The Mandie Collection (20 page)

She hurried back down the hallway to the parlor. “Guess what? Liza is missing,” she said with a knowing grin. “Want to guess where she is?”

Joe stood up, stretched, and smiled as he replied, “Down at the old house? She's as bad about mysteries as you are, Mandie.”

“I told Aunt Lou I would look for her,” Mandie said. “I don't want to . . .” she paused as she heard the front door open and close. Rushing to the doorway, she saw Liza come in.

“Missy 'Manda, please don't be tellin' I been out in dat rain, or Aunt Lou, she'll skin me alive,” Liza quickly told her as she came
down the hallway. She shook the cloak she was wearing and took it off.

Mandie noticed that underneath the cloak Liza was not wet. Therefore, no one would know where the girl had been. “I won't go back and tell Aunt Lou anything,” she told the girl. “But you had better hurry back to the kitchen because she is looking for you.”

“I make haste,” Liza said, stepping into a room down the hall and leaving the cloak inside. She closed the door and looked back at Mandie and said, “Still ain't seed nuthin' down at dat house, but we'se gwine keep lookin', ain't we?” She grinned and started toward the kitchen door.

“Yes,” Mandie called to her.

Turning back inside the parlor, Mandie went to sit by the fireplace. “You heard, didn't you?” she asked Joe.

“I heard, and I hope no one else heard or Liza may be in deep trouble with Aunt Lou,” Joe replied with a big grin.

Mandie heard the front door open again and went to look out into the hallway. This time it was her uncle John and Dr. Woodard, shaking rain off their clothes and hanging up their hats and coats.

John Shaw glanced at Mandie and said, “It's a little wet out there.” He smiled.

“I'd say that's an understatement,” Dr. Woodard said. “And it looks like it might keep on.”

“Y'all come on in here by the fire. Aunt Lou is sending coffee shortly because Mother and Grandmother and Mrs. Woodard are also back.”

The fireplace in the parlor was huge and wide enough for several chairs to be placed in front of it. The two men came in, pulled up chairs, and sat down before it.

Elizabeth, Mrs. Taft, and Mrs. Woodard returned downstairs and came in to join everyone in the parlor.

Then, just as Mandie was about to inform them coffee was on the way, Liza appeared in the doorway with the tea cart. The aroma of hot coffee and freshly baked sweet cakes filled the room.

Elizabeth filled cups and passed them around with Liza's help.

“So you ladies went out, too,” John Shaw remarked, sipping the hot coffee in his cup.

“Yes, we thought we'd go by the Harrisons' and invite them to our dinner party, and then on to the Sullivans' house, and by that time it was pouring, so we came back,” Elizabeth explained.

“But we at least gave them the invitation, and they will be coming,” Mrs. Taft added.

“Well, I do hope it clears up by Friday night,” Mrs. Woodard said.

John Shaw smiled and said, “I don't believe a little rain will prevent those people from coming.”

“And don't forget,” Mandie said. “Celia and her mother and her aunt Rebecca will be arriving Friday. I sure hope it doesn't rain all during our holidays.”

“I have a feeling a little rain won't stop you and your friends from enjoying the holidays.” John Shaw smiled at her. “Even if you have to camp out in it to watch that old house.”

“But it would make it awfully uncomfortable to stay out there and get soaking wet,” Mandie replied with a grin.

“I just remembered something,” John Shaw said. “There is an old rose arbor on the other side of the pathway down the hill, and I'm sure you could see that old house from there. Now, if y'all could figure out how to rig up a covering over the arbor, you could stay out of the rain.”

Mandie excitedly replied, “Oh, that's a wonderful idea, Uncle John!” Turning to Joe she said, “Will you help me cover it?”

“With what?” Joe asked.

“I believe there are several large pieces of wood from some old crates in the barn, which you could use to make a roof over it,” John Shaw told him.

“Oh no! Work on my holidays!” Joe pretended to be upset.

“Work never hurt any man,” Dr. Woodard spoke up.

“I'll help you,” John Shaw volunteered.

“Are you planning on doing this in the rain?” Joe asked.

John Shaw smiled and replied, “Not today. I thought we'd wait and see what the weather's like tomorrow, and if it lets up long enough we could get it done then.”

“Thank you, sir,” Joe answered with a big smile as he glanced at Mandie.

Mandie knew what Joe was thinking, and that was that she never wanted to waste any time when it came to tracking down a mystery. But this time she was not anxious to venture out in the rain again, so she only smiled back at Joe. Then she had another idea.

Turning to Joe, she said, “You know the exit from the secret tunnel comes out down at the creek. I wonder if that exit is anywhere near the old house, or whether we could see that house from there.”

Joe blew out his breath and replied, “Mandie, you just get too many ideas about these things. I don't know if the house could be seen from there or not, but remember we would have to go all the way down through the tunnel to get to the exit, unless we walked in the rain outside, and that would not be a good idea.”

“Let's go find out,” Mandie said, starting to rise from the stool where she had been sitting.

“Now? Let's wait until after we eat,” Joe protested.

Mandie glanced at the clock. A little over an hour until noontime, when Aunt Lou would have dinner ready. That wouldn't give them enough time. “All right,” she agreed. “As soon as we eat let's go find out.” She pushed back her long blond hair tied with a ribbon.

“If you insist,” Joe reluctantly agreed.

The noon meal turned out to be a long, drawn-out affair. All the adults carried on a conversation about any and everything and of no interest to Mandie and Joe. Mandie kept wishing they would hurry up and finish eating so they could check out the secret tunnel that ran under the house. Her great-grandfather had built the tunnel to hide his Cherokee friends from the white people who had taken everything the Indians had and herded them out of the state. Her own grandmother had been a full-blooded Cherokee, which made Mandie one-fourth and a staunch defender of Cherokee rights.

“Wake up!” Joe teased her.

Mandie shook her head to clear her thoughts and smiled at him. “I wasn't exactly sleeping.”

“I know, you were dreaming about that tunnel, whether you could see that old house from the exit or not,” Joe said, grinning at her.

Mandie felt as though he had read her thoughts. She cleared her throat and said, “Well, partly.”

“And what is the other part, then?” Joe asked.

“I don't think I ought to tell you,” she teased.

“Well, now I must know,” he insisted. Leaning toward her, he added, “Please?”

Mandie moved slightly away from him as she replied, “No, you must not know.” She felt that shy feeling coming back again. Joe, who had been her lifelong friend, seemed to have turned into a different person since he had been away at the university in New Orleans this school year. She was not exactly comfortable around him like in the old days. And then it dawned on her. Joe had turned into a different person from the boy she had always walked to school with, the boy who had always shared her joys and sorrows. Somehow he now seemed to be so much older and more mature. She was losing her old friendship feeling with Joe and she didn't exactly like it or know what to do about it. That college was changing him. Oh, why did he have to go away to finish school?

“You haven't answered me yet,” Joe said, leaning closer.

Suddenly she blurted out in spite of herself, “I don't think I like colleges.” And she moved away from him.

“Well, now, what have you got against colleges?” he asked, plainly puzzled. “You will have to go to college yourself after you graduate from the Heathwood's School next year, you know.”

“I know, and I don't like the idea,” Mandie replied, nervously moving the silverware around her plate.

“Pray tell me, what is it about college that you don't like?” Joe asked, trying to look her straight in the face as she moved about in her chair.

“It . . . it . . . ah . . . makes people different, changes them somehow,” she stuttered in reply.

“Sure it does,” he agreed. “With more education it expands your knowledge and sometimes changes the way you think, your beliefs, and your hopes for the future.”

“But I don't want my friends to change. I like them the way they are,” Mandie told him.

“Aha!” Joe exclaimed. “You think I've changed. Not really. I still belong to Charley Gap in the Nantahala Mountains, just like you always will, no matter what we ever learn or do. Those are our roots and we can't just pull up roots and decide to turn into something
different. I think what you are seeing or thinking is that we are both growing up and changing to a certain degree with age, but you and I will always be just plain Mandie and Joe. Nothing could ever change that.” He leaned closer still and smiled.

“Maybe it has already changed and we just haven't noticed it,” Mandie suggested, trying not to look Joe straight in the eyes.

“Then maybe the change is for the better,” Joe teased.

“I don't think so,” Mandie said, drawing out the words slowly and frowning as she looked up into his face.

“Oh, but just think of how different it is when you are grown up and educated,” Joe reminded her. Then he leaned over to whisper in her ear, “I still want to marry you when we grow up, Mandie, and growing up is going pretty fast.”

When Mandie dropped her gaze to her plate and did not answer, Joe added, “I meant that when I first asked you the day your mother married your uncle John.”

“That was a long time ago,” Mandie reminded him. “And we were both so much younger then.”

Joe cleared his throat and asked, “Have you definitely decided then that you do not want to marry me when the proper time comes?”

“No, Joe, I haven't decided yes or no about anything,” Mandie said.

“Then I'll keep hoping,” he said, reaching to squeeze her hand, and this time she did not pull away.

Elizabeth Shaw stood up and asked, “Shall we take our coffee in the parlor where we can sit by the fire?” She looked around the table.

Everyone agreed. Liza, who was tending the sideboard, turned to say, “Den we git de coffee and cake in dere right away, Miz 'Lizbeth.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth replied, leading the way out of the dining room.

“Did I hear Liza say cake?” Joe asked as he and Mandie rose to follow the others.

Mandie laughed and said, “Cake, of course. And with Joe Woodard here it's sure to be chocolate. Let's go.”

Glancing at Liza as he passed her on the way out, he whispered, “Liza, please hurry with that chocolate cake.” He grinned at her.

“Sho' 'nuff, I will,” Liza replied, grinning back.

As everyone sat in the parlor enjoying the cake and coffee, Mandie looked around and said, “I haven't seen Snowball in a while. I wonder where he is.”

Joe glanced around the floor and replied, “I haven't, either.”

“Wherever there's food, he finds the way to get near it,” Mandie said, frowning. “I think I'll just go look in the kitchen and see if he's in there. I'll be right back.” She set her cup of coffee on the end table and left the room.

When she pushed open the kitchen door, she found all the servants inside, getting ready for their own noon meal.

Aunt Lou looked at her and asked, “What be de matter, my chile?”

“I'm just checking to see where Snowball is. Have y'all seen him lately?” she asked, walking across the room to look in the woodbox.

“No” was the unanimous answer.

“Not since breakfast,” Aunt Lou added. “I remember giving him his food and den he jes' hightailed it out of heah soon as someone opened de do'.”

“And Joe and I went outside. Mother and the others went visiting. And Dr. Woodard and Uncle John were also gone. We were all gone at one time, and I imagine he tried to follow some of us,” Mandie said, standing there in the kitchen, trying to remember when she had last seen him.

“I git Liza to he'p you look fo' him, my chile,” Aunt Lou said. “He round heah somewhere. Maybe got shut up in a room or something.”

“Thanks, Aunt Lou, but y'all go ahead and have your dinner first,” Mandie said. “When Liza gets finished I'll be in the parlor.”

When Mandie entered the parlor, her mother looked up to see who was coming in.

“Snowball is missing, Mother,” Mandie spoke across the room, and everyone else stopped talking to listen. “Liza is going to help me look for him as soon as she finishes her dinner. But have y'all seen him today anywhere?”

No one had, and Mandie sat back down next to Joe.

“He's around somewhere,” Joe said. “We'll find him.”

“I hope nothing has happened to him,” Mandie said. “I always keep thinking about that time when he came home half dead and we
never did know where he had been. He almost died, remember?” Her blue eyes glistened with tears.

Joe reached to hold her hand. “I remember,” he said. “But this time I believe we'll find him close by somewhere, maybe shut up accidentally in a room.”

“That's what Aunt Lou said, but we'll see,” Mandie replied.

Snowball was precious to Mandie. He was no ordinary cat. She had brought him with her as a tiny kitten when her stepmother sent her away from home after her father had died several years ago.

Uncle John came over to sit by Mandie and told her, “Don't worry too much. You know that cat likes to hide and play tricks. I'll help y'all search the house.”