower Girls had been liked very much indeed, but they had
not stirred a certain naughty spirit in the breasts of the girls. They
honestly, all four of them, wanted to learn hard and to repay their
beloved father for all the expense he was put to on their account; but
Hollyhock's was a totally different nature. She had come to school to
lead, and lead she would.
On the afternoon of the first day, Lady Leucha Villiers, who was a
delicate, refined-looking girl, came up to Jasmine. 'Well, what queer
changes have taken place in the school!'
'What do you mean exactly?' replied Jasmine.
'Why, all those nice boys have vanished like smoke.'
'No, they haven't. They are alive and well. They are being taught at
the Annex. It has been considered best.'
Lady Leucha gave a sigh. 'I miss that dear Ivor,' she said, 'and I
also miss your cousin Jasper and that little chap you call Opal; but
what puzzles me most of all is the crowds and crowds of new girls who
have arrived at the school, and the newest of them all is your sister.'
'Yes,' said Barbara Fraser, 'your sister, Jasmine, is very new and very
remarkable. Whyever did she not come with the rest of you last week?'
'She did not wish it,' replied Jasmine. 'Girls, had we not better get
our French ready for Mam'selle?'
'Oh, bother Mam'selle!' said Lady Leucha. 'I am interested in your
sister. Fancy a girl not coming to school because she doesn't wish it.'
'Father never forces any of us,' said Jasmine in her sweet voice.
'Hollyhock began by disliking the school--I mean the idea of it--and
she was a bit lonesome with no one to talk to her, so she came back
with us this morning.'
'Hollyhock,' said Lady Leucha. 'A queer name!'
'Oh, it isn't her real name; it is her home name. Her real name is
Jacqueline.'
'That's much prettier,' said Leucha Villiers. 'Do tell her to come and
sit with us, Jasmine. I shall always call her Jack. I have taken a
great fancy to her.'
'Well, you'd best keep your fancy to yourself,' said Jasmine, 'for no
one _will_, and no one _can_, coerce Hollyhock.'
'Oh, she's not going to lord it over me,' said Lady Leucha. 'Am I not
an earl's daughter?'
'That will have no effect on Hollyhock, I can assure you.'
'Won't it? We'll see. My father has got a glorious mansion, and we
belong to the very greatest nobility in the whole of England. Our
cousins, the Frasers, are the daughters of the Marquis of Killin. So
you 'd better not put on airs before me, Jasmine. Oh Jasmine, I do
love you; you are such a downright dear little thing. I 'm going to
ask you up to Hans Place at Easter if daddy and mother will give me
leave.'
'Thank you,' said Jasmine; but I couldn't afford to spend one minute
away from The Garden.'
'How queer of you! You seem devoted to your home.'
'I'm Scots,' replied Jasmine; 'and to the Scots there are no people
like the Scots.'
'Oh, do, do watch her!' suddenly exclaimed Lady Leucha. 'Barbara, do
you see--Dorothy, do you see?--she's walking up and down on the terrace
with that ugly Mary Barton and that nobody, Agnes Featherstonhaugh.
Why, Nancy Greenfield and Jane Calvert are hopping round her just as
though they were magpies on one leg.'
'Why should she not talk to those girls? They are very nice,' said
Jasmine. 'But, Leucha, Barbara, and Dorothy, do you not think you had
better prepare your French lessons? At least I must and will.'
Jasmine skipped away and was soon lost to view, but the Ladies Barbara,
Dorothy, and Leucha found themselves alone--alone and somewhat
slighted. Slighted, too, by those commonplace Scots girls! They, who
were the daughters of a marquis and an earl! The thing was not to be
endured!
Leucha whispered to her companions, and soon they got up and went out
in a little group into the grounds. They saw black-eyed Hollyhock,
surrounded by her adorers. She was talking in quite a gentle, subdued
voice, and did not take the least notice of the marquis's and the
earl's daughters. Never had Nancy Greenfield, Jane Calvert, Mary
Barton, Agnes Featherstonhaugh, and last, but not least, Margaret
Drummond felt so elated. Holly was talking in a very low, seductive
voice. Her rich curls were tumbling about her face and far down her
back. Her cheeks were like bright, soft fire, and the flash in her
glorious black eyes it would be difficult to surpass.
'I say, Jack,' exclaimed Leucha.
----'And, girls, as I was telling you, that poor cat, wee Jean, she
came and nestled on my bed'----
'I'm talking to you, Miss Lennox,' said Lady Leucha.
'Are you? I did not listen. You spoke to some one called Jack.
That's a boy. I happen to be a girl.--Well, girls, let's proceed.
I've _such_ a jolly plan in my head. I 'm thinking--whisper--that
young person must not hear.'
The whisper was to the effect that wee Jean was to be fetched from The
Garden by Holly that very night and put comfortably into Lady Leucha's
bed. A saucer of cream was to be placed in the said bed, and it was
more than likely that bonnie Jean would spill it in her fright.
Lady Leucha, who knew nothing of this plan, said in a tone bristling
with haughtiness, 'Some little Scotch girls can be very rude!'
'And some fair maids of England can be downright worse!' retorted
Hollyhock.--'Come along, girls, let's go down this side-walk.'
Lady Leucha had never been spoken to in that tone before, but rudeness
to a girl who had always been pampered made her desire all the stronger
to win the fascinating Hollyhock to her side, and to deprive those
common five, Agnes Featherstonhaugh, Mary Barton, Nancy Greenfield,
Jane Calvert, and Margaret Drummond, of her company. Accordingly,
accompanied by the two Frasers, she also went down the shady walk which
led to the great lake. She began to talk in a high-pitched English
voice of the delights of her home, the wealth of her parents, and the
way in which the Marquis of Kilmarnock and his sons and daughters
adored her.
Hollyhock heard each word, but _her_ voice was no longer gentle. It
was loud and a little penetrating. 'You would not dare to come out at
night,' she said, looking at the devoted five.
'And whyever not?' asked Mary.
'You would not have the courage. It's here on moonlight nights that
the ghost walks. He drips as he walks; and he's _very_ tall and very
strong, with a wild sort of light in his eyes, which are black and big
and awful to see. He was drowned here in the lake on the night before
his wedding. He's very unquiet, is that poor ghost! _I_ do not mind
him one little bit, being a sort of friend, almost a relative, of his.
Many and many a night, when the moon is at the full, have I stood by
the lake and said, "Come away, my laddie. Come, poor ghostie, and I
'll dry your wet hair." Poor fellow, he likes me to rub him dry.'
[Illustration: 'It's here on moonlight nights that the ghost walks.']
The daughters of the marquis and the earl were now quite silent, their
silly little hearts filled with horror. They never guessed that
Hollyhock was making up her story.
'You _couldn't_ have done that,' said Jane Calvert.
'Whist, can't ye? I want to get those girls away, so as to talk about
the kitchen cat.'
The girls in question certainly did go away. They did more; they went
straight to Mrs Macintyre and asked her if the awful story was true.
Mrs Macintyre, having never heard of it, declared emphatically that it
was not true; but, somehow, neither Lady Leucha nor the Fraser girls
quite believed her. There was such a ring of truth in Hollyhock's
words; and had they not all heard, on that first happy evening at the
school, the cry, so shrill, so piercing, '_The ghost! the ghost!_'
They had tried not to think of it since, but Hollyhock seemed to
confirm the weird words, and they began to wonder if they could stay
long in this school, which, beautiful as it was, contained such an
awful ghost--a ghost who required a little girl to dry his locks for
him. Surely such a terrible thing could not happen! It was quite past
belief.