'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.
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 lean and ugly brute appeared the kitchen cat said, 'Hiss-phitz-witz!' whereupon the lean animal retired in mortal terror, his mongrel tail tucked under his mongrel legs.
The resemblance to Leucha was really so marvellous as to be laughable, and all the girls had declared that they would not have allowed this beastie to appear if Leucha had been expected to be in the school. But Leucha had come back unexpectedly, and her conduct to Hollyhock had so roused the ire of that generally good-natured girl that she made up her mind that no change should now take place in the programme.
Besides the ordinary cat and dog, there was one ferocious-looking beast managed with great skill, a lion. A very tall girl in the school took this part. The lion's mane was magnificent, his growls such as to terrify any one. These were produced in reality by a little toy instrument concealed in the mouth. He growled and stalked about, and looked so like the real thing that more girls than Leucha shrank back in alarm as he approached the frail barrier which separated the actors from the spectators.
Who was this enormous beast? Could it possibly be a real lion?