Thus the circle began to grow very large, and the hushed, dramatic voice of the narrator caused her listeners to hold their breath, until occasionally they burst into fits of hearty laughter. But the hour had come. The bowls of bread-and-milk smoked on the sideboard, and all the girls hurried to begin and finish their food. After supper they went to say good-night to Mrs Macintyre, who prayed G.o.d to bless them and give them all "a good and peaceful night." Then, accompanied by Miss Kent, whose office it was to see them to their rooms, they went upstairs.
Leucha had slightly recovered her spirits, but not absolutely. As a matter of fact, she was wild with jealousy. She had sat by the fire with Dorothy and Barbara Fraser and Daisy Watson, but all the other girls had gone over to the large circle, where the voice was so mysterious and the eyes of the speaker so bright. In their heart of hearts, the daughters of the Marquis of Killin were keenly anxious to leave their dull friend Leucha, and join the merry, excited group at the other end of the room. This, however, they dared not do, for their mother would not have wished them to desert Leucha.
"Well, I"m glad this day is over," exclaimed that young lady, as she reached her bedroom. "I shall be glad to get between the sheets and forget that horrid, noisy Jack."
"Ah, will you just?" thought Hollyhock, who overheard the word as she turned into her own snug apartment. Her heart was beating hard and fast. She was waiting for the _denouement_.
Lady Barbara and Lady Dorothy Fraser bade Leucha good-night, and went much farther along the corridor.
Leucha entered her room and turned on the light. The moment she did this she began to sniff. What queer noise was this in the room? Was there a clock anywhere, and had it gone wrong? She looked around her and sniffed again.
Hollyhock, prepared for all events, kept her door a little ajar, and wee Jean, being slightly, very slightly, disturbed by the noise in the room and the light which penetrated faintly under her eider-down quilt, purred in a louder and more satisfied manner than ever. She thought she might rise a trifle and begin to lap her cream.
"What _can_ be the matter?" said Lady Leucha. This sharp and angry tone slightly startled the kitchen cat, who raised herself slowly, making a great heave as she did so of her own body and of the eiderdown. The cream was close to her. The cream was sweet and luscious; the cream would suit her to perfection.
Lap, lap, lap, went her little tongue. In a fury--a blind fury--Leucha rushed to her bed, tore aside the eider-down, and tried to catch the wicked cat in order to fling her out of the window; but Hollyhock stood in the room.
"Don"t," she said. "Poor beastie! I put her there for fun--for a bit of a lark. I"ll take her now. Don"t you _touch_ my cat, or I "ll be at you. I "m sorry she has spilt the cream, but it hasn"t had time to get through to the blankets.--Here, come along, my pretty dear; come, my angel Jean; you shall sleep along with your own mistress.--See, Leuchy, the cream hasn"t had time to get to the blankets, and it hasn"t touched the eider-down. I"ll just whip off this white covering. Now you see for yourself that you mustn"t meddle with me. Best not. I "m all fire, I am; I "m all glow, I am; I "m all spirit, I am. There "s no harm done, but would you like to hold the little cat while I remove the sheet? Then you "ll be as tidy as possible, and you "d best get to bed, Leuchy. I "ll undress you after I have settled my cat. Here, hold the small thing for a minute while I straighten things up."
But Leucha, who at first was speechless with horror, now raised her voice to a mighty roar of indignation.
"How dare you? How dare you? You wicked, ugly little girl! I can"t abide the sight of you! And to put a cat in my bed--a cat and cream, forsooth! You don"t get out of this sc.r.a.pe so easily as you think, Miss _Jack_. I "m going down this minute to speak to Mrs Macintyre."
"All right," said Holly. "I think you might do worse. I was willing to be friends with you, but you wouldn"t have it, so now I "m t" other way round, and I "m thinking that I "ll carry most of the la.s.sies with me. But go, Leuchy. I meant to vex you, and I "m not denying it. I would have been different, but your haughty spirit forbade it; so now I "m your chosen enemy, and you "ll have to fight me along with those in the school who like me better than you."
But Leucha"s fury had risen to its height. She dashed up to Hollyhock and gave her a resounding smack on her right cheek. Hollyhock was holding the cat, who, in the struggle, gave Leucha a savage scratch on the hand, that lily-white hand of which she was so proud. It was a great scratch going right across the back of the hand. In a moment Leucha had fled from the room to seek Mrs Macintyre. Hollyhock flew into her own chamber, put wee Jean carefully and tenderly into the basket in which she had brought her from The Garden, stroked her for a minute to cause her to purr again, cut a hole or two in the lid of the basket to give the poor beast air, and then shoved cat and basket under her bed.
Instantly she returned to Leucha"s room, took off the injured white covering, shoved it into the soiled clothes-basket, turned down the sheets, made the room look perfectly nice and tidy, removed the saucer, which she carried into her own room and hid, also under the bed.
She then sat and waited for events. They were not long in coming.
Leucha"s anger was something prodigious. She forgot all about the really frightful smack she had given Hollyhock on her rosy cheek. She thought of nothing but her own indignities--the indignities committed against an earl"s daughter by a common Scots girl.
She found Mrs Macintyre in her study. The good lady looked up in amazement when the girl burst in.
"My dear Leucha, whatever _is_ the matter? Why are you not in bed?"
"In bed, Mrs Macintyre! Is it likely that I should be in bed when a nasty, mean Scotch girl puts a horrid, common cat into it, and also a great saucer of cream, which the cat spilt, injuring my favourite edition of the works of Charles d.i.c.kens, which was given me by my father on my last birthday? Will you kindly, Mrs Macintyre, _expel_ that girl in the morning?"
"Oh, my dear, I suppose you are alluding to Hollyhock?"
"I "m not; I "m alluding to ugly Jack Lennox, beneath me in station, beneath me in manners, beneath me in everything!"
"Well, as to that," said Mrs Macintyre, "I"m sorry you are annoyed, Leucha, but another girl would take the matter as a good joke, and win the friendship of Hollyhock by overlooking the whole affair."
"I"m not that sort. I"m the daughter of the Earl of Crossways, and she--she is nothing but a mischievous cad. She "ll ruin your school, of course, Mrs Macintyre."
"I don"t think so, my dear. I"m delighted to have her. As she has annoyed you, and you wish it, I _must_ punish her, of course; but whatever I do, I shall destroy neither her beauty nor her high rank."
"Her high rank, forsooth! What next?"
"Yes; her father is the Honourable George Lennox, whose wife was a Cameron, a near relative of the Duke of Ardshiel. I don"t think there is much difference between you in blood, Leucha, except the other way round. We think a great deal indeed of the Duke in our region."
Leucha felt slightly stunned and more angry than ever. She knew well, too well, that the Earl of Crossways was only the second earl of his house, and that she had better not talk quite so loudly about her grand lineage.
"Do you _wish_ me to punish Hollyhock?" said Mrs Macintyre, fixing her grave, gentle eyes on the angry girl"s face.
"Yes, of course I do--of course I do. Look at my hand!"
"Oh, the poor cat has scratched it. I "m sorry. I shall send Miss Kent to you presently with a little cold cream to rub on it. You had better keep it bandaged to-night, and it will be quite well to-morrow.
You must have frightened the cat or she would not have treated you like that."
Leucha said nothing. She did not mention the fact that she had smacked the cat"s mistress.
"I wish that young person, whatever her rank, to be punished," she said.
"Very well, my dear Leucha, come with me at once. I have now got to hear _her_ side of the story."
"But surely you believe me?"
"In a school like this, Leucha, I like to hear both sides. Whatever happens among my girls, I must be impartial. Now come, for it is getting late, and I myself must retire."
They went first of all into Leucha"s room, which looked perfectly snug and comfortable, all trace of the cat having been removed.
"I see nothing wrong here," said Mrs Macintyre.
"She is too cute; she has hidden everything," said Leucha.
"Well, we "ll go to her room. Her room is next to yours. I thought, being contrasts, you would be such friends."
Leucha shrugged her shoulders contemptuously, then waited with a furiously beating heart while Mrs Macintyre knocked at Holly"s door.
"May I come in, my dear child?" she said gently.
"Yes." Hollyhock flew to the door and flung it open. "Yes, please do, dear Mrs Macintyre. I know I am a bold, bad girl.--Come in, Leuchy; I don"t mind you a bit."
"But how swollen your cheek is, my child!" said the head-mistress.
"Oh, that"s less than nothing. Poor little Jean is sleeping under my bed, and if we talk too loud we may disturb her. I did it for mischief. I "m not going to deny it. I wanted to be friends with Leuchy, but she would not have it; so then the soul of mischief got into me, and I ran home to The Garden and fetched the cat, and put her into Leuchy"s bed. Oh! I know it was wrong of me. I "m a bad Scots la.s.sie. But I love you, and I love the school, if only Leuchy there would be friendly."
"Which I have no intention of being," said Leucha. "You see for yourself, Mrs Macintyre, she denies nothing. She ran away without leave to fetch that odious cat and put it in my bed."
"How did her cheek get so swollen?" said Mrs Macintyre.
"Ah, well, we won"t talk of that," said Hollyhock. "Girls that dare must also endure. I "m sorry Leuchy was so vexed and wouldn"t make it up."
"You are going to punish her, Mrs Macintyre," said Leucha, "are you not?"
"Yes, Leucha; but I "m going to punish you too.-- Hollyhock, my darling, you did wrong, and this your first day at school, too. The punishment I am going to give you I "m afraid you will feel. You may take the kitchen cat back yourself to The Garden in the morning. You had better start early, so as to be here again in time for breakfast, and then you can tell your father that you will not return with your sisters to The Garden on Sat.u.r.day. I am sorry, my love; but order must be maintained in the school. As to Leucha here, the story of the cat will, I am sure, be known all over the school immediately; and Leucha, when she shows her wounded hand, will have to explain _how_ she got it--by slapping _you_ so violently on the cheek, thus rousing the temper of the faithful cat. I shall insist on her publicly telling what I know she did. Now, both girls, take your punishments like gentlewomen and don"t make a fuss. Good-night, good-night! I "ll send Miss Kent to put a lotion on your cheek, Hollyhock, and to bind up your hand, Leucha. Good-night! After prayers to-morrow the story of the cat will be told, with, alas! Leucha"s sad lack of forgiveness."