Don't fear for me, Mrs Macintyre,' said Leucha. 'I 'm not quite such a fool as you think me, and I certainly will sit in the hall with the other girls, and, if possible, put Holly to shame.'
'That I strictly forbid,' said Mrs Macintyre. 'A game is a game; a charade is a charade. While the acting proceeds no looker-on must interfere except under my intense displeasure. In fact, my dear Leucha, after what I have said, I shall write to your mother asking her to remove you from the school, unless you promise not to make any fuss or show any fear to-night. Go back to your room now.'
'And you really tell me, Mrs Macintyre, that the Earl of Crossways' daughter will be dismissed from the school?'
'There will be no difficulty about that,' replied Mrs Macintyre. 'I have six fresh girls anxious to be admitted. You are not popular; your character does not suit us. The fact of your being Earl 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.