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 cours