'What's wrangle, Miss Kent, dear?' asked Hollyhock in her sweetest tones. 'I like well to hear your pure English words. We Scots talk very differently, no doubt, but we are always willing to learn. So, please, what's wrangle? And will you pass me a fresh scone, Miss Kent, dear, for my appetite is far more than ordinary?'
'Vulgar little glutton,' muttered Leucha to Dorothy Fraser.
'She really is attractive, all the same,' answered Dorothy.
'Oh Dolly, you are not going round to her? That would be the final straw.'
'No, I 'm not, of course; but I can't help admiring her funny ways and her beautiful, noble sort of face.'
'Noble!' cried Lady Leucha.
'Yes, it is noble, although it is full of mischief too. You could have had her as a great friend, Leucha, and that girl is worth making a friend of. I never saw her like before. She really haunts me.'
'What haunts you, lassie?' cried Hollyhock. 'Is it my eyes so black, or my cheeks so rosy-red, or my hair so curly, and black as the blackest night? I 'm at your service. I'm willing to forgive and forget this blessed minute if you'll all hold out the paws of forgiveness.'
Both Dorothy and Barbara longed to do so, but Lady Leucha put the final extinguisher on their hopes by saying, 'No, never! Why, you are not even a lady!'
'Let's eat,' said Hollyhock. 'I waved the flag of peace, as the great Ardshiel did once; but never again—don't you fear, lassies. No lady, indeed! We 'll see who's the lady!'