Hollyhock Part 25

'Who is that coming into the room?' said Leucha, as Jasmine appeared on the scene.

'I've heard a great talk about a ghost,' said Jasmine.

'Well,' cried Hollyhock, 'we had better drop the subject. The poor thing is so frightened, she doesn't know what she's doing. I feel, somehow, my whole heart drawn out to her. Leave her to me, for goodness' sake, Jasmine. I'm just quieting her off. She's too excited to talk about the ghost any more to-night.'

'I 've seen the ghost--the real ghost,' said Leucha, looking with hollow eyes at Jasmine. 'He does walk, and he's very tall, and has skeleton hands and a skeleton face; and he asked me--_me_--to dry his wet hair!'

'Oh, do leave us alone now!' said Hollyhock. 'Am I not trying to quieten her down, and you disturb everything?'

'I must speak to you, Hollyhock; I really must.'

'No, no; you mustn't leave me for a minute!' cried Leucha. 'You are the only one with courage in the school. I 'd go mad if you were to leave me now.'

'I'll talk to you in the morning,' said Hollyhock. 'I cannot leave her; see for yourself how excited she is.'

Jasmine certainly saw that Leucha was terribly excited, that she had got a fearful shock; and although _she_ could put Leucha's mind at rest, on the other hand, Hollyhock, for the time, had won her round.

Hollyhock, the soul of mischief, whom Leucha had so openly defied, was now her one support, her sole comfort. Jasmine made up her mind with some reluctance to let the matter lie over until the morning; then, of course, it must be told, and by Hollyhock herself. She felt sorry; for this mischievous little sister had won the coldest heart of the coldest girl in the school, and if justice was not done, she would cling to Hollyhock for ever. Was it necessary that justice should be done?

Jasmine went slowly away to her own room, determined to think matters over very gravely, wondering if she would do a wise thing, after all, in declaring Hollyhock's guilt.

'What a girlie she is!' thought the sister. 'There never was her equal. She really has achieved a marvellous victory; but, oh, it was naughty; it was wrong! I do wonder what I ought to do!'

CHAPTER XIX.

JASMINE'S RESOLVE.

The whole circ.u.mstances of the case kept Jasmine wide awake during the greater part of the night. She slept and woke again, and each time she slept she saw a picture of her naughty sister Hollyhock and of that unpleasant girl, Leucha Villiers, clinging together as though they were, and always would be, the very greatest of friends.

Now Leucha, in her way, was quite as troublesome an inmate of the school as was Hollyhock; but whereas Hollyhock was the life and darling of the school, Leucha, the uninteresting, the lonely, the proud, the defiant, the cold, cold English girl, chose to be alone with the single exception of a friend, who was as uninteresting as herself.

Hollyhock, in the most extraordinary--yes, there is no doubt of it--in the most _naughty_ way, had brought Leucha round to her side. But if Leucha were told the truth that a hoax had been played upon her, that there was no real ghost, then indeed her wrath would burn fiercely; and, in fact, to put it briefly, there would start in the school a profound feud. Several of the girls, more especially the English girls, would go over to Leucha's side. Yes, without the slightest doubt, a great deal of mischief would be done if she were told. Poor little Jasmine had never before been confronted by so great a problem.

Hitherto in her sweet, pure life right had been right and wrong wrong; but now what was right?--what _was_ wrong?

She turned restlessly and feverishly on her pillow, and got up very early in the morning, hoping to have a quiet talk first with Hollyhock, then with Margaret Drummond. She was not particularly concerned about Margaret, who naturally followed the lead of a strong character like Hollyhock's. Nevertheless, she had left her the night before in such stress of mind that whatever happened, whatever course they pursued, she must be soothed and comforted.

Jasmine was relieved to find Hollyhock standing outside Leucha's door.

Hollyhock looked quite wild and anxious.

'Oh, but it's I that have had an awful night, Jasmine!' she exclaimed.

'She has gone off into a sleep now, poor thing; but I never, never did think that she would take this matter so to heart. We mustn't tell her, Jasmine. It would kill her if she knew.'

'But, Holly, you really are incorrigible. How am I to go on in the school if you play these terrible pranks?'

'It's the mischief in me joined to a bit o' the de'il,' retorted Hollyhock. 'But she must _never_ know--never. I have been up with her the whole night, and she has just dropped off into slumber. I must go back to her immediately. You won't tell, Jasmine darling? It would do her a cruel wrong. I have brought her round to me at last, the poor, ugly thing; but if she was to learn--to learn! Oh Jasmine, it would be just too awful!'

'Well,' said Jasmine, 'I do not see how we are to keep it from her; but you have certainly won her in a most remarkable way. You must promise me, Holly darling, that you 'll never play such a wicked prank again.'

'Never--never to _her_, poor Leuchy! I can make no further promises, being chock-full of mischief as an egg is full of meat.'

'Well, I 'll allow it to remain as it is at present. I doubt if I 'm doing right; and I doubt if it can be kept from her, for so many girls in the school know.'

'Oh, I 'll manage the girls. You leave them to me, Jasmine, and go back to The Garden.'

'It father knew what you had done he would not allow you back to The Garden until the end of term,' replied Jasmine.

'What! when I have won the bit speck of a heart of the coldest girl in the school?'

'Well, at any rate, we will let things be at present; but I must go up and speak to Margaret Drummond. She is fretting like anything about the whole affair.'

'Meg,' said Hollyhock in a tone of contempt--'let her fret; only tell her from me to keep her tongue from wagging. Why, she was cut out for a ghostie, so thin and tall she is. I had only to use a wee bit of chalk and a trifle of charcoal, and the deed was done. A more beautiful live ghost could not be seen than Meg Drummond. She did look a fearsome thing. I have put the old cloak and the Cameron's c.o.c.ked hat in a wee oak trunk in the ghost's hut. Here is the key of the trunk, Jasmine. You run along and lock it. Now run, run, for I hear Leucha twisting and turning in her sleep. I must get back to her. You manage Meg, and lock the trunk, and we are all right--that we are.'

Jasmine felt, on the contrary, that they were all wrong; but, overcome by Hollyhock's superior strength, she obeyed her young, wild sister to the letter. She found, however, that her task with Meg Drummond was no easy one. Meg had a very sensitive conscience, and now that the fun was over, and she was no longer acting as poor ghost with his dripping locks, she felt truly horrified at what she had done. The only road to peace was by confession. Of course she would confess and put things all right; there was nothing else to be done. Nevertheless, after a vast amount of arguing on the part of Jasmine, who a.s.sured her that if she told the simple truth _now_, Leucha might and probably would become most alarmingly ill, and that she would certainly hate poor Hollyhock to her dying day--for Jasmine well grasped the true character of the English girl--Meg began to waver.

'Still, I _ought_ to confess,' said Margaret Drummond. 'I 'm willing to accept any punishment Mrs Macintyre chooses to put upon me.'

'Oh, dear Meg,' exclaimed Jasmine, 'I've been thinking the matter over all night--backwards and forwards have I been twisting it in my mind--and though I do think you did wrong, and Holly did _worse_ than wrong, yet she has achieved a wonderful victory. She has secured for herself the pa.s.sionate love of the coldest and most uninteresting girl in the school.'

'I do not care for that,' said Margaret. 'She's just nothing at all to me; and I did wrong, and I ought to confess, for the good of my soul.'

'Oh, nonsense, Meg; don't be such a little Puritan. Leucha is far from well now, and the only person who can calm and control her is Holly.

If you take Holly away from her, which you will do by confession, you may possibly have to answer for Leucha's very life. Be sensible, Meg dear, and wait at any rate until I come back on Monday morning.'

'I 'll wait till then,' said Meg; 'but it's a mighty heavy burden, and Holly had no right to put it on to me, and then to act the part of comforter herself. My word! she is a queer la.s.sie.'

'Well, let things bide as they are till to-morrow at least,' said Jasmine. 'And now I _must_ go home or father will wonder what is the matter.'

Jasmine, having made up her mind that Leucha was not to be told, went with her usual Scots determination to work. She visited poor ghostie's trunk in the hut, and having secured from her favourite Magsie a large sheet of brown paper and some string, she not only locked the trunk, but took away all signs of the adventure of the night before. The bits of chalk, the sticks of black charcoal, the cloak, the pointed hat, the wig, were all removed. The hut looked as neglected as ever, and the trunk, empty of all tell-tale contents, had its key hung on a little hook on the wall.

Then Jasmine returned to The Garden, bearing ghostie's belongings with her. All this happened at so early an hour that Jasmine had time to put away the cloak of the Camerons, the peaked hat, the wet wig, into a certain cupboard where they were usually kept in one of the attics.

She then went downstairs, had a hot bath, put on her prettiest Sunday frock, and joined the others at breakfast. Of course, there were innumerable questions asked her with regard to her sudden departure the night before, and also with regard to the distracted-looking girl who had burst into their midst in the great hall in The Garden. But Jasmine, having made up her mind, made it up thoroughly.

'I did not expect it of a Scots girl,' she remarked, 'but I 'm thinking that all is right now, and we can enjoy our Sabbath rest without let or hindrance.'

Sunday was a day when Cecilia Constable and her brother brought up their children with a strictness unknown in England. Games and fairy tales were forbidden; but when kirk was over, they were all allowed to enjoy themselves in pleasant and friendly intercourse.

Meanwhile matters were not going well at the Palace of the Kings; for Leucha, never strong mentally, had got so serious a fright that she was now highly feverish, and neither the doctor nor Mrs Macintyre could make out what was the matter with her. The girls were requested to walk softly and whisper low. The house, by Dr Maguire's order, was kept very still, and Hollyhock took possession of the sickroom. There she nursed Leucha as only she could, soothing her, petting her, holding her hand, and acting, according to Dr Maguire, in the most marvellous manner.

'Never did I see such a la.s.sie,' was his remark. 'She has the gift of the real nurse in her.--But, Miss Hollyhock,' he continued, 'you must not be tied to this sickroom all day. I must 'phone to Edinburgh and get a nurse to attend to the young lady.'

'I 'll have no one but Hollyhock,' almost shrieked the distracted Leucha.

'Yes, doctor dear, I think you had best leave her to me. I 'm not a bit tired, and we understand one another.'

'I do believe this poor child has been up with her all night,' said Mrs Macintyre.

'And what if I have?' cried Holly. 'Is a friend worth anything it she can't give up her night's rest? I 'll stay with my friend. We understand one another.'