Hollyhock Part 12

'Miss Mary Barton,' continued Mrs Macintyre, 'Miss Nancy Greenfield, Miss Isabella Macneale, Miss Jane Calvert.'

'Now let 's count how many you have got in the school,' said Mrs Maclure. 'Everything _sounds_ well, but the boys will ruin the whole affair.'

'Oh, nonsense, Jane. If only you were not so narrow-minded.'

'I know the world, my dear friend, and I don't want the best school in Scotland to be spoiled for the lack of a little care--care bestowed upon it at the right moment. Your girls, counting the Lennoxes, make fifteen. Altogether in the school you have therefore twenty-three children. How many teachers, pray?'

Mrs Macintyre was never known to be angry, but she felt almost inclined to be so now. She mentioned the number of her tutors, her foreign governesses, and her English teachers--the best-trained teachers from her own beloved Cheltenham.

'How many servants?' was Mrs Maclure's next query.

'Really, Jane, you are keeping me from my duties; but as you have come all the way from Edinburgh to question me so closely, I will confess that I have got ten indoor servants; that, of course, includes the housekeeper and a trained nurse in case of illness.'

'Dear, dear!' exclaimed Mrs Maclure. 'Prodigious! And then, I presume, you get special masters and mistresses from Glasgow and Edinburgh.'

'I certainly do. The school is a first-rate one.'

'My poor Elsie, it won't be first-rate long. You are taking all this enormous expense and trouble for twenty-three children. How many can your school hold?'

'My school could hold quite seventy pupils,' said Mrs Macintyre; 'but you must remember that it was only opened last Tuesday. Really, I greatly fear that I shall have to leave you, Jane. This is a half-holiday, and I have a special cla.s.s to attend to.'

'Let your special cla.s.s go. Listen to the words of wisdom. The fame of your school has spread to Edinburgh; it has been talked about; it has been commented on. It is for that reason, and that reason alone, that I have come here to-day. Put the boys into an annex, and provide them with the necessary teachers--men, of course, if possible. Keep the girls, and I'll engage to get you ten fresh pupils from Edinburgh early next week, twenty from London--that's thirty--and several more from Glasgow, also Liverpool, Manchester, and different parts of England; and when I say I _can_ engage to do this, and fill your school to the necessary number of seventy, I speak with confidence, _for I know_. The ladies are dying to send their la.s.sies to you, but the mixed school prohibits it. I have no wish or desire to stop the co-education of girls and boys, but to have those of the upper cla.s.ses mixing in the same boarding school won't go down in this country, Elsie Macintyre. No, it won't do. Now, let me think. You speak of five boys from the neighbourhood--who are their parents?'

'They are the sons of my dear friend Mrs Constable, whose husband, Major Constable, fell in the late war in South Africa.'

'And the eldest is fifteen?'

Yes.'

'Where does Mrs Constable live?'

'A very short way from here, at a place called The Paddock.'

'And you think well of the woman?'

'Cecilia Constable! She is delightful. Why, the dear soul has sent her boys to my school, and comes here herself daily to undertake kindergarten work in order to help her to pay the expenses of her children.'

'Bravo!' said Mrs Maclure. 'Why, of course, she can take them all. Is her house a good size? Has it a respectable appearance?'

'It is a beautiful house, the home of a true lady.'

'So much the better. The thing is as right as rain. Is she here now?'

'Yes, and very busy.'

'I must see her. I cannot lose this golden chance for you, Elsie. Her own five sons, and Master Henry de Courcy Anstel, Roger Carden, and Ivor Chetwode, shall all move to The Paddock on Monday next. She will, of course, be the head of the house, and tutors will be provided for the instruction of the boys. I can a.s.sure you, Elsie, that neither I nor my friends will have the least objection to your girls and her boys playing games together and meeting at each other's homes. And now I think I have done you a good turn. I have saved Ards.h.i.+el from ruin, and The Paddock, or, if you prefer it, the Annex, will hold the boys, old or young, who may wish to go there. Please send Mrs Constable to see me, for I must immediately communicate with my friends. Ards.h.i.+el will be packed by this day week, if Mrs Constable proves satisfactory.'

'Well, really, I don't know what to think,' said Mrs Macintyre.

'Perhaps you are right, and I know dear Cecilia would like to have her boys back with her again. I 'll send her to you.'

n.o.body could look into the gentle, gray eyes of Cecilia Constable without feeling an instinctive trust in her, which was quickly, very quickly, to ripen into love. All those who knew her loved her, for she was made for love and self-sacrifice. Forgetting herself, she thought ever and always of others; and when, in her quiet, Quaker-like dress, she entered the room, Mrs Maclure said, under her breath, 'Good gracious, what a beautiful creature! How admirably she will manage the Annex!'

It was not likely that Mrs Constable had parted with her five boys with any sense of joy, and it was not lightly that she had undertaken the duties of kindergarten mistress at Ards.h.i.+el; but right to her was right, and it seemed the only way to pay expenses. As Mrs Maclure unfolded her scheme the gray eyes grew bright and the lips trembled.

'But does Mrs Macintyre consent?' she said at last. 'Your proposal truly amazes me; but, oh, am I worthy?'

'I feel you _are worthy_. Mrs Macintyre was loath at first to lose the boys, but the lads cannot stay in a mixed school. If you agree, you have only to say the word, and your sons will return to you. But please understand that they must look on you as their _mother, not_ as their teacher. The Reverend James Cadell of the neighbouring parish will come to you every morning to instruct them in Latin and Greek. I will get other teachers for you from Mrs Macintyre's, and there is no earthly reason for keeping the boys and the girls apart. Only I protest that they shall not live in the same school. Why, now, there's Alan Anderson, and there's Davie Maclure, my own first cousin. Alan Anderson and Davie can live in the house, and Mr Cadell will come over every morning. He 'll ride his bicycle and be with you in good time.

If you know of anything better, which I doubt, you have but to say the word. Now, then, I have my motor-car at the door. We 'll drive right away to The Paddock and see the rooms for the lads and teachers. Don't you fear, my dear; I'll help you with your Annex as heartily as I'll help Elsie Macintyre with her great school.'

'I must go and ask Mrs Macintyre's leave,' said Mrs Constable. 'This sounds like a wonderful and delightful dream.'

'My only dread,' thought Mrs Maclure to herself whilst waiting for Mrs Constable to join her, 'is that that good man, James Cadell, will lose his heart to her. I must give her a word of warning. He is a bit susceptible, and she's a rare and beautiful woman.'

On their way to The Paddock Mrs Maclure did impart her fears to Mrs Constable, but that dear lady's sweetest and gravest of eyes looked at her so reproachfully that she felt sorry she had spoken, and only pressed her hand.

The Paddock was large and roomy, and all arrangements for the Annex school could quickly be made. The boys were to be informed that they were not going home, but to an adjacent school; only the school was to be, for five of them, _mother's house_. Oh, was not that delightful?

So it came about that the Annex was established, and Cecilia Constable knelt down and thanked G.o.d most earnestly for His great mercies. Oh, how more than happy she would be once again! Now there was only one little black sheep to be put right. Poor, lonely, p.r.i.c.kly Holly! She would see to it that the child entered Ards.h.i.+el, when her boys and the three strange boys left the Palace of the Kings.

CHAPTER X.

A MISERABLE GIRL.

Whether or not Hollyhock took a chill on that night when she peeped in at the gay group at Ards.h.i.+el can never be quite established, but certain it is that when her four sisters--those beloved and yet traitorous sisters--rushed wildly back to The Garden on the following Sat.u.r.day afternoon, they found Hollyhock lying in bed, perhaps cross, perhaps ill; anyhow, to all appearance, quite indifferent to their presence.

Jasmine stood and stared at her sister in amazement. So also did Gentian and Rose and Delphinium. What could be the matter with their flower maid, their darling?

On their return home they were greeted by the information that the master was away on business, and that Miss Hollyhock was upstairs.

'In bed, I take it,' said old Duncan. 'It seems a pity for her not to be down to greet ye, my dearies, but I do declare I canna make out what ails her. She's poorly, the dear la.s.s; but she 'll no say that she's ill.'

'But where is father, Duncan?' asked Jasmine in a dazed sort of voice.

'Oh, the maister! He is weel enough, but he is that taken up wi' the work o' Lord Ian Douglas that he canna gie much time to his lonesome child. You must get her to school, Miss Jasmine; you must get her to school, Miss Gentian.'

'Of course we must, Duncan,' said Jasmine; 'and, oh! it is a right splendid school.'

'I'm thinkin' that mysel',' said Duncan, 'for Magsie, she came ower one nicht and declared that there was not the like o' Ards.h.i.+el in the length and breadth o' bonnie Scotland. But dear, dear, I was like to forget. The maister, guid man, gave me a letter which he wrote this mornin' to you, Miss Jasmine, and you was to have it at once.'

'Thank you, Duncan. I 'll take the letter and go at once to Hollyhock.'

The letter in question was read by all four girls at once, and was simply to the effect that the young Precious Stones would dine with them on the morrow, as well as Master Ivor Chetwode. In fact, Mr Lennox had already written a letter to Mrs Macintyre, acquainting her with his desire.

'Then that's all right,' said Jasmine. 'Dad did get my letter. I was a bit surprised at his being so long in answering it. Well, we 'll go to Hollyhock now. Poor Ivor would have been terribly disappointed if he had been left out of The Garden treat.'

While this conversation was taking place Hollyhock was listening intently from her small bed. She would not for the world let the girls think that she missed school, and the only chance of keeping up this deception was by retiring to bed and feigning illness. Not that she felt _quite_ well; she was altogether too lonely and miserable for that. She had not a book to read; she had not a thing to do. The dogs were off with their master, and she had hardly even an animal to speak to, with the exception of the kitchen cat, which came up and lay on her bed, until she shooed her off with quick, angry words.