New Horizons (11 page)

Mandie's blue eyes widened as she said, “You are? I'm so glad. I thought y'all were staying home for the holidays.”

“No, I changed everyone's minds,” Joe said, and turning to Celia, he added, “And I'm pretty sure you are going to find your holiday plans changed, too.”

“My holiday plans?” Celia asked, confused. “Aunt Rebecca is coming after me tomorrow.”

“I know, but do you know where she is taking you?” Joe questioned.

“Not home?” Celia asked, looking at him and then at Mandie. “Are we going to Mandie's house instead?”

“That's right,” Joe said with a wide grin. “It was a last-minute change, so your mother will be taking Mollie on to Mandie's
house while your Aunt Rebecca comes after you.”

Celia looked at Mandie and said, “How wonderful!”

“Yes, the Shaw house will be full. Even the New York Yankees will be coming down—Jonathan and his father,” Joe explained.

Mandie frowned and asked, “Why wasn't I told about all this, Joe Woodard? Are you making this up?”

“Why would I make this up?” Joe asked. “I said it was a lastminute decision by everyone, since your mother can't travel right now,” Joe explained. “And of course Uncle Ned will be there at some time.”

“I hope so. I haven't seen him since I began school down here,” Mandie said.

Uncle Ned was Mandie's father's old Cherokee friend. Uncle Ned had promised Jim Shaw to watch over Mandie after he had died.

“There's one other one you haven't mentioned,” Joe teased her.

“Another friend that I haven't mentioned?” Mandie asked, puzzled by his question.

“Yes, the troublemaker.” Joe was teasing her.

Mandie laughed and said, “Snowball! Yes, he'll be there for sure. And I've missed him, too.”

“That is one spoiled cat,” Joe said, shaking his head. “I'm surprised you don't have him living down here with you.”

Mandie smiled and said, “You know that's impossible. However, I do have a painting of him hung up in our room.”

“A painting of Snowball?” Joe asked, amused.

“We met an artist who was painting a picture of her own cat, but it looked identical to Snowball, so Mandie's grandmother got her to paint another one for Mandie,” Celia explained.

“It does look like Snowball, but I can't show you because boys are not allowed past the parlor in the boardinghouse,” Mandie said.

“Well, I'm glad the holidays are turning out this way,” Celia said. “We'll get to see everyone, and I sure feel like some friends after all this time in this friendless college.” Then she frowned as she looked at Joe and asked, “My aunt Rebecca will be coming in on the early train tomorrow morning. Does that mean we will be getting on the train with you and Mandie to go to Franklin instead of getting on the train to Virginia?”

“That's right,” Joe replied. “You girls need to get your carriage driver to bring your trunks tomorrow to be put on the proper train.”

“Of course,” Mandie replied, and turning to Celia she said, “I'm so glad everyone is coming to my house. It will be great for everyone to catch up on things.”

Later, when Joe went back to his hotel room for the night, Mandie and Celia went to their room to talk about the forthcoming holidays.

“I'm so glad to get a break from this school,” Mandie said as she sat down in one of the big chairs.

“Yes, a break is good for everyone, but did you know that girl, Grace Wilson, is staying here for the holidays?” Celia asked.

Mandie sat up straighter. “You mean she is staying here at the
college during the holidays? Why?”

“It seems she has no home to go to, or else she doesn't have the money to travel,” Celia explained.

“Does she not have any family?” Mandie asked.

“No one seems to know, but everyone thinks she is too poor. She is here on a scholarship, remember?” Celia reminded her.

“That's too bad,” Mandie said. “What will she do all during the holidays here alone?”

“She won't be alone. I understand there are two or three other girls who will be staying here because of various reasons. But you know she doesn't seem to make friends with anyone and is always by herself,” Celia explained.

“I wonder why,” Mandie said thoughtfully. “She probably has some kind of problem that she's keeping private.”

“That's what I was thinking, too,” Celia agreed. “But what could it be?”

“Since we don't live in the dormitory, I don't know much about any of the girls anymore,” Mandie commented.

“Maybe she's friends with one of the girls who is staying here for Thanksgiving,” Celia said.

“It's too late now to do anything about it since we are leaving in the morning, but when we come back I intend to do a little investigative work and find out a few things about her. Maybe we could help her, whatever it is.”

“I've heard that she is involved in a group that makes clothes for poor children,” Celia told her. “Maybe we could find out something through them.”

“A group that make clothes for poor children? Not a group from this college, surely. The girls here are too high and mighty for that,” Mandie said.

“No, I believe it meets somewhere in town,” Celia said.

Mandie looked at Celia, laughed, and said, “Celia, you are getting to be a real busybody. How do you find out all these things?”

“Listening,” Celia said, grinning. “Since we're not in all the same classes tgether, I hear a lot of talk that you don't. My music class is especially where I hear a lot of things. The girls in there seem to be friendlier than in other classes.”

“And they also seem to know everyone's business, right?” Mandie added with a laugh.

“I suppose you could say that.” Celia smiled. Then she stood up, stretched, and said, “I think we should be getting into bed. We have to get up awfully early tomorrow.”

“You're right.” Mandie also rose and started toward the wardrobe, but then she stopped and said, “You know, Celia, I haven't heard that noise at night since we first heard it. Have you?”

Celia frowned and said, “I listen every night, but I haven't heard a thing. I wonder what it was?”

“Maybe it was those people arriving here in the middle of the night,” Mandie said, going to open the wardrobe and take down her nightclothes. “It seems to be the only explanation.”

“I'm not sure, but I do hope we don't ever hear it again,” Celia replied.

After they got into bed, Mandie lay awake thinking of Joe. It was really nice of him to come after her and to arrange for everyone to be at her house for the holidays. But he still had the idea that she was going to marry him when she finished school, and she was not sure about that.

Adrian was very interesting, and he also seemed to be very interested in her. . . .

She began to grow sleepy and finally thought to herself,
Oh, phooey to both of them
. She was going home tomorrow.

chapter 8

The Thanksgiving holidays turned out to be a glorious time with family and friends. Everyone was glad to be spending it together.

Mollie, the little Irish orphan whom they brought back from their visit to Ireland a while ago, didn't take time to get a breath between questions. She just followed Mandie around and asked her questions about Ireland and leprechauns. “Mandie, when will we go back to Ireland so I can catch a leprechaun?”

Mandie stopped, stooped down to look at her, and said, “Now, Mollie, you know there is no such thing as a leprechaun.”

“Oh, but I know there are leprechauns in Ireland. Everyone there will tell you so,” Mollie insisted.

“Well, whether there are or not, we are not going back to Ireland for you to hunt for one,” Mandie said firmly. “Doesn't Aunt Rebecca teach you school lessons? Hasn't she taught you there is no such thing?”

“No, Aunt Rebecca has said we would go look for one
someday, but she won't say when, and I'm tired of waiting,” Mollie replied.

“Then go find Aunt Rebecca and ask her just when you are going back to Ireland. I'm sorry, but I have things I have to do now.”

Mandie was getting annoyed with the child for following her around. Mandie wanted time to spend with her mother and her friends.

Elizabeth came up behind Mandie in the hallway as Mandie straightened up. “I'm so glad you're home for the holidays, dear,” she told Mandie as she put an arm around her. She leaned closer and whispered, “And I'm glad you got moved away from that terrible group of girls at the college.”

Mandie put her arm around her mother and smiled. “Thank you, Mother, for allowing that. If Grandmother had found out about it in time, she would have tried to stop me.”

“I know. She doesn't understand young people nowadays,” Elizabeth confided to her daughter.

Suddenly Jonathan came down the hallway. “There you are, Mandie. Everyone is in the back parlor, and we have been waiting for you to join us.”

“All right,” Mandie said, giving her mother a quick squeeze and following Jonathan.

Following Jonathan back to the parlor, she found the rest of her friends waiting: Joe, Celia, and Sallie, Uncle Ned's granddaughter, who had just arrived unexpectedly with her grandparents.

As Mandie sat down near Sallie, Jonathan asked, “What are your plans for the Christmas holidays, Mandie? We've been figuring out what we can do about getting together then.”

“I'll be coming home for the holidays because my mother won't be able to travel,” she told them.

“Oh, that's right,” Jonathan said.

They all looked at each other. Seeing as she was in mixed company, Mandie knew that it was not proper to discuss having babies, but her friends knew that was the reason her mother was unable to travel.

Joe broke the silence by saying, “I'm pretty sure my parents are planning on coming back here for the Christmas holidays, and of course I'll be with them wherever they plan to be.”

“In that case, Mandie, I believe you are going to get all of us again,” Jonathan told her with a big grin. “However, for the holidays in the summer, I'm expecting everyone to come to my house in New York—no excuses.”

“I will have to speak to my grandparents about that,” Sallie said.

“And of course I'll have to ask my mother what her plans are,” Celia said.

“I suggest we all get together before Christmas and go down to Charleston and bring Mandie and Celia up here,” Jonathan suggested. “I'd like to meet some of those snooty girls there. I'd tell them a thing or two.” Then, glancing at Joe, he asked, “Did you meet any of them?”

Joe shook his head. “No, because we were in too big of a hurry
to get here. I told Mandie I'd like to see her college when she goes back. I'll be going back with her so she has a travel companion.”

“If Grandmother doesn't decide to take over and go with me,” Mandie added. “But I certainly am glad we don't have to take that snobby treatment from the girls in the dormitory any longer. We moved into the boardinghouse, you know,” Mandie explained to their friends.

“And it's supposed to be haunted!” Celia added, eyes wide and serious.

“A haunted boardinghouse? How did you get permission to move there?” Jonathan asked in surprise.

“Because of those girls treating us so badly,” Mandie repeated.

“Does this boardinghouse really have ghosts in it? Have you seen any?” Jonathan asked.

“Oh, sure, we see one every night,” Mandie teased.

“We really don't see them,” Celia clarified, shaking her head. Then, with a teasing grin she added, “We hear them!”

“I think you are both joking,” Jonathan said, frowning. “But I do believe in ghosts.”

“You do?” Joe asked. “Have you seen one?”

“No, but some of our servants have,” Jonathan replied with a solemn look. “They say our house has several ghosts living in it. It is believed they are some of the draft rioters who were killed back in 1862. Our house was built on that land a short time after the old house was torn down.”

“I've never seen or heard a ghost in your house when we visited there,” Mandie said.

“Is it the people who protested the draft for the Civil War?” Joe asked.

“That's right,” Jonathan confirmed.

“Well, if you haven't seen or heard them, who would be a reliable source for this?” Mandie asked.

“Lots of people. When you come to visit in the summer I'll introduce you to some of the people who have heard them,” Jonathan said.

Joe stood up and stretched. “Let's take a walk and forget about all these ghosts.”

“Where do you want to go?” Mandie asked as the others rose, also.

“Why don't we go through the tunnel? I always find that a fascinating place,” Jonathan suggested.

“All right. I'll get the key and we can go in from the outside door,” Mandie said, starting toward the door.

Snowball, her white cat, pushed the door open and came in, purring very loudly as he rubbed around her ankles.

“He wants to go, too,” Jonathan said, laughing. “There are probably lots of rats down there in that tunnel.”

“Oh please, don't even mention such things,” Celia said with a shiver.

“I'll be right back with the key,” Mandie said, going out into the hall. Turning back she whispered, “Please don't talk about it too loudly, or someone else might want to go, too.”

“Like a little Irish girl?” Jonathan asked with a grin.

Mandie nodded and continued into the hallway.

Mandie returned with the key, and the group managed to get out of the house without anyone knowing where they were going. They hurried down the hill to the outside entrance of the tunnel. When Mandie unlocked the door, she told the others, “There are lanterns and matches here.”