Hollyhock: A Spirit of Mischief

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;Ae fareweel, and then for ever!Deep in heart-wrung tears I 'll pledge thee,Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.Had we never loved sae kindly!Had we never loved sae blindly!Never met – or never parted,We had ne'er been broken-hearted.Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest!Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest!Thine be ilka joy and treasure,Peace, enjoyment, love, and pleasure.

This pathetic song was immediately followed by the well-known strains of 'Bonie Lesley:'

O saw ye bonie Lesley,As she gaed o'er the Border!She's gane, like Alexander,To spread her conquests farther!To see her is to love her,And love but her for ever;For Nature made her what she is,And never made anither!Return again, fair Lesley,Return to Caledonie!That we may brag we hae a lassThere's nane again sae bonie!

'Come, children,' said Mrs Constable, 'we 'll not have any more Scots songs at present. Some of us are not Scots, remember. I now propose a really good game of charades. Who is agreed?'

All went well, and better than well, and even Jasmine forgot her undefined fears, until a little past ten o'clock, when a wild-looking, half-scared girl rushed in and said, 'Oh, the poor thing – the poor thing – and I meant no harm – I did not, really!'

'What is the matter?' said Mr Lennox.

'I am called Margaret Drummond, and there's such an awful to-do at the Palace of the Kings that I 'm afraid to go back there!'

'But what have you to do with it? What can be wrong?' said Lennox.

'Oh, I had a great deal to do with it; but, please, I 'd rather not say, for the one I speak of bade me not to say. Oh, but there is a fuss! It's poor Leucha. She's screaming and crying, and nothing will help her. The doctor has been there, but he can't quiet her a bit. She clings to Hollyhock and says, "Save me from the ghost; save me from the ghost!" And the doctor says that if she is not quieted, she may get really bad before the morning.'

'Father,' said Jasmine suddenly, 'I know Margaret Drummond well, and she's a fine girl; and if you'll allow me, I 'll go straight back with her to the Palace of the Kings.'

'But why should you, my love? Our Hollyhock has had nothing to do with this!'

'Nothing; less than nothing,' muttered Margaret Drummond.

'She could not have had, for this girl, Leucha, or some such name, is clinging to her. But still, if you wish to go, Jasmine, and think that you can do any good, start away at once, my lass. You can come back to-morrow morning.'

So Jasmine went with Margaret, who looked really sick with terror, and clung to her companion as Leucha had clung to Hollyhock.

'There now, there now, we'll soon put things right,' said Jasmine. 'It's an awful pity that you don't tell the truth, Meg!'

'I do tell the truth – I do. I cannot go back on my word.'

'Well, then, you must leave the matter to me. The only thing I can do is to soothe Leucha as best I can; while you must walk boldly into the house. It's your bed-hour and past it, isn't it?'

'Yes, yes; but I have no heart to eat or to sleep.'

'Well, you go straight up to your room, Meg, and get into bed as fast as you can, and I 'll bring you up something. If you have sworn secrecy you must keep it; but whatever happens, don't be frightened. Leucha is very weak of nerve, and has been feeling our desertion most cruelly, I 'm thinking.'

'Not a bit of it,' said Meg. 'She's a perfectly horrid girl. Even Daisy has left her now!'

'Dear, dear, poor thing!' said Jasmine. 'Then she must be lonely!'

'She is, I have no doubt; but she has got our Hollyhock with her now.'

'That is altogether too remarkable,' said Jasmine. 'I fear I shall have to look into the mystery. But get you to bed, Meg. Don't appear at all. I 'll see that some supper reaches you soon. In the meantime I must attend to Leuchy and her new nurse, Hollyhock! My word! Hollyhock turned into a nurse!'

Accordingly, the two girls entered the great hall, which was empty except for one or two teachers, who were still sitting up with anxious expressions on their faces.

Meg took the opportunity to fly to her room, where presently a great bowl of Scots gruel was brought to her. She had long ere now carefully removed the last traces of the ghostie. There was no sign of the ghost about this commonplace girl any longer. She was glad to get her gruel, and tumbled into bed, trusting that Jasmine, who was so wise and clever, would put wrong right. But, alas for Margaret Drummond! wrong is seldom put right in this world of ours without pain, and although she slept soundly that night, her task of confession lay before her on the following morning.

Jasmine, entering the house, went boldly up to her sister's room, which she found empty. She then, without knocking, opened the door of Leucha's bedroom. Leucha was supported in bed by Hollyhock, who was feeding her with morsels of choice and nourishing food, and was talking to her in the gentlest and most soothing way.

'Who is that?' said Leucha in an angry tone.

Hollyhock looked annoyed for a moment, but then the irrepressible fun in her nature sparkled in her bold, black eyes. She sat in such a position that the pale-eyed Leucha was resting against her shoulder. Her soft hands were gently soothing Leucha's long, thin hair, and she kept on saying, 'Whist, lassie; whist! He did a daring thing, but he 'll never do it again to you, my bonnie bit of London town.'

'Are you sure, Hollyhock? Are you certain he won't come back?'

'Haven't I dried his hair and sent him to his rest in the bottom of the lake, and didn't I tell him not to dare to speak to a lady again who was not Scottish born and bred? He was frightened, was the poor ghost, and he went away so humble. He would not go without my drying his hair. No, no, you have nothing to fear!'

'Oh Hollyhock, I hated you so much; but I love you now. I do really. Couldn't you sleep in the bed with me?'

'To be sure, my lassie; and whyever not? You got a nasty stroke of a fright; but he 'll come no more. I wish with all my heart I could put a bit of flesh on his skeleton hands and skeleton face. I do pity him so much, so lonesome he is and so sad. But he won't trouble you any more, my little lass, and I 'll sleep beside you this night.'

'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 circumstances 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 cocked 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 assured 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 passionate 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 lassie.'

'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 lassie,' 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.'

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, lassie. 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 sayI 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' MurrayWas 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 ladyLook owre the Castle downe,Ere she see the Earl o' MurrayCome 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 mountainsAnd over the waves,Under the fountainsAnd 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 compassion 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 lass, 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 noble on her part; but she was also troubled by something else, which was neither virtuous nor noble. 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 Saturday. 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 succumbed, as they ever did, to bonnie Hollyhock.