Hollowmell

Hollowmell, by E.R. Burden

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Title: Hollowmell or, A Schoolgirl's Mission
Author: E.R. Burden
Release Date: June 3, 2007 [EBook #21667]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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HOLLOWMELL ***

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HOLLOWMELL:
OR,

A SCHOOLGIRL'S MISSION.
BY
E. R. Burden.
GLASGOW: JOHN S. MARR & SONS, 51 DUNDAS STREET. 1881.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. MINNIE'S PLAN 5
II. ITS DEVELOPMENT 19
III. PREPARATIONS 29
IV. THE FIRST ESSAY 44
V. AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR 54
VI. A DISPUTE SETTLED 78
VII. MONA'S DEFEAT 94
VIII. A SUCCESS 115
IX. THE END 121
[Illustration]
HOLLOWMELL: OR, A SCHOOLGIRL'S MISSION.
CHAPTER I.
MINNIE'S PLAN.

"Why, wherever can my books be?" exclaimed Minnie Kimberley in a
vexed tone, as she hunted up and down the schoolroom, opening now
one cupboard, then another, now a desk, and again diving down to peer
under some out-of-the-way table or form; for places which one would
think the most unlikely, were certain to be the places where Minnie's
books would at length be discovered.
"I can't make it out," she continued, her bright face clouded over with
vexation, "somehow or other my books always do manage to get lost."
"Perhaps if you could manage to put them back in your desk when you
had done with them, instead of leaving them lying just wherever you
happen to be, they might manage to stay there," suggested Mona
Cameron, a tall young lady, who sat near the window sewing, and who
had more than once been disturbed by Minnie's voyage of discovery.
"Oh, I've found two of them!" cried Minnie, emerging from beneath a
distant table, her hands black with dust, and herself nothing abashed by
Mona's rather sarcastic speech. "I wonder, now, whether I shall be able
to hunt up the others before Mab finishes her music!"
"O, Mabel Chartres is away," volunteered one of the other girls, "I
heard her come down fully ten minutes ago."
"That can't be," replied Minnie, "she must have come in here for her
things before she went away."
"Not at all, seeing she carried them up to the music-room with her that
she might save time; I heard her say she wanted away soon."
Minnie flew to the corner where Mabel's hat and jacket usually hung,
and sure enough both were gone. She sat down for a minute ready to
cry with disappointment, but recovering herself immediately, she
choked back the tears, and proceeded with the search for her books,
though in a rather more subdued manner, and with a great deal less
bustle and talkativeness. At length they were all collected from their
various hiding-places, and Minnie was ready to depart, but she seemed
in no hurry to go. She stood leaning against the desk, with a rather

irresolute look on her face, as if trying to make up her mind to
something. More than once she moved as if to go, but something
seemed to arrest her step.
At last she turned to where Mona Cameron still sat at work, and said in
a clear voice which could be distinctly heard by all the girls in the room,
"I will try, Mona, to take your advice about putting my books back in
my desk; I know I'm horribly careless, and I thank you for reminding
me how I can mend it if I try."
All the girls looked up amazed--Mona herself as amazed as any and
also a little confused--but Minnie did not wait to see what effect her
words would produce, she walked straight out after she had spoken, and
was not a little astonished, and perhaps a little perturbed, to find Miss
Elgin, the English governess, in the dressing-room where she could not
choose but hear what had passed. Her face flushed, and she tried to
hurry out without attracting her notice, but Miss Elgin stopped her as
she passed the desk at which she sat, and drawing the bright face down
to the level of her own, kissed her on the forehead with a whispered
"That was bravely spoken, Minnie," and let her go.
Minnie rushed out into the cool air with a flushed and happy face, and
her heart beating high with the joy of victory, and the gratification of
knowing that her effort was appreciated. She