ill be. There now, what do you
think of that? I don't care who hears me. I 'm accustomed to ladies,
not to common little Scotch girls who tell lies.'

Jasmine was too gentle, too firm, too really noble to make any
response; but as she went out of the room she was followed by a crowd
of girls, a few of whom turned round and hissed at Leucha. The hisses
were very soft, but, at the same time, very distinct; and this was the
final straw in the wretched girl's misery.

As to Hollyhock, she was, greatly owing to Leucha's conduct, now the
ruling spirit in the school, not by any means as regards lessons, but
as regards what schoolgirls treasure so much, popularity and
good-fellowship. Even Barbara and Dorothy Fraser went boldly to her
side, and congratulated her on her self-restraint, and even apologised
for their cousin's unseemly conduct.

Hollyhock's fine eyes lit up with a great glow. 'I do not care,' she
said. 'Poor lassie! I pity her; I do, truly!'

'You are a wonderful girl, Hollyhock,' said Dorothy; 'and may my sister
and I join your circle to-night? And will you tell us some bogy tales?'

'I will that,' said Hollyhock.

'And here's a hand, my trusty frien's,
And gie's a hand o' thine.'

She sang the words, and they were taken up immediately by every girl in
the school, with the exception of Leucha and the miserable, depressed
Daisy. But Hollyhock knew that she had her punishment to undergo. Was
not her own mother a Cameron of the great race, and would she disgrace
herself by crying out and making a fuss? 'The de'il is in me all the
same,' she whispered under her breath; 'but he 'll not show his little
horns until the Flower Girls are back at The Garden.'

She was a passionate little poet, and she now sang softly under her
breath:

The height of my disdain shall be
To laugh at him, to blush for thee;
To love thee still, but go no more
A-begging at a beggar's door.'

Then she burst forth in her really glorious voice with such fervour
that every girl within reach heard her:

The meteor flag of England
Shall yet terrific burn,
Till danger's troubled night depart,
And the star of peace return.
Then, then, ye ocean-warriors!
Our song and feast shall flow
To the fame of your name,
When the storm has ceased to blow,
When the fiery fight is heard no more,
And the storm has ceased to blow!'

In spite of every effort, Hollyhock could not help putting a touch