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Updated: September 1, 2025
It was illuminated by electric light from attic to cellar, and there was such a buzz of young voices, such an eager amount of talk, such peals of happy, childish laughter, that Hollyhock was led thereby in the right direction, and could peep into a very large room which was arranged as a vast playroom on the ground floor, and where all the children at present at Ardshiel were clustered together.
Indeed, he bore some grudge against the family and friends of Ardshiel, and before he was drunk he read me a lampoon, in very good Latin, but with a very ill meaning, which he had made in elegiac verses upon a person of that house. When I told him of my catechist, he shook his head, and said I was lucky to have got clear off.
'But let them wait until lessons begin, thought Hollyhock; 'let them wait until that woman puts the birch on to them; then perhaps they 'll see who's right I, the faithful, noble girl, who would not desert her father, or they, who have just gone off to Ardshiel for a bit of excitement. Ardshiel really looked remarkably pretty as Hollyhock drew near.
It was not likely that Mrs Constable had parted with her five boys with any sense of joy, and it was not lightly that she had undertaken the duties of kindergarten mistress at Ardshiel; but right to her was right, and it seemed the only way to pay expenses. As Mrs Maclure unfolded her scheme the gray eyes grew bright and the lips trembled. 'But does Mrs Macintyre consent? she said at last.
This great mansion belonged to the Duke of Ardshiel, and was called the Palace of the Kings, for the simple reason that its noble owner was looked upon as a king in those parts. Further, King James the First of England and Sixth of Scotland had passed some time there, and 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' had taken refuge at Ardshiel in the time of his wanderings.
She had been brought up in a stiff, cold home, by a stiff, cold mother, and it was hard for her to go against her nature. The girls of Ardshiel were altogether on the side of Hollyhock, and Leucha was more lonely than ever. Her angry boast that she would write to her mother and ask to be taken from the school she had certainly not courage enough to carry out.
'George, I have faithfully promised in your name and my own to visit Ardshiel immediately after luncheon to-day. We have to see for ourselves that the sad home of neglect and tragedy, which will soon be filled with young and happy life, is in all respects suited to our purpose. 'Oh dear, oh dear! said George Lennox. 'Well, if I must, I must. Two women against one man!
He was often at another great castle of his, close to the Palace of the Kings, and on these occasions he frequently saw his little kinswoman riding on Lightning Speed beside her father, who looked very noble himself on his great black charger, which he called Ardshiel, after the Duke.
There had been rumours, too, of an attempted rescue on the part of the Stewarts of Ardshiel, Achnacoin, and Fasnacloich all that lusty breed of the ancient train: the very numbers of them said to be on the drove-roads with weapons from the thatch were given in the town, and so fervently believed in that the appearance of a stranger without any plausible account to give of himself would have stirred up tumult.
Hollyhock whisked her up in a hurry, petting and cuddling her all the time. A row of baskets hung just outside the kitchen door. Hollyhock chose one, placed a warm bit of felt at the bottom, put in a lump of butter for Jean to lick, fastened her down securely in the basket, and was off and away, back to Ardshiel. By that time the other girls had fully carried out the commands of their liege lady.
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