'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'----
'And Leucha is alone morning, noon, and night, except when she is busy over her essay.'
'No, Holly darling, you are not to be put upon any more than you have been!'
Similar remarks were made by a chorus of girls, who were really sick of Leucha and her ways.
'I--I'm _willing_,' said Hollyhock, bringing out the words with a great effort. 'But there, let things slide. I have my own troubles, and what I do, I do alone; only you all hear me say, lassies, that I'm _willing_.-- Now, then, Agnes, go on with your speech.'
'It's only this,' said Agnes, 'that, following in the steps of that most noble creature, Meg Drummond, I also am confessing a little sin, a small one at that; but I too must save my soul, girls, just as Meg had to save hers.'
'It was this very afternoon,' continued Agnes, 'when we were all busy in the great warm schoolroom, no teachers being present, and we were all occupied over our different competitions, each of us, of course, hoping to win the prize given by the great Ardshiel. Well, it so happened that Leucha Villiers's desk was next to mine, and Leucha suddenly went out of the room, and a temptation swift and frightful came over me. Nobody saw me do it, and why I did it I can never tell, but do it I did; and if you 'll believe me, girls, I opened Leucha's desk, no one seeing me at the job, and took out her paper on the kitchen cat. I don't myself think she 'll get a prize from his Grace for _that_ paper; and, what's more, I don't care, for venom is in the girl, and in every word of her poor, stupid little paper. She compares the kitchen cat to our dear Hollyhock, and abuses Hollyhock in such a way'----