So Hollyhock had her way; and although the girls whispered mysteriously downstairs, and Meg Drummond looked ghastly and miserable, neither Mrs Macintyre nor any of the teachers had the slightest suspicion of what had really occurred.
Daisy Watson, it is true, ventured to peep into Leucha"s room; but the excited girl told her, with a wild shriek, to go away and never come near her again, and Hollyhock and Magsie managed Leucha between them.
Hollyhock was now the soul of calm. She coaxed the sick girl to sleep, and when she awoke she told her funny stories, which made her laugh; and she herself sat during the greater part of that day with her hand locked in the hot hand of Leucha. It was she who applied the soothing eau de Cologne and water to Leucha"s brow. It was she who swore to Leucha that their friendship was to be henceforth great and eternal.
On one of these occasions, when Hollyhock had to go downstairs to one of her meals, Leucha welcomed her back with beaming eyes.
"Oh Hollyhock, I used to hate you!"
"Don"t trouble, la.s.sie. You have taken another twist round the other way, I "m thinking."
"I have--I have. Oh Hollyhock, there never was anybody like you in the world!"
"I "m bad enough when I like," said Holly. "Shall I sing you a bit of a tune now? Would that comfort you?"
"I "m thinking of that awful ghost," said Leucha.
"Do not be silly, Leucha, my pet. Didn"t I tell you he will not try his hand again on an English girl? Now, then, I "m going to sing something so soothing, so soft, that you cannot, for a moment, but love to listen."
The rich contralto voice rose and fell. The girl in the bed lay motionless, absorbed, listening. This was sweet music indeed. Could she have believed it possible that Hollyhock could put such marvellous tenderness into her wonderful voice?
"Ye Hielands and ye Lowlands, Oh! where hae ye been!
They hae slain the Earl o" Murray, And hae laid him on the green.
"Now wae be to thee, Huntley, And whairfore did ye say I bade ye bring him wi" you, But forbid you him to slay!
"He was a braw gallant, And he rid at the ring, And the bonnie Earl o" Murray, Oh, he might hae been a king!
He was a braw gallant, And he played at the ba"; And the bonnie Earl o" Murray Was the flower amang them a"!
"He was a braw gallant, And he played at the gluve; And the bonnie Earl o" Murray, Oh, he was the Queen"s luve!
"Oh, lang will his lady Look owre the Castle downe, Ere she see the Earl o" Murray Come sounding thro" the town!"
Leucha"s eyes half closed, half opened, and she was soothed inexpressibly by the lovely voice. Hollyhock, holding her hand, continued:
"Oh, waly, waly up the bank, And waly, waly doun the brae, And waly, waly yon burnside, Where I and my luve were wont to gae!
"Oh, waly, waly, gin luve be bonnie, A little time while it is new!
And when "tis auld it waxeth cauld, And fades awa" like mornin" dew."
The voice was now so soft, so altogether enticing, that it seemed to the feverish girl as though angels were in the room. Hollyhock dropped her notes to a yet lower key:
"Over the mountains And over the waves, Under the fountains And under the graves; Under floods that are deepest, Which Neptune obey, Over rocks that are steepest, Love will find out the way!"
There was no sound at all in the room. The sick girl was sleeping gently, peacefully--the unhappy, miserable girl--for _love had found out the way_.
When the doctor came in the evening, he was amazed at the change for the better in his young patient. All the fever had left her, and she lay very calm and quiet. Hollyhock suggested that a little camp-bed should be put up in the room, in which she might sleep; and as her power over Leucha was so remarkable, this suggestion was at once acceded to both by Dr Maguire and Mrs Macintyre. They had been really anxious about the girl in the morning; but now, owing to Hollyhock"s wonderful management, Leucha slept all night long, the beautiful sleep of the weary and the happy.
Once in the middle of the night Hollyhock heard her murmur to herself, "Love will find out the way," and she stretched out her hand immediately, and touched that of Leucha, with a sort of divine compa.s.sion which was part of the instinct of this extraordinary child.
During the next few days Leucha was kept in bed and very quiet, and Hollyhock was excused lessons, being otherwise occupied. But a girl, a healthy girl, even though suffering from shock, quickly gets over it if properly managed, and by the middle of the week Leucha was allowed to go downstairs and sit in the ingle-nook, while the girls who had hitherto detested her crowded round to congratulate their beloved Hollyhock"s friend.
"Yes, she"s all that," said Hollyhock; "and now those who want me to talk with them and make myself agreeable must be friends with my dear Leuchy, for where I go, there goes Leuchy. Eh, but she"s a bonnie la.s.s, and she was treated cruel, first by our deserting her, and then by what will not be named. But she "s all right now.--You belong to me, Leuchy."
"That I do," replied Leucha; and so marvellously had love found out the way that the very expression of her unpleasant little face had completely altered. As Hollyhock"s friend, she was now admitted into the greatest secrets of the school; but the real secret of the ghost was still kept back.
CHAPTER XX.
MEG"S CONSCIENCE.
All went well for a time in the school, and all would have gone well for a much longer period had it not been for Meg Drummond. Meg did not mean to make mischief; but, alas! she was troubled by a conscience.
This she considered very virtuous and n.o.ble on her part; but she was also troubled by something else, which was neither virtuous nor n.o.ble.
She seemed jealous--frantically jealous--of Leucha Villiers.
Lady Crossways had spoken of her young daughter as "my cold, distinguished child, who never wears her heart on her sleeve." Lady Crossways was very proud of this trait in Leucha, and Leucha herself was proud of it, and treasured and fostered it until she came across Hollyhock. From the first she was attracted by Hollyhock--a queer sort of attraction, a mingling of love and jealous hate; but now it was all love, all devotion. As a matter of fact, she tried Hollyhock very much, following her about like the kitchen cat when she smelt cream, fawning upon her in a way which soon became repulsive to Hollyhock, refusing to have any other friend, and over and over again in the day kissing Hollyhock"s hands, her brow, her cheeks, her lips. All this sort of thing was pure torture to Hollyhock. But although she was terribly tried, she determined to go through with her mission, and hoped ere long to train Leucha into finer and grander ways. By their father"s permission, Leucha was invited to accompany the Flower Girls to The Garden on a certain Sat.u.r.day. The boys looked at her with undisguised disdain, and expressed openly their astonishment at Hollyhock"s taste; but when she begged of them to be good to the poor girlie, the Precious Stones succ.u.mbed, as they ever did, to bonnie Hollyhock.
The school had been open now for some time, and the full number of seventy was made up. Leucha was now so infatuated with Hollyhock that she no longer regretted her being the queen of the school. Hollyhock, for her part, held serious conversations with her sisters about the girl whom she had so strangely conquered.
"We must make a woman of her," said Hollyhock. "She is naught in life but a cringing kitchen cat at present, but it is our bounden duty to turn her into something better. How shall we set to work, la.s.sies?"
The Flower Girls considered. Jasmine inquired anxiously if Leucha was clever in any particular branch.
"No," said Hollyhock; "she could not even make a ghostie."
"Well, can we not pretend that she is clever?" said Gentian.
"That"s a good notion," exclaimed Hollyhock. "I have heard whispers that there are big prizes to be given in the school by the Duke to the girls that are best in different subjects. _We_ don"t want prizes, not we; but that little Leuchy, she "d be up to her eyes with joy if we were to set her trying for a prize. I "m thinking that Mrs Macintyre will declare the nature of the prizes very soon. After prayers to-morrow I "ll set Leuchy on to try for one. I "ll help her, if I can, privately. She has got what I have not, and that"s ambition. I can work on that; and, la.s.sies, it will be a great relief to me, for I hate--I _hate_ being purred on and kissed all day long. I must put up with it; but it"s trying, seeing my own nature is contrariwise to that."
The five girls talked a while of the coming prizes.
Leucha was now under the charge of Jasper, and they got on tolerably well, for Jasper would do anything in the world for Hollyhock, and as Hollyhock was the only love of Leucha"s life, she talked on no other subject whatsoever to the lad.
"Well," he exclaimed, "you surely don"t tell me that you kiss her--_kiss_ Holly!--and she so p.r.i.c.kly with thorns?"
"Indeed, I do, Jasper. She loves my kisses; she would not take them from any one else."
"Wonders will never cease," said Jasper. "I would not disgrace the bonnie dear by stupid old kisses."
"But you are a boy, Jasper. You "re quite different," said Leucha.
"Well, I"m thinking not so very. I"m first cousin to her, remember, which happens to be next door to brother. But there, let"s talk of something else. What mischief is the dear up to now?"