Hollyhock: A Spirit of Mischief

by L. T. Meade

A fortnight with so much excitement in the air passes very quickly. The girls felt this excitement, although they did not talk of it one to the other.

Leucha sat alone when she was not engaged at her school tasks, and made her essay on the kitchen cat as venomous as she knew how. Luckily for poor Leucha, she had not the ability to do much in the way of sarcasm, and although every single girl in the school must know at a glance that this feeble caricature was meant for their beloved Hollyhock, it would certainly not injure the dear Hollyhock in the least.

Meanwhile Holly, absorbed in helping the other girls to make the time pass as pleasantly as possible, and in doing mysterious things on Sunday with Lightning Speed, also forgot Leucha for the time being. Whenever she did think of her she was sorry for her; but she had not time to think much of any single person just at present. The horse, the darling horse, the Arab, the treasure of her life, must be trained to the task which lay before him. Hollyhock had the knack of making all animals love her, and the pure-bred Arab is noted for being a most affectionate creature. He was sulky, and disinclined to obey big grooms or any one except Hollyhock. But for her he would have given his life.

The eyes, so flashing black; the coat, black also and of such a silken sheen; the tail, a little longer than that of most horses; and the great lovely mane, all gave to the gallant animal a look of determination and of spirit, which drew the remarks of the neighbours, who could not imagine why Hollyhock had been presented by her father with so much finer a horse to ride than the other Flower Girls. But the fact was that the four other Flower Girls did not so greatly care for riding, and although they often went out accompanied by their father on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons, yet they preferred steeds less spirited in nature than Lightning Speed.

Hollyhock had, therefore, her own way entirely with her precious treasure, and for his sake she would not, if possible, endanger the life of Lightning Speed. She knew well that the leap of twelve feet which she intended to take would be a mere nothing to Lightning Speed in the ordinary hours of daylight; but with the moon shining brilliantly and casting strange lights and also queer black shadows, and with the terrific noise made by the foaming torrent below, the horse, brave as he was, might refuse the leap at the last moment.

'At any cost he must not do that,' thought Hollyhock.

'You must not disgrace me, my bonnie beastie,' she whispered into his sensitive ear; and certainly the Arab looked as if he had no intention of disgracing the girl he loved.

She took him to the gorge on two Saturdays and Sundays in succession, and gave him imperious orders to leap across, which he did without a moment's hesitation, leaping back again with equal ease. But this was daylight. Things looked different at night. Animals were known to see strange, uncanny things at night; the shadows were not mere shadows to them. They were monsters beckoning them to destruction. The light, too, of the full moon—for it would be full moon that night—would add to the terrors of Lightning Speed. That intense white world would be as terrifying to him as the blackness of the gorge and the sudden awful gap over which he was expected to leap.

Now the prizes were to be presented to the girls of the school by the great Duke himself, and Mrs Macintyre assumed that the three or four young maids who were to perform their deeds of daring would choose the daytime for the display of their courage.

As a matter of fact, very few girls did go in for this prize—five or six at the most—and these, so far as Mrs Macintyre could tell, chose the broad light of day to show the stuff they were made of. It never entered her wildest dreams that Hollyhock would perform her feat, her daring adventure, about midnight. It was then that the moon would be at the full.