ad a pale face and seemed chilled to the bone.

'Did you leave your fire burning well, Leucha, my hearty?' inquired
Hollyhock.

Leucha, of course, refused to reply. She sat looking down at her
plate, hardly eating the good things before her, but making up her mind
to punish that horrible _Jack_, even if she herself died in the effort.

'Couldn't you find a small hut by the burnside; couldn't you now?'
continued Hollyhock in a coaxing tone. 'The Summer Parlour's grate is
hard to light up--it has an artful way with it--but a small _hut_ now,
with you sitting by the fire, could be easily managed. I 'd bring you
some faggots, if you said the word.'

'No, thank you. I don't choose you to help me in any way.'

'All right! I 'm not wanting to,' said Hollyhock. 'I'm very happy
without you, my Lady Leucha.'

'Girls,' said one of the English mistresses, who felt quite certain
there was mischief ahead, 'I think you ought to take your tea, and be
quick about it. You will lose your recreation afterwards if you stop
to wrangle.'

'What's wrangle, Miss Kent, dear?' asked Hollyhock in her sweetest
tones. 'I like well to hear your pure English words. We Scots talk
very differently, no doubt, but we are always willing to learn. So,
please, what's wrangle? And will you pass me a fresh scone, Miss Kent,
dear, for my appetite is far more than ordinary?'

'Vulgar little glutton,' muttered Leucha to Dorothy Fraser.

'She really _is_ attractive, all the same,' answered Dorothy.

'Oh Dolly, you are not going round to her? That _would_ be the final
straw.'

'No, I 'm not, of course; but I can't help admiring her funny ways and
her beautiful, noble sort of face.'

'Noble!' cried Lady Leucha.

'Yes, it is noble, although it is full of mischief too. You could have
had her as a _great_ friend, Leucha, and that girl is worth making a
friend of. I never saw her like before. She really haunts me.'

'What haunts you, lassie?' cried Hollyhock. 'Is it my eyes so black,
or my cheeks so rosy-red, or my hair so curly, and black as the
blackest night? I 'm at your service. I'm willing to forgive and
forget this blessed minute if you'll all hold out the paws of
forgiveness.'

Both Dorothy and Barbara longed to do so, but Lady Leucha put the final
extinguisher on their hopes by saying, 'No, never! Why, you are not
even a lady!'

'Let's eat,' said Hollyhock. 'I waved the flag of peace, as the great
Ardshiel did once; but