Leucha entered her room and turned on the light. The moment she did this she began to sniff. What queer noise was this in the room? Was there a clock anywhere, and had it gone wrong? She looked around her and sniffed again.
Hollyhock, prepared for all events, kept her door a little ajar, and wee Jean, being slightly, very slightly, disturbed by the noise in the room and the light which penetrated faintly under her eider-down quilt, purred in a louder and more satisfied manner than ever. She thought she might rise a trifle and begin to lap her cream.
'What can be the matter?' said Lady Leucha. This sharp and angry tone slightly startled the kitchen cat, who raised herself slowly, making a great heave as she did so of her own body and of the eiderdown. The cream was close to her. The cream was sweet and luscious; the cream would suit her to perfection.
Lap, lap, lap, went her little tongue. In a fury—a blind fury—Leucha rushed to her bed, tore aside the eider-down, and tried to catch the wicked cat in order to fling her out of the window; but Hollyhock stood in the room.
'Don't,' she said. 'Poor beastie! I put her there for fun—for a bit of a lark. I'll take her now. Don't you touch my cat, or I 'll be at you. I 'm sorry she has spilt the cream, but it hasn't had time to get through to the blankets.—Here, come along, my pretty dear; come, my angel Jean; you shall sleep along with your own mistress.—See, Leuchy, the cream hasn't had time to get to the blankets, and it hasn't touched the eider-down. I'll just whip off this white covering. Now you see for yourself that you mustn't meddle with me. Best not. I 'm all fire, I am; I 'm all glow, I am; I 'm all spirit, I am. There 's no harm done, but would you like to hold the little cat while I remove the sheet? Then you 'll be as tidy as possible, and you 'd best get to bed, Leuchy. I 'll undress you after I have settled my cat. Here, hold the small thing for a minute while I straighten things up.'
But Leucha, who at first was speechless with horror, now raised her voice to a mighty roar of indignation.
'How dare you? How dare you? You wicked, ugly little girl! I can't abide the sight of you! And to put a cat in my bed—a cat and cream, forsooth! You don't get out of this scrape so easily as you think, Miss Jack. I 'm going down this minute to speak to Mrs Macintyre.'
'All right,' said Holly. 'I think you might do worse. I was willing to be friends with you, but you wouldn't have it, so now I 'm t' other way round, and I 'm thinking that I 'll carry most of the lassies with me. But go, Leuchy. I meant to vex you, and I 'm not denying it. I would have been different, but your haughty spirit forbade it; so now I 'm your chosen enemy, and you 'll have to fight me along with those in the school who like me better than you.'
But Leucha's fury had risen to its height. She dashed up to Hollyhock and gave her a resounding smack on her right cheek. Hollyhock was holding the cat, who, in the struggle, gave Leucha a savage scratch on the hand, that lily-white hand of which she was so proud. It was a great scratch going right across the back of the hand. In a moment Leucha had fled from the room to seek Mrs Macintyre. Hollyhock flew into her own chamber, put wee Jean carefully and tenderly into the basket in which she had brought her from The Garden, stroked her for a minute to cause her to purr again, cut a hole or two in the lid of the basket to give the poor beast air, and then shoved cat and basket under her bed.
Instantly she returned to Leucha's room, took off the injured white covering, shoved it into the soiled clothes-basket, turned down the sheets, made the room look perfectly nice and tidy, removed the saucer, which she carried into her own room and hid, also under the bed.