Leucha had a dim hope that if she won one of these great prizes and could bring it back at Christmas to her mother, she might be allowed to leave this hateful school. Accordingly, she worked hard at her theme.
Hollyhock's choice, as she herself expressed it, was 'The Zone of Danger.' It seemed in some ways a strange thing for Mrs Macintyre to suggest, and she repented it after she had done so; but Hollyhock's dancing eyes, and her brilliant cheeks, her smiles, her fascinating way of saying, 'I 'm not frightened,' had obliged the head-mistress to keep to her resolve.
The competitions were of a somewhat peculiar nature. The six prizes were more or less open ones. For instance, the girls who chose to compete in the essay competition might choose their own subject. The girls who went in for foreign languages might select French, German, or Italian. The girls who struggled to attain general knowledge had a very wide field indeed to select from. The only thing they had to do was carefully to select their subject and hand it under a feigned name to Mrs Macintyre, the envelope being sealed, and the lady herself not knowing its contents until the day before the prizes were to be given by the Duke of Ardshiel himself to the school.
Her idea with regard to the competition which Hollyhock called 'The Zone of Danger' was that the Scots lassie or English girl, as the case might be, should perform a brilliant deed, a feat demanding skill, endurance, and nerve. But Hollyhock intended her zone of danger to be one really great and very terrible, something that was to take place at night. Very few girls in the school chose to compete for this prize, as they knew only too well that Holly would beat them into 'nothing at all,' her magnificent bravery being so well known.
One day, about a fortnight before the general break-up at the school, when Mrs Macintyre was preparing to have a joyful time with her friends in Edinburgh, and the Palace of the Kings was to be shut up, a band—a very large band—of girls were collected round the fire in the ingle-nook in the great hall, and were listening to Hollyhock's fascinating words.
Suddenly Agnes Featherstonhaugh spoke. She was a very reserved English girl, and had only been won over to Hollyhock by slow degrees. But, once she was won over, her heart was in a state of intense and passionate devotion. She would, in short, do anything for this radiant young creature.
'Holly,' she said, as a slight pause in the animated conversation gave her the chance she required, 'confession is good for the soul. Meg knows that.— Don't you, Meg?'
Meg shrugged her shoulders, looked sulky, and made no reply. But when Hollyhock touched her gently on the arm, she snuggled up to her in a kind of passionate love. She felt inclined to weep, for she knew that she—yes, she—had caused the terrible discord and unhappiness which now reigned in the school.
'I wish to say,' continued Agnes, 'that I am following in the footsteps of a much finer character than my own. Leucha Villiers belongs to the school'——
Hollyhock stirred restlessly.