'Oh, but it's I that have had an awful night, Jasmine!' she exclaimed. 'She has gone off into a sleep now, poor thing; but I never, never did think that she would take this matter so to heart. We mustn't tell her, Jasmine. It would kill her if she knew.'
'But, Holly, you really are incorrigible. How am I to go on in the school if you play these terrible pranks?'
'It's the mischief in me joined to a bit o' the de'il,' retorted Hollyhock. 'But she must never 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.'