Chapter 12. Under Protest

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_ CHAPTER XII. UNDER PROTEST

Whatever Hollyhock's feelings may have been, she went to school on the following Monday morning with a good grace. She was the sort of girl who, when once she put her hand to the plough, would not take it back again. She refused, however, to listen to any of the stories which Jasmine, Gentian, and the others longed and pined to tell her of the great school.

'I 'll find out for myself,' was her remark; and Mrs Constable advised the other girls to leave this obstinate lass alone as far as possible.

'Under protest!' exclaimed Jasmine.

'If you think it right,' said Gentian.

'Yes, Jasmine; yes, Gentian. I do know what is really best for our little maid. She will find her own way best in the school if she is not interfered with. If she is in any sort of trouble, then she will have her dear Flower sisters to go to.'

'I doubt it myself,' said Gentian. 'That's just what Hollyhock will not do. I know Holly; she's a queer fish. Rare courage has she; I 'm not fit to hold a candle to her myself.'

'Oh, you have plenty of courage of your own,' said Mrs Constable. 'You can wile every girl in the place, but don't interfere with Hollyhock.'

'Well, I 'm longing to be off to school,' said Jasmine, 'and I only trust Holly will like the dear spot as much as we do.'

'She 's certain sure to, girlies, if you don't tell her so. If you do, I won't answer for the consequences. She 'd love to scare you all. There now, my darlings, let her be, let her be.'

So the girls, who dearly loved Aunt Cecilia, and who thought a lot of her counsel, were induced to be judicious in the matter of Hollyhock, and to walk with her to Ardshiel as though it were an ordinary stroll they were taking.

Hollyhock was certainly a very handsome little girl. With the exception of Rose of the Garden, she was the only one of the young Lennoxes who was really dark. Her great deep black eyes were surrounded by thick black lashes. Her hair grew low on her brow and curled itself into little rings here, there, and everywhere. In addition, it was extremely long and thick, and, when not tied up with a ribbon, fell far below her waist. Hollyhock had pearly-white teeth, a very short upper lip, and a certain disdainful, never-may-care appearance, which was very fetching to most girls.

The hour for the reassembling of the girls at Ardshiel was nine o'clock, and Hollyhock, although her heart was beating furiously, showed not a scrap of nervousness, but gazed dauntlessly and with a fine defiance around her. Everywhere and in all directions she found eyes fixed on her--blue eyes, gray eyes, brown eyes, light eyes, dark eyes, the eyes of the pale-faced English, the glowing eyes of a few French girls; but she felt quite assured in her own heart that there was not one in that great group who could compare with herself. Hollyhock, or, in other words, Jacqueline Lennox.

She resolved quickly (and Hollyhock's resolutions, once formed, were hard to break) that she would be captain of this great school; she would lead, and the others would follow, no matter the colour of their eyes, no matter the complexions, no matter the thin, pale faces, or the fat, rosy faces. These things were all one to Hollyhock. She would compel these girls; they would follow her willy-nilly where she wished and where she dared to go. She knew well that she was not clever in book-learning, but she also knew well that she had the great gift of leadership; she would be the leader here. She rejoiced in the fact that all the girls were staring at her. She would go carefully to work and soon secure a band of followers, who would increase by-and-by, becoming extremely obstreperous and doing all sorts of naughty things, for Holly had no intention when at school to be good or to learn much. She went solely and entirely for her own happiness, because she preferred the girls with the blue, gray, and nondescript eyes to the kitchen cat, Jean, and to the great loneliness which had descended on The Garden.

Such a girl as Hollyhock could not but attract attention, and the Lady Barbara Fraser, Miss Agnes Featherstonhaugh, and many others became fascinated on the very first day. But Hollyhock, on that first day, was outwardly meek. She was good, except for her flashing eyes; she was good, except for the sudden and very queer smile which played round her pretty lips.

The other Flower Girls had been liked very much indeed, but they had not stirred a certain naughty spirit in the breasts of the girls. They honestly, all four of them, wanted to learn hard and to repay their beloved father for all the expense he was put to on their account; but Hollyhock's was a totally different nature. She had come to school to lead, and lead she would.

On the afternoon of the first day, Lady Leucha Villiers, who was a delicate, refined-looking girl, came up to Jasmine. 'Well, what queer changes have taken place in the school!'

'What do you mean exactly?' replied Jasmine.

'Why, all those nice boys have vanished like smoke.'

'No, they haven't. They are alive and well. They are being taught at the Annex. It has been considered best.'

Lady Leucha gave a sigh. 'I miss that dear Ivor,' she said, 'and I also miss your cousin Jasper and that little chap you call Opal; but what puzzles me most of all is the crowds and crowds of new girls who have arrived at the school, and the newest of them all is your sister.'

'Yes,' said Barbara Fraser, 'your sister, Jasmine, is very new and very remarkable. Whyever did she not come with the rest of you last week?'

'She did not wish it,' replied Jasmine. 'Girls, had we not better get our French ready for Mam'selle?'

'Oh, bother Mam'selle!' said Lady Leucha. 'I am interested in your sister. Fancy a girl not coming to school because she doesn't wish it.'

'Father never forces any of us,' said Jasmine in her sweet voice. 'Hollyhock began by disliking the school--I mean the idea of it--and she was a bit lonesome with no one to talk to her, so she came back with us this morning.'

'Hollyhock,' said Lady Leucha. 'A queer name!'

'Oh, it isn't her real name; it is her home name. Her real name is Jacqueline.'

'That's much prettier,' said Leucha Villiers. 'Do tell her to come and sit with us, Jasmine. I shall always call her Jack. I have taken a great fancy to her.'

'Well, you'd best keep your fancy to yourself,' said Jasmine, 'for no one will, and no one can, coerce Hollyhock.'

'Oh, she's not going to lord it over me,' said Lady Leucha. 'Am I not an earl's daughter?'

'That will have no effect on Hollyhock, I can assure you.'

'Won't it? We'll see. My father has got a glorious mansion, and we belong to the very greatest nobility in the whole of England. Our cousins, the Frasers, are the daughters of the Marquis of Killin. So you 'd better not put on airs before me, Jasmine. Oh Jasmine, I do love you; you are such a downright dear little thing. I 'm going to ask you up to Hans Place at Easter if daddy and mother will give me leave.'

'Thank you,' said Jasmine; but I couldn't afford to spend one minute away from The Garden.'

'How queer of you! You seem devoted to your home.'

'I'm Scots,' replied Jasmine; 'and to the Scots there are no people like the Scots.'

'Oh, do, do watch her!' suddenly exclaimed Lady Leucha. 'Barbara, do you see--Dorothy, do you see?--she's walking up and down on the terrace with that ugly Mary Barton and that nobody, Agnes Featherstonhaugh. Why, Nancy Greenfield and Jane Calvert are hopping round her just as though they were magpies on one leg.'

'Why should she not talk to those girls? They are very nice,' said Jasmine. 'But, Leucha, Barbara, and Dorothy, do you not think you had better prepare your French lessons? At least I must and will.'

Jasmine skipped away and was soon lost to view, but the Ladies Barbara, Dorothy, and Leucha found themselves alone--alone and somewhat slighted. Slighted, too, by those commonplace Scots girls! They, who were the daughters of a marquis and an earl! The thing was not to be endured!

Leucha whispered to her companions, and soon they got up and went out in a little group into the grounds. They saw black-eyed Hollyhock, surrounded by her adorers. She was talking in quite a gentle, subdued voice, and did not take the least notice of the marquis's and the earl's daughters. Never had Nancy Greenfield, Jane Calvert, Mary Barton, Agnes Featherstonhaugh, and last, but not least, Margaret Drummond felt so elated. Holly was talking in a very low, seductive voice. Her rich curls were tumbling about her face and far down her back. Her cheeks were like bright, soft fire, and the flash in her glorious black eyes it would be difficult to surpass.

'I say, Jack,' exclaimed Leucha.

----'And, girls, as I was telling you, that poor cat, wee Jean, she came and nestled on my bed'----

'I'm talking to you, Miss Lennox,' said Lady Leucha.

'Are you? I did not listen. You spoke to some one called Jack. That's a boy. I happen to be a girl.--Well, girls, let's proceed. I've such a jolly plan in my head. I 'm thinking--whisper--that young person must not hear.'

The whisper was to the effect that wee Jean was to be fetched from The Garden by Holly that very night and put comfortably into Lady Leucha's bed. A saucer of cream was to be placed in the said bed, and it was more than likely that bonnie Jean would spill it in her fright.

Lady Leucha, who knew nothing of this plan, said in a tone bristling with haughtiness, 'Some little Scotch girls can be very rude!'

'And some fair maids of England can be downright worse!' retorted Hollyhock.--'Come along, girls, let's go down this side-walk.'

Lady Leucha had never been spoken to in that tone before, but rudeness to a girl who had always been pampered made her desire all the stronger to win the fascinating Hollyhock to her side, and to deprive those common five, Agnes Featherstonhaugh, Mary Barton, Nancy Greenfield, Jane Calvert, and Margaret Drummond, of her company. Accordingly, accompanied by the two Frasers, she also went down the shady walk which led to the great lake. She began to talk in a high-pitched English voice of the delights of her home, the wealth of her parents, and the way in which the Marquis of Kilmarnock and his sons and daughters adored her.

Hollyhock heard each word, but her voice was no longer gentle. It was loud and a little penetrating. 'You would not dare to come out at night,' she said, looking at the devoted five.

'And whyever not?' asked Mary.

'You would not have the courage. It's here on moonlight nights that the ghost walks. He drips as he walks; and he's very tall and very strong, with a wild sort of light in his eyes, which are black and big and awful to see. He was drowned here in the lake on the night before his wedding. He's very unquiet, is that poor ghost! I do not mind him one little bit, being a sort of friend, almost a relative, of his. Many and many a night, when the moon is at the full, have I stood by the lake and said, "Come away, my laddie. Come, poor ghostie, and I 'll dry your wet hair." Poor fellow, he likes me to rub him dry.'

The daughters of the marquis and the earl were now quite silent, their silly little hearts filled with horror. They never guessed that Hollyhock was making up her story.

'You couldn't have done that,' said Jane Calvert.

'Whist, can't ye? I want to get those girls away, so as to talk about the kitchen cat.'

The girls in question certainly did go away. They did more; they went straight to Mrs Macintyre and asked her if the awful story was true. Mrs Macintyre, having never heard of it, declared emphatically that it was not true; but, somehow, neither Lady Leucha nor the Fraser girls quite believed her. There was such a ring of truth in Hollyhock's words; and had they not all heard, on that first happy evening at the school, the cry, so shrill, so piercing, 'The ghost! the ghost!'

They had tried not to think of it since, but Hollyhock seemed to confirm the weird words, and they began to wonder if they could stay long in this school, which, beautiful as it was, contained such an awful ghost--a ghost who required a little girl to dry his locks for him. Surely such a terrible thing could not happen! It was quite past belief. _

Read next: Chapter 13. The Summer Parlour

Read previous: Chapter 11. Soft And Low

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