THERE IS NO WAY OUT.
Hollyhock did not exactly know how she felt during that visit to the
dearly beloved old Garden. Besides the unwelcome presence of Aunt
Agnes, there was a fear over her which was wholly and completely moral,
for Hollyhock had, as may well be remarked, no physical fear
whatsoever. She was the sort of girl, however, to keep even moral
fears to herself, and she returned to the Palace of the Kings on Monday
morning, hoping for the best. So far everything seemed to be all right.
Leucha rushed to her friend, clasped her and kissed her, said how
deeply she had missed her, and how she had longed beyond words during
the latter half of Saturday and on Sunday for Hollyhock's return.
Meg, then, had been better than Hollyhock expected. When all was said
and done, Meg was good and true. Hollyhock made up her mind to be
specially good to Meg in future, to compensate her for her late
neglect--in short, to soothe her ruffled feelings and to feel for her
that love and admiration which the Scots girl had given to her in the
past. But where was Meg?
Hollyhock's quick eyes looked round the room, looked round the spacious
hall, looked round the vast breakfast parlour. There was no sign of
Meg anywhere. This puzzled her a little, but did not render her
uneasy; and as no other girl in the school said a word about Meg
Drummond--she was not a favourite by any means, and never would
be--Hollyhock came to the conclusion that the poor thing must be ill,
and must have taken to her bed, in which case she would inquire for her
tenderly when the right time came, and thank her affectionately for her
loving forbearance.
But, alack and alas! just as breakfast was coming to an end, there was
a whir and a hoot, and a motor-car was heard rushing up the spacious
avenue and stopping before the great front-door.
A girl who was seated next to Hollyhock said, 'That must be Meg
Drummond coming back. About an hour after you left us, Hollyhock, her
mother came and fetched her. Why, there she is, to be sure, and her
mother along with her. Whatever can be wrong?'
Hollyhock felt a fearful sinking at her heart. She longed to rush
Leucha, poor little Leucha, out of the school, to hide her, to screen
her from what was certain to follow. But she was too stunned by these
unexpected events to say a word or take any action.
'You are a little white, Hollyhock,' said Leucha, who was seated at her
side. 'Don't you feel well?'
'Oh, Leucha darling, don't ask me. It's all up with me,' groaned
Hollyhock. 'Oh Leucha, say once again that you love me!'
'Love you, Holly? I love no one in the world as I love you!'
'Well, you have said it for the last time,' thought poor Hollyhock to
herself. Her little victory, her little triumph, was at an end, for
Hollyhock knew Leucha far too well to believe for an instant that she
would forgive a horrible hoax played upon her.
If Meg Drummond was a cold, severe-looking girl, she was not nearly so
severe or so cold as her mother. Mrs Drummond, accompanied by her
daughter, entered the great hall, where prayers were to be said, with a
face of icy marble. Proud indeed was she in spirit; determined was she
in action. She would save her precious daughter's soul alive, come
what might. No other girl was of any importance to Mrs Drummond. Meg
was her all, and she was wrecked--yes, wrecked--on the ghastly rock of
sin. The Devil would claim Meg, unless she, her mother, came to the
rescue.
Mrs Macintyre was somewhat surprised at the arrival of Mrs Drummond, a
woman to whom she did not at all take. For that matter, she had never
been enamoured of Meg herself, considering her beneath the other girls
in the school; but when Mrs Drummond whispered to her, 'I have come on
a matter of awful importance, and I'll thank you to conduct the Lord's
Prayer and the hymns and the other religious exercises, and _then_ you
'll know why I have come.'
This was such a very remarkable speech that Mrs Macintyre bowed stiffly
and offered the good lady a chair.
Prayers were conducted as usual, the girls singing and joining in the
Lord's Prayer. Then Mrs Macintyre made a brief petition that God
Almighty might help her and her teachers and her beloved pupils to work
harmoniously through the hours of the week just beginning.
The moment she rose from her knees, she was about to dismiss the pupils
to their different tasks, when Mrs Drummond, tall and gaunt, stood up
and waved a menacing hand.
'One moment, girls; I have something to say to you, or, rather, my
young daughter has something to say, which is in the nature of a black
confession. It relates principally to herself and a girl in this
school called Hollyhock. She has now to go through an awful
confession, which will hurt her more than a little; but if she holds
nothing back, her immortal soul may be saved in the Great Day. But
there is _another_ who has sinned far deeper than my Meg, and I leave
it to Mrs Macintyre to settle with her by expelling her from this
school. Now then, Meg, think of the Judgment Seat and tell your tale.'
Meg, who would be precisely like her mother at her mother's age, now
stood up, flung a vindictive glance at Hollyhock, and began her story.
'I was drawn into it. That Hollyhock had a way with her, and I was
drawn in. I consented to an awful sin. It has lain on my conscience
until I felt nearly mad. Well, Mrs Macintyre and my dear teachers and
you girls, listen and beware. You may recall a certain night when
there was great agitation in this school, because it was said that the
poor ghostie had walked. The thought of that ghostie nearly drove an
English girl out of her mind; but I am prepared to clear up the matter.
'Now for the true story. The ghost was no ghost. It was me, my own
self, who, ruled by Hollyhock there, went into what we call the ghost's
hut, and allowed myself to be chalked and then blackened with charcoal
on the hands and face so as to look like a skeleton, and then wrapped
in a cloak of the Camerons, and my hair tied up tight, and a peaked hat
put on me over a wig which had been flung into water. I 'm told that I
looked something _fearful_; and the one who did the deed, and drew me,
an innocent girl, into this mess, was Hollyhock Lennox. A poor English
girl went almost raving mad, and no one could tell but that a real
ghost had been about. Well, _I'm_ the ghost, and the wicked one who
led me astray was Hollyhock Lennox. After that she was frightened,
seeing the effect of the ghost on poor Leucha, and she got me for a
long time not to tell, and she won the heart of Leucha, coming round
her as only she knows how. But if _I_ know Leucha, she won't put up
any more with what was nothing but a hoax.-- Will you, Leucha; will
you?'
'Is it true?' said Leucha, turning a ghastly-white face and looking at
Hollyhock.
'Oh Leuchy,' half-sobbed Hollyhock, 'it is true, every word of it. It
was the spirit of mischief that entered into me. But, oh, Leuchy,
Leuchy, when you were so bad my whole heart went out to you, and you
'll forgive your own Holly? For, see for yourself, I love you,
Leuchy--see it for yourself.'
'And I _don't_ love you,' said Leucha. 'You have played on me the
vilest trick I ever heard of, and I'll never believe in you again, or
speak to you again!--Please, Mrs Macintyre, this is too much; my head
reels badly, so may I go out of the room for a few minutes?'
'I had to save my immortal soul,' said Meg, casting down her pious
eyes, and rejoicing in the mischief which she had effectually achieved.
'My precious one, you are safe now,' said Mrs Drummond. 'I have stood
by and listened to a full confession. But what'll you do to that bad,
black-haired girl, Mrs Macintyre? To have her publicly expelled is
what _I 'd_ recommend.'
'Yes, my dear lady,' replied Mrs Macintyre; 'but you do not happen to
be the mistress of the school. I shall take my own course. You can
remove your own daughter if you wish, Mrs Drummond, whose behaviour, in
my opinion, was many degrees worse than Hollyhock's.'
'What do you mean by that?'
'Hollyhock certainly did wrong to allow your girl to impersonate the
ghost; but afterwards, in the most noble way, she won the affections of
the must difficult girl in the school. Now I fear, I greatly tear, we
shall have much trouble with Leucha Villiers; but nothing will induce
me to expel Hollyhock.-- No, my dear little girl; you did wrong, of a
certainty, but you are too much loved in this school for us to do
without you.-- Now, Mrs Drummond, do you wish to remove Margaret from
the school? Because, if so, it can easily be done, and I shall send up
my maid, Magsie, to pack her clothes.'
'It _might_ be right,' said Mrs Drummond, who was considerably amazed
at Mrs Macintyre's manner of taking the whole occurrence, 'but at the
same time I have no wish to deprive my daughter of the chance of
getting the Ardshiel diamond crest locket. It would be the kind of
thing that her father would have taken pride in. I myself have no wish
for worldly pride and precious stones and such like. Nevertheless, it
would be hard to rob my child of the chance of getting the locket.'
'As you please,' said Mrs Macintyre with great coldness. 'Only I have
one thing to insist upon.'
'Indeed, madam! And what may that be?'
'It is that Margaret Drummond shall have no dealings whatsoever with
Leucha Villiers. As to Hollyhock, I can manage her myself. Now
perhaps, madam, you will return to Edinburgh and allow the routine of
the school to go on under _my_ guidance, I being the head-mistress,
_not_ you!'
Mrs Drummond went away in a wild fury. She certainly would have taken
Meg with her, but the pride of having her commonplace daughter educated
in the Palace of the Kings, joined to her pride in the very great
possibility--in fact, the certainty in her imagination--of Meg's
winning one of the gold and diamond lockets, made her swallow her
indignation as best she could. She kissed Meg after her icy fashion,
and said some furious words in a low tone to the young girl.
'You managed things badly, Meg. That dark girl ought to have been
expelled.'
'But, mother, I should have loved to see the day,' said Meg. 'I don't
seem to have got much good out of my confession after all.'
'Your soul, child, the salvation of your soul, is gained;' and with
these last words the self-righteous woman went away.
Certainly that was a most confusing morning at the school. Poor Mrs
Macintyre had never felt nearer despair. The trick which had been
played she regarded with due and proper abhorrence, but the way in
which it had been declared by Meg made her feel sick, and worse than
sick, at heart. She sent for Hollyhock first, and had a long talk with
her.
'Ah, my child, my child,' she said, 'why will you let your naughty and
mischievous spirit get the better of you?'
'I couldn't help it,' replied Hollyhock, who felt as near to tears as a
daughter of the Camerons could be; 'but you see for your own self what
Leuchy was before I played my prank, and what she has been since. Now
I'm much afraid that all is up, and she 'll never love me any
more--poor Leuchy!'
'Hollyhock, you really have been exceedingly naughty, but your conduct
to Leucha _after_ her terrible fright has been _splendid_; and although
I greatly fear, knowing Leucha's character, that you will find it
difficult to get back her love, yet there are many others in the
school, my child, who love you, and who will love you for ever.'
'Yes; but it was Leuchy I wanted,' said Hollyhock. 'The others were so
easy to win. I could always win love; but Leuchy, she's so cold, and
now she's frozen up, like marble, she is.'
'You must take that as your punishment, for no other punishment will I
give you, except to ask you not to play that kind of practical joke
again.'
'Oh my!' exclaimed Hollyhock, 'but the mischief is in me. I dare not
make a promise. You would not, if you had a wild heart like mine.'
'Well, Hollyhock, I shall expect, for the honour of the school, that
you will do your _best_. And one thing I must ask of you--it is this.
Meg feels herself very superior, with the superiority of the Pharisee.
Most of the girls in the school will hate her for what she said to-day;
but I want you, as a dear friend, to take her part.'
'Oh, but that 'll be hard,' said Hollyhock.
'The divine grace can help you, my child. I 'm not one of the "unco
guid," but I believe most fully in the all-prevailing love of the great
God and His Son, our blessed Saviour. Now kiss me, and go to your
lessons as though nothing had happened.'
'But Leuchy!' exclaimed Hollyhock.
'I'll manage Leucha. I greatly fear that I shall have a difficult
task, but I shall let you know to-morrow at latest what attitude she
intends to take up. A girl of broader, nobler views would, of course,
see the joke and make fun of it; but Leucha, in her way, is as narrow
as Meg is in hers.'
'Oh dear, oh dear!' sighed Hollyhock. 'Well, at all events, I 'll get
rid of her kisses. Oh, they were _so_ trying!'
'I saw that you hated them, my child.'
'Did you notice that, Mrs Macintyre? How wonderful you are!'
'No, my dear baby. But I, who equally hate being kissed, saw what you
were enduring in a noble cause. It _may_ come right in the end,
Hollyhock. We must hope for the best.'
'Oh, but you are a darling!' said Hollyhock, flinging her arms round
the head-mistress's neck. 'Oh, but I love you!'
'And for my sake you 'll abstain from tricks in the school?'
'I 'll not promise; but, at the same time, I 'll do my level best.'
Hollyhock, notwithstanding Mrs Macintyre's great kindness, spent a
really wretched day. She kept her word, however, as she had promised,
with regard to Meg, and during morning recess went to her side, and
tried with all that wonderful charm she possessed to be kind to her.
She did not allude to Meg's confession, but spoke to her with all her
old affection. Meg stared at the girl whom she now considered her
enemy in haughty surprise, refused to reply to any of Hollyhock's
endearments, and walked away with her head in the air.
'You dare,' she exclaimed at last, 'when you know too well that you
ought to be expelled!'
Meg then turned her back on Hollyhock, but was followed in her
self-imposed exile by the laughter and jeers of most of the girls in
the school, who flocked eagerly round their favourite, telling her that
they at least would ever and always be her dearest friends. Many of
the said girls assured poor Hollyhock that they were glad that the
nasty _kissing_ English girl was no longer to divide them from their
lively favourite. But Hollyhock's most loving heart was really full of
Leucha. Her nature could not by any possibility really suit Leucha's,
but Holly had taken her up, and it would be very hard now for her to
withdraw her love. Besides, she had done wrong--very wrong--and Leuchy
had a right to be angry.
During the whole of that miserable day Leucha absented herself from the
school, and all Mrs Macintyre's words proved so far in vain. She had
no good news to give Hollyhock; therefore she told her nothing. But
toward evening she had a very grave conversation with Jasmine, who made
a proposal of her own. If this idea fell through, Mrs Macintyre felt
that the mean nature of Meg, joined to the yet meaner nature of Leucha
herself, must for the present at least win the day. She had some hope
in this plan, but meanwhile her warm heart was full of sorrow for her
bonnie Hollyhock.