THE SUMMER PARLOUR.
If there was a girl who was at once slightly frightened and extremely
angry, that girl was Leucha Villiers, the daughter of the Earl of
Crossways. Never, never before had any overtures on her part been
treated as Hollyhock had treated them. If this saucy black-eyed imp
intended to rule the school, she, Leucha, would show her what she
thought of her conduct. She would not be ruled by her. She would, in
short, show her once and for all her true position. Little Scotch
nobody, indeed! Well, the angry Leucha knew how to proceed.
Leucha was considered by her friends and by her numerous acquaintances
a most charming girl, a girl with such aristocratic manners, such a
noble presence, such a gentle, firm, distinguished air. She had been,
during her first week at school, very happy on the whole, for Jasmine,
and Gentian, and Rose, and Delphinium had more or less bowed down to
her and admired her. But now there appeared on the scene a totally
different character--Hollyhock! How ridiculous to call any human being
by such a name! But then it wasn't her real name; her name was
Jacqueline. She, Lady Leucha, would certainly not call her Hollyhock,
or prickly Holly, or anything of that sort. She would call her Jack
and Jacko, and tease her as much as possible. She had certainly spoken
of the ghost in her ridiculous Scotch accent, but Leucha Villiers,
after careful consideration, determined not to be afraid of pure
nonsense. Was there ever a girl in creation who dried a ghost's
dripping hair? The whole thing was too silly.
In accordance with Mrs Maclure's promise, a great many fresh girls had
arrived, and the full number of seventy was now nearly made up. It
would be quite made up by the end of the following week.
Leucha liked the boy element in the school, and was exceedingly sorry
to part with it; but she perceived, to her intense satisfaction, that
the English contingent of girls at Ardshiel was very strong, and that,
notwithstanding all her audacity and daring, Jacko--of course she was
Jacko--could be kept in a minority. She felt there was no time to
lose, for Hollyhock looked at her with such flashing eyes, with such
saucy dimples round her lips, with such a very rare and personal
beauty, that Leucha felt she must get hold of her own girls at once, in
order to sustain the school against the wicked machinations of Jacko.
Accordingly she got Lady Barbara Fraser and her sister Dorothy, also
the Honourable Daisy Watson, to meet her in what was called the Summer
Parlour, a very pretty arbour in the grounds, where materials for a
fire were laid, and where a fire could be lit in cold weather.
Winter was approaching. It was now nearly October, and October in the
North is often accompanied by frosts and fallen leaves, and by bitter,
cold, easterly winds. Lady Leucha had, she considered, a very charming
manner. Having collected her friends round her, she went off with them
to seek for Mrs Macintyre. They found this good woman, as usual, very
busy, and very gentle and full of tact.
'We have come with a request,' said Lady Leucha.
'And what is that, my child?' asked Mrs Macintyre.
'Mrs Macintyre,' said Lady Leucha, 'you have in your school far more
English than Scotch girls.'
'That is true, my dear--at least, it is true up to the present. But I
have heard to-day from my dear friend Mrs Maclure that fifteen new
Edinburgh lassies will arrive on Saturday. You'll welcome them; won't
you, Leucha?'
'I like English girls best,' said Lady Leucha.
'That's natural enough, dear child. Well, you have a goodly number of
friends and relatives at the school.'
'I have,' said Leucha; 'but I have come in the name of my cousins,
Dorothy and Barbara Fraser, and my great friend Daisy Watson, to say
that we do not approve of the manners of the new pupil.'
'What new pupil, Leucha? There are a good many in the school.'
'I know that. But I allude to that wild-looking child with black eyes
and hair, who talks the absurdest nonsense. Would you believe it, dear
Mrs Macintyre, she talks of coming here on moonlight nights and wiping
the hair of a ghost? Could you imagine anything so silly?'
'It is a very foolish thing to say,' remarked Mrs Macintyre--'so silly
and impossible that if I were you, Leucha, I would not give it a second
thought. The child must have said it in pure fun. You are doubtless
alluding to Hollyhock, a splendid little girl.'
'Well,' said Leucha, tossing her head, 'I don't care for girls who tell
untruths; and it is not only for that reason that I dislike her, it is
also because she has been so terribly rude to my cousins the Frasers,
and to my dear friend Daisy Watson. I can see that she intends to rule
the school, or at least to take a very leading position in it. Now
this I, for one, do not wish, and I do not intend to put up with it. I
think that I, as Earl Crossways' daughter, and the Frasers, who are
daughters of the Marquis of Killin'----
'And therefore Scots of the Scots,' interrupted Mrs Macintyre.
'Well, at least their mother is English of the English, and they have
been brought up in English ways. They are _my_ relatives, and I do not
choose them to be treated rudely. There is also my very great friend
Daisy Watson. We are most anxious, dear Mrs Macintyre, for you to
allow us English girls, who at present are in a majority in the school,
the entire use of the Summer Parlour, giving it out as your desire that
no Scotch girl is to come into the parlour without our express
permission.'
'I do not quite see how I can do that, Leucha. The Summer Parlour is
for the use of all, and why should my Scots lassies be excluded? I am
sure, notwithstanding your remarks, Leucha, the children you speak of
are both good and well-bred.'
'That horrid creature they call Hollyhock isn't well-bred,' said Leucha.
'She is a magnificent child,' said Mrs Macintyre. 'You don't know her
story or you wouldn't speak of her like that.'
'_I_ don't want to hear her story,' said Barbara Fraser. 'I dislike
her appearance too much.'
'Barbara, my dear, I am the last to encourage vanity, but Hollyhock is
quite the handsomest girl in the school.'
'Oh, Mrs Macintyre, I do wish we had never come here!' said Leucha, who
looked extremely mournful and inclined to cry. 'Of course, I suppose,
mother must give you a term's notice, but there are really _refined_
schools in England without wild Scotch girls in their midst.'
'You must not speak against Scotland to me,' said Mrs Macintyre.
'Remember it is my native land--the land of the heather, and the lochs,
and the glorious mountains. It is the land of brave men and brave
women, and I will not have it run down by _any_ impudent English girl.
I've got so many other English girls coming to the school that the loss
of you four won't affect me much, Leucha Villiers.'
This was taking matters with a very high hand, and Leucha, who had no
great moral strength, was thoroughly subdued.
'I didn't mean to be rude to you, of course, dear Mrs Macintyre,' she
said, nudging her cousins as she spoke. 'I only said I did not like
that black-eyed girl. She's frightfully wild and rude, and I'm
accustomed to girls of a different type. Naturally indeed, being born
as I am. However, I ask now for permission to use the Summer Parlour.
Do you refuse it?'
'If you don't want it for hatching plots or anything of that kind,'
said Mrs Macintyre, 'you English girls can have it till Saturday--no
longer, remember; and as the weather is turning very cold, you must pay
for your own fire, and, what's more, light it. For all my maids have
plenty of work to do in the house. Now, then, are you satisfied? The
Summer Parlour will be yours, beginning from to-day.'
'Thank you, Mrs Macintyre; we are quite satisfied,' said Leucha, who
knew well how furious her mother would be were she removed from
Ardshiel, which, as the former home of _kings_, was considered most
distinguished.
The girls went off quite mildly and gently. The day was drawing toward
evening. Their idea was to light a great fire in the Parlour, and then
go into the house for tea; after which they would prepare their
lessons, and then go back in a body to the Parlour to discuss the
enormities of that wicked girl who called herself Hollyhock. But,
alack and alas! the daughter of the Earl of Crossways and the daughters
of the Marquis of Killin had never lit a fire in their lives, and did
not know in the least how to set about it. They were not particularly
strong girls, and did not wish to sit in the Summer Parlour hatching
mischief against their schoolfellow without the comfort of a glowing
fire.
'How queer and cross Mrs Mac. is!' said Leucha, turning to her
companions as they rushed off to the Parlour, knowing that they would
have at least half-an-hour in which to make it ready for their evening
talk.
'No, no; she's all right,' said Barbara Fraser; 'and mother thinks the
world of her. If we left, girls, I don't know what father and mother
would say. They've always been wild to get us into a proper Scottish
school.'
'How are we to light the fire?' whispered Leucha. 'Do you know how
it's done, Dorothy?'
'Not I. Who 's that singing?'
There was a wonderfully sweet contralto voice sounding from the cosy
depths of the Summer Parlour. The words the girl sang were as follows:
'The great Ardshiel, he gaed before,
He gart the cannons and guns to roar.
'Whisper now, lassies. Do you not know that "the oak shall go over the
myrtle yet"? We will settle some of the poor English girls yet. All
the same, I like the really nice English girls _ever_ so well. They
are so bonnie and so gentle, like my own sweet sister Jasmine. Where
could you see her like anywhere? And there is my own kinsman, the Duke
of Ardshiel! Ah! but I love him well!'
The voice was undoubtedly the voice of Hollyhock, who, without rhyme or
reason, had lit a great fire in the old grate, and was comfortably
established there, with her four sisters and a number of Scots and
English girls scattered round.
These young people were seated round the roaring fire, and Holly, with
her black locks and great glowing black eyes, was the centre of an
animated group. She was about to expand her views on the nice and
not-nice English girls, when in rushed Leucha and her friends.
'You clear out of this,' she said.
'Clear?' said Hollyhock. 'What is clear?'
'There's the door,' said Leucha. 'Go!'
'Not I,' said Holly. 'I find this little chair very comfortable.'
She established herself with much grace and dignity, and the others
clustered round her.
'You have got to go,' said Leucha, who was now in a towering passion.
'We have got Mrs Macintyre's permission to consecrate the Summer
Parlour to the English girls until Saturday.'
'That seems a pity,' said Holly, 'for, you see, we _must_ put out the
fire. We built it, we lassies of Scotland, and we do not leave it
except to those English girls who are on our side. I rather think you
are up to a conspiracy, and you sha'n't hatch your plot by _our_
fire.--Come, girls, she wants the Parlour and the fire, but she does
not want us. So, quick is the word. Stir yourself, Delphy; stir
yourself, Augusta; stir yourselves, all the rest. It is mighty damp
outside, so the faggots can cool themselves there. My word! I do not
think much of _some_ English maids. They have no manners at all. And
I telling such a fine tale about Ardshiel and his bonnie men. Well,
the Camerons are down now, but they will soon be up again. "The
Camerons are coming," say I. Never mind, girls; we 'll find another
place for our wee conspiracy.'
In less than two minutes the fire no longer glowed and roared. The
coal smouldered feebly under the grate; the faggots were put in the
dripping rain, for the evening happened to be a wet one; and, in order
to make all secure, Hollyhock poured a jug of water over the rapidly
expiring fire.
'There they lie,' she cried; 'but if any of you wants a proper fire
lit, not in anger, but in the spirit of love, I can and will undertake
the job. Ay! not a word!--Come away, girls. I know a little hut where
we can light a fire for our own conspiracy--a sort of a "cubby hole,"
but loved by poor ghostie, and fit for our work. Come at once, girls.
Come at once.'