hat_ paper; and, what's more, I don't care, for venom is in the
girl, and in every word of her poor, stupid little paper. She compares
the kitchen cat to our dear Hollyhock, and abuses Hollyhock in such a
way'----

'Stop--say no more,' cried Hollyhock. 'You did wrong to read, and I
won't be told what was said of me. No, the daughter of a Cameron isn't
that sort.-- You can go on with your talk, lassies; but I 'm for my
bed. I have a bit of a headache, and the sleep so beauteous will take
it away.'

With these words Hollyhock left the room, and Agnes found she had done
very little good by her confession. The other girls, however, who were
less scrupulous, crowded round her and implored her to tell them what
that 'wicked one' had said.

'No; I 'll tell no more,' said Agnes. 'Holly wouldn't wish it. But,
oh, to think of that noble girl being spoken of like that! Oh, the
cruel, cruel, angry girl! My heart bleeds for our darling!'

'She 'll not get the prize,' said a Scots girl. 'Think you now that
Ardshiel would give a prize to one who abuses his kinswoman?'

'She has put her foot in it by so doing,' said another.

'We'd best let her alone, Agnes; and you keep your confession to
yourself. You had no right to read the paper,' said Meg Drummond in
her solemn voice.

'I had not,' replied Agnes; 'but seeing that you were so troubled by a
bit of a lark on account of your poor soul, Meg, I thought I 'd follow
suit.'

'Well,' said Meg, who came out a good deal when Hollyhock was absent,
'my mother tells me my immortal soul is safe now. I can pray again,
and I 'm happy; but yours is a different case altogether, Agnes.
Anyhow, you have done the deed, and one of the lockets will never go to
Earl Crossways' daughter.'

The girls talked together for a little longer, all of them rejoicing in
the thought that Leucha had now no possible chance of a locket. She
was so thoroughly disliked in the school that they positively rejoiced
in this certainty, and forgave Agnes her mean trick of looking at the
essay.

But Hollyhock, up in her room, having bluntly refused to listen to any
of the words of the naughty girl who had read a part of the essay, was
nevertheless wild with rage, and could not possibly rest. That sense
of forgiveness which she had felt when seated with her companions round
the ingle-nook had now absolutely vanished. She would not demean
herself by listening to words which were not meant for her to he