Crossways'
daughter has no effect in a school which is the gift of the Duke of
Ardshiel; so don't fancy it. Act sensibly, as you cannot bring
yourself to forgive, and stay in your bedroom. I am not talking
nonsense when I predict that the nerves of the strongest will be tested
to-night.'

'I refuse. You can't turn me out,' said Leucha.

'Very well,' said Mrs Macintyre. 'I have put the case fully before
you, and can do no more.'

Leucha went back to her bedroom, where she really felt very troubled
and, as a matter of fact, terribly frightened. If Meg Drummond, acting
as the ghost, had nearly sent her into the other world, what effect
could not Hollyhock produce? And Hollyhock meant to produce an effect
unknown before in the great school.

Hollyhock was roused at last. Her forgiving nature had reached its
limit. She felt naughty and wilful, and with a spice, as she expressed
it, o' the de'il stirring in her breast. She was told by one of the
girls that Mrs Macintyre's intercession with Leucha had proved all in
vain, and she determined, therefore, to make poor ghostie more terrible
in appearance than he had ever been before. She rejoiced, in fact, in
her naughty little mind at the thought of Leucha insisting on being one
of the spectators, and resolved on no account whatsoever to spare her.

The charade was to take place immediately after light supper. The
great hall was arranged for the occasion. A stage was erected at the
farther end, in the darkest and most shadowy spot. Across the stage a
great curtain was drawn, and footlights had been secured to throw up
the antics of the different animals the twelve girls were to act. One
was the kitchen cat. Daisy was to be dressed exactly to fit the part
by Miss Kent's and Hollyhock's clever contrivance. The kitchen cat
must have a poor thin body, all dressed in shabby fur of a nondescript
sort. She was to wear over her head the mask of a real cat. A long
scraggy tail was stuck on behind, which by an ingenious device could
jerk up and down and from side to side.

Daisy Watson rejoiced in her part, and had learned the miauw, the mew,
the hiss, the dash forward, the howl of rage, and the purr to
perfection. She had stalked across the stage again and again that day
as kitchen cat, each time evoking shrieks of laughter. By her side
walked a timorous dog, who looked at the kitchen cat with awe. The dog
was purposely made to imitate Leucha, and whenever this