'Yes; but it was Leuchy I wanted,' said Hollyhock. 'The others were so easy to win. I could always win love; but Leuchy, she's so cold, and now she's frozen up, like marble, she is.'
'You must take that as your punishment, for no other punishment will I give you, except to ask you not to play that kind of practical joke again.'
'Oh my!' exclaimed Hollyhock, 'but the mischief is in me. I dare not make a promise. You would not, if you had a wild heart like mine.'
'Well, Hollyhock, I shall expect, for the honour of the school, that you will do your best. And one thing I must ask of you—it is this. Meg feels herself very superior, with the superiority of the Pharisee. Most of the girls in the school will hate her for what she said to-day; but I want you, as a dear friend, to take her part.'
'Oh, but that 'll be hard,' said Hollyhock.
'The divine grace can help you, my child. I 'm not one of the "unco guid," but I believe most fully in the all-prevailing love of the great God and His Son, our blessed Saviour. Now kiss me, and go to your lessons as though nothing had happened.'
'But Leuchy!' exclaimed Hollyhock.
'I'll manage Leucha. I greatly fear that I shall have a difficult task, but I shall let you know to-morrow at latest what attitude she intends to take up. A girl of broader, nobler views would, of course, see the joke and make fun of it; but Leucha, in her way, is as narrow as Meg is in hers.'
'Oh dear, oh dear!' sighed Hollyhock. 'Well, at all events, I 'll get rid of her kisses. Oh, they were so trying!'
'I saw that you hated them, my child.'