THE GIRL WITH THE WAYWARD HEART.
Hollyhock was a child who, with all her wildness, her insubordination,
her many faults, bore no malice. She did not know the meaning of
malice. The open look on her bonnie face alone proclaimed this fact.
She was really sorry for Leucha, and did not give her own swollen cheek
a serious thought. Of course it pained her, for Leucha had very hard,
bony little hands, and she struck, in her fury, with great violence.
But Hollyhock, as she termed it, would be but a poor thing if she
couldn't bear a scrap of pain. Nothing would induce her to grumble,
and although she bitterly regretted the punishment which lay before her
of not going home on Saturday, she would take it, as she expressed it,
'like a woman of sense.'
Accordingly she got up early on the following morning, released poor
Jean, and carried her back to The Garden. There she put her into the
astonished arms of the old housekeeper, who said, 'Whatever ails ye,
lassie; and where did you find the cat?'
'Here she is, and don't ask me any questions about her. Here she is,
safe and sound. She has been feeding on the richest cream, and if you
put her cosy by the fire, she 'll sleep off the effects. Is my Daddy
Dumps in, Mrs Duncan?'
'Yes, my lassie; he 's at his breakfast.'
'Well, I'm glad of that,' said Hollyhock. 'I have got to speak to him
for a minute, but I won't keep him long.'
'Richt ye are, my dear; but whatever swelled your bonnie cheek like
that?'
'Well,' said Hollyhock, 'it wasn't me, and it wasn't the cat; so don't
ask questions, for they won't be answered. I can't stop here. I must
go at once to Daddy Dumps. I have been a bad, wicked girl, and my
swollen cheek has been sent to me as a punishment.'
'Whoever _dare_'---- began the old retainer, who in her heart of hearts
adored Hollyhock as the most precious of all the Garden Flowers. But
Hollyhock had left her.
The cat was already asleep in her basket by the fire. George Lennox
was enjoying his excellent breakfast, and was busily planning out his
day. Lord Ian's work was remarkably heavy, and he missed his dear
Flowers. He was startled, therefore, when Hollyhock dashed into the
room.
'Daddy Dumps,' she exclaimed, 'do not be frightened now, and don't pass
remarks on my swollen cheek. It was sent me as a punishment, and I 'm
not going to say to any one how I got it; but I 've come here, my own
Dumpy Dad, to tell you, darling, that your Hollyhock will not return on
Saturday with the four other Flower Girls. It's right, and I 'm
content. Good-bye, daddy; good-bye. I 'm struggling at that school,
and in a fight you often get a scar. When didn't the Camerons get a
scar, and weren't they proud of it, the bonnie men?'
Before Mr Lennox could utter a word Hollyhock had rushed out of the
room, scarcely daring to speak any further or even to kiss her father,
for, with all her bravery, tears were very near her black eyes.
She reached the big school in time for breakfast, where her swollen
cheek caused her adorers to look at her with amazed distress and
compassion, and Leucha and Daisy Watson to chuckle inwardly, whereas
the Fraser girls were as sorry for Hollyhock as they could be.
Prayers followed breakfast; and then Leucha, by Mrs Macintyre's
command, had to discharge her painful task. She loathed the thing
unspeakably; but Mrs Macintyre had no idea of letting her off.
'Come, Leucha,' she said, 'you have got something to say to your
companions. You are wearing a rag on your hand. Take it off.'
'It hurts,' said Leucha, meaning her hand, for she clung to the rag as
a sort of flag of protection.
'Take the rag off, and we 'll see for ourselves how much it hurts,'
said Mrs Macintyre.
The girls and teachers all stood wondering by. The only one who felt
sorry was Hollyhock. The rag was removed, and Mrs Macintyre, gazing
keenly at the scratch, said in a disdainful voice, 'I never heard such
a fuss about nothing at all. Now, then, you will have the goodness to
tell the school in as few words as possible how you got that scratch on
your hand, and how Hollyhock got her poor face so swollen.'
'It was the cat,' muttered Leucha.
'The cat! What cat?' echoed from end to end of the long room.
'Leucha, hold your head up and tell your story. If you don't tell it
at once, without any more shirking, I shall have you locked up for the
day in your room.'
So Leucha, dreading this beyond anything--for a day in her room at the
present moment might mean anything--was forced to tell the story of the
previous night's adventure. She did tell it with all the venom of
which she was capable. She told it with her pale-blue eyes gleaming
spitefully. She was forced to go to the very bottom of the affair.
'It was a silly trick, girls,' said Mrs Macintyre when the tale had
come to an end, 'and Hollyhock suffered, because the daughter of the
Earl of Crossways very nearly broke her jaw. Well, I 'm here to do my
duty. Leucha has had to explain. Another girl would have taken what
occurred simply as a joke and made nothing of it; but I grieve to say
that such is not Leucha Villiers's way; and as Hollyhock _did_ do
wrong, and as Leucha particularly _wishes_ it, I am forced to punish
her by not allowing her to go home on Saturday. It seems a pity; but
justice is justice, and Hollyhock is the first to think that herself.'
'I am,' replied Hollyhock.
'That's a dear child; and now you will try not to get into further
mischief.'
But to this speech of kind Mrs Macintyre's Hollyhock made no answer,
for mischief was the breath of life to her, and to live without it was
practically to live without air, without food, without consolation.
She looked round the large and wondering school, and observed that all
eyes, with the exception of one pair, were fixed on her with great
compassion.
'Hollyhock,' said Mrs Macintyre, 'is your cheek very painful?'
'It hurts a bit,' said Hollyhock.
'Then I think I must ask Dr Maguire to call round and look at it.'
'Oh, don't, Mrs Macintyre! I deserved it--I did, truly.'
But Mrs Macintyre had her way, and although she set the other girls to
their tasks, she provided Hollyhock with an amusing book, and placed
her near a great fire until Dr Maguire arrived and examined the
much-swollen cheek.
'Why, you _have_ got a nasty blow, Miss Hollyhock,' he said. 'Did you
strike yourself against a tree, or something of that sort?'
'No; 'tis nothing,' replied Hollyhock.
'Well, however it happened is your secret; but I can only say that your
jaw was very nearly broken. It isn't broken, however, and I 'll get a
soothing liniment, which you are to keep on constantly during the day.
I suppose I mustn't inquire how this occurred?'
'Best not,' said Mrs Macintyre; 'only get the dear child well.'
'I won't be long over that job, with one like Miss Hollyhock.'
So Hollyhock was petted very much all day; excused, by the doctor's
express orders, from all lessons; and sat cosily by the fire, enjoying
her new and very exciting story. By evening, however, the swelling had
gone down a great deal, and her mischievous spirit awoke again. The
girls, even the daughters of the Marquis of Killin, were positively
furious with Leucha, and more than ever took the part of the brilliant,
fascinating child, who had already won their hearts.
It was the final straw to Lady Leucha when Barbara and Dorothy Fraser
declared boldly that they could not stand such a cruel fuss about
nothing.
'If I were to tell our father, the Marquis, I really do not know what
he 'd say,' remarked Lady Dorothy.
'_Almost_ to break a girl's jaw just for a mere joke,' added Lady
Barbara. 'Well, we intend to be friends with Hollyhock, whether you
wish it or not, Leucha.'
So Lady Leucha felt herself to be the most desolate girl in the whole
school, the one person who clung to her side being little Daisy Watson,
whom she did not like and only put up with.
The next morning Hollyhock was as well as ever, and told her sisters
that if Leuchy would make up with her, she was willing to extend the
hand of forgiveness.
'You really are noble in your own funny way, Hollyhock,' said Jasmine.
She repeated Hollyhock's words to Leucha, taking care to do so when a
number of the girls were present. But Lady Leucha, whatever she was,
was obstinate. On her father's side she was well-born; but her mother
was a cross-grained lady, extremely ambitious and proud of nothing at
all, and Lady Leucha took after her mother. She wondered if it was
possible for her to get out of this odious school.
She turned her white face, with her small, pale eyes, and fixed them on
Jasmine. 'I presume your silly sister wants an answer.'
'She 's not silly,' replied Jasmine; 'but she would like an answer.'
'Well, tell her from me that as far as the North Pole is from the
South, so am I from her, and ever will be. There now, what do you
think of that? I don't care who hears me. I 'm accustomed to ladies,
not to common little Scotch girls who tell lies.'
Jasmine was too gentle, too firm, too really noble to make any
response; but as she went out of the room she was followed by a crowd
of girls, a few of whom turned round and hissed at Leucha. The hisses
were very soft, but, at the same time, very distinct; and this was the
final straw in the wretched girl's misery.
As to Hollyhock, she was, greatly owing to Leucha's conduct, now the
ruling spirit in the school, not by any means as regards lessons, but
as regards what schoolgirls treasure so much, popularity and
good-fellowship. Even Barbara and Dorothy Fraser went boldly to her
side, and congratulated her on her self-restraint, and even apologised
for their cousin's unseemly conduct.
Hollyhock's fine eyes lit up with a great glow. 'I do not care,' she
said. 'Poor lassie! I pity her; I do, truly!'
'You are a wonderful girl, Hollyhock,' said Dorothy; 'and may my sister
and I join your circle to-night? And will you tell us some bogy tales?'
'I will that,' said Hollyhock.
'And here's a hand, my trusty frien's,
And gie's a hand o' thine.'
She sang the words, and they were taken up immediately by every girl in
the school, with the exception of Leucha and the miserable, depressed
Daisy. But Hollyhock knew that she had her punishment to undergo. Was
not her own mother a Cameron of the great race, and would she disgrace
herself by crying out and making a fuss? 'The de'il is in me all the
same,' she whispered under her breath; 'but he 'll not show his little
horns until the Flower Girls are back at The Garden.'
She was a passionate little poet, and she now sang softly under her
breath:
The height of my disdain shall be
To laugh at him, to blush for thee;
To love thee still, but go no more
A-begging at a beggar's door.'
Then she burst forth in her really glorious voice with such fervour
that every girl within reach heard her:
The meteor flag of England
Shall yet terrific burn,
Till danger's troubled night depart,
And the star of peace return.
Then, then, ye ocean-warriors!
Our song and feast shall flow
To the fame of your name,
When the storm has ceased to blow,
When the fiery fight is heard no more,
And the storm has ceased to blow!'
In spite of every effort, Hollyhock could not help putting a touch of
her beloved Scots accent into the great and glorious words of Thomas
Campbell.
'Hollyhock, you 'll promise not to do any mischief while we are away?'
said Jasmine in her most coaxing voice when the hour for departure had
arrived. She hated beyond words leaving her sister at this crisis.
'Ah, well,' replied Hollyhock, 'I'll make no promises. I 'll tell no
stories, and if things happen, why, then, I am not to blame.'
'Oh, Holly darling, you frighten me!'
'Don't be frightened, Jasmine; I 'm learning to be _such_ a good little
girl.'
There was no help for it. The four Flower Girls departed, leaving the
fifth, and the naughty one, behind.
Now it was as impossible for Hollyhock to keep out of mischief as it
was for the kitchen cat at The Garden to refuse to drink cream, but
Hollyhock meant at the same time to go warily to work. Some more fresh
girls were coming on this special Saturday, which made it all the
easier for her to carry out her little plan. The Fraser girls were now
devoted to her, but her slave--the one who would do anything on earth
for her--was Margaret Drummond.
Hollyhock arranged, therefore, that Margaret should be her accomplice
on the present occasion. Her tales of bogies and ghosties--all of them
with a slight soupçon of truth in them--had excited the wonder and
fearful admiration of the schoolgirls, and when she suggested, as she
_did_ suggest, that 'poor little Leuchy might wipe the ghostie's hair
for her,' there was a perfect chorus of delighted applause.
'But he won't come; he won't dare to come,' said Margaret Drummond.
'Meg, hist, dear; let's whisper. Keep it to yourself. There's no
ghost; only they think, poor things, that there is, and that I dry his
dripping locks. Well, I want you to impersonate the ghost to-night. I
'll dress you up, and you shall cross the path of Leuchy. Why, she'll
turn deadly white when she sees you at it.'
'But, oh! I 'm frightened. I 'll get into trouble,' said Margaret.
'And you won't do that for me? I thought for sure you loved me.'
'I'd give my life for you,' said Margaret; 'but this is different.'
'It's easy to talk about giving the life, for that's not asked; but
what I want is the love, and the proof of the love is that you shall
dress as poor ghostie, and beg in a _mighty_ mournful voice of Leuchy
to dry your dripping hair. I have got an old cloak and a peaked hat
that belonged to my grandmother's family, and I 'll alter your face a
wee bit, and nobody'll recognise you like that. Now come, Meg, you
won't refuse? I 'd do it myself, and do it well; only I _might_ be
discovered, but you wouldn't. Who'll think of Meg Drummond turning
into the ghost? You must clasp your skeleton hands and say _very_
mournfully, "Dry my locks, sweet maid of England!" That's all. She'll
be sure to go out into the grounds, and the rest of us will be close
by, ready to catch her up if she swoons; and she 'll never guess to her
dying day but that she has seen a ghost.'
The plot was prepared with immense care. It was the most tremendously
exciting thing that the girls had ever heard of, and even the Frasers
were drawn in, more particularly as the worst it could possibly do was
to give that naughty, proud Leucha a fright. They were very sick of
their cousin, and very angry with her; and it was finally decided that
the girl who was to come to her rescue in the moment of her terrible
extremity was to be Hollyhock herself. The others were all to fly out
of sight. Hollyhock was to desire ghostie to go, and was to support
Leucha into the house. After that--well, no one quite knew what would
come!