The Mandie Collection (5 page)

Then Mandie realized the boys knew where the alley was, and if she could find out the location from them, then she and Celia wouldn't have to go all over town looking for it. That is, if they decided to take a chance and go back.

“This alley isn't really very far from our school, is it?” Mandie asked Tommy as she laid down her fork.

“Only a few blocks from Main Street, actually. Go north on King Street and you run right into it,” Tommy explained. “Mr. Chadwick had made it clear to us about the exact location so we couldn't say we wandered down there by mistake.”

“And I don't suppose you fellows ever have done that?” Mandie asked with a grin.

Tommy laughed and said, “Keep this secret, but that is the
first
thing we did. Most of the boys slipped off down there just to see why it was off limits. But, believe me, it is an awfully trashy place. I wouldn't recommend that you girls go check it out.”

Mandie still couldn't understand why everyone thought the alley was dangerous in the daytime, if it was that close to Main Street. Back in her hometown of Franklin, everyone walked down any street any time of the day without thinking about danger.

She determined she would go back and check on that puppy as soon as she got a chance. She hoped it would still be there.

When everyone said good-night later, and Ben drove the girls back to their school, there was no mention of the alley from Mandie's grandmother. So she decided that Miss Prudence hadn't told her about it. Why, she could not figure out, because Miss Prudence went strictly by the rules.

Anyhow, the girls breathed a sigh of relief when they got back in their room. Maybe nothing more would be said about the alley.

CHAPTER FOUR

DANGEROUS ERRAND

The next morning Mandie and Celia were almost late for breakfast. Mandie had decided to wear a new navy woolen dress with twenty-two buttons down the front. Trying to hurry, Mandie's fingers fumbled as she tried to button each one.

“Oh, shucks, why did Grandmother have so many buttons put on this dress?” she exclaimed in frustration, halfway up the row.

“You shouldn't criticize a present, Mandie. Just think how much your grandmother must have paid to have the dress made,” Celia scolded mildly as she brushed her long auburn curls. “Besides, I think those little pearl buttons are just beautiful.”

“Beautiful, but lots of trouble,” Mandie said, straightening up with a sigh. “Finally I got to the end. Now, where is my locket?” She quickly went to her jewelry box on the bureau and took out her most treasured possession, a locket with her father's picture inside. She fastened the chain around her neck. “Guess I'm ready now.”

“Let's go,” Celia said, opening the door to the hallway.

The two girls hurried down the long staircase from their room on the third floor of the schoolhouse.

“Oh, the line is moving,” Mandie said as she looked over the banister at the other pupils heading toward the dining room.

Just as the two got to the bottom step, Miss Hope came hurrying around the corner of the hallway and motioned to them.

Mandie glanced at the end of the line disappearing into the dining room. Why was Miss Hope making them late for breakfast? Miss Prudence didn't condone tardiness in anything. This was her week to preside at the first sitting for breakfast, and she might just close them out.

“Amanda, Celia,” Miss Hope said breathlessly, catching up with them. “I wonder if you two young ladies would mind doing a big favor for me this afternoon.”

“I would be glad to, Miss Hope,” Mandie said, smiling. She glanced nervously toward the dining room door, which was still open.

“Yes, ma'am,” Celia said. “Anything you say, Miss Hope.”

“My sister, Miss Prudence, has come down with a cold this morning and is confined to her room for the day, so I cannot leave the school myself,” Miss Hope explained. “I need to pick up some sheet music from Heyward's downtown, and I was wondering if you two would mind getting it for me. I could send Uncle Cal, but you see, he wouldn't be able to read the list.”

“Oh, we would be glad to, Miss Hope,” Mandie said with another smile. Relieved, she glanced at Celia, realizing Miss Prudence would not be waiting in the dining room to reprimand them for being late. “Just tell us what you need and we'll get it for you.”

“Thank you, Amanda,” Miss Hope replied, also smiling, as she moved on toward the dining room door. “Come. I have to sit through two breakfasts this morning since my sister is not able to preside over her group. Now, I'll send Uncle Cal with you, and I'll get a list made up before classes are out today. I appreciate your help, young ladies.”

Both girls replied, “Thank you, Miss Hope.” They followed Miss Hope into the dining room.

When classes were over at three that afternoon, the girls found Miss Hope waiting for them in the hallway.

“Please hurry and get your wraps now. It will be chilly before you get back. And, remember, the days are getting shorter, too,” Miss Hope told them. “Uncle Cal is waiting in the rig in the front driveway. Be sure you go straight to the store and back, under the supervision of Uncle Cal at all times. Understood?”

“Yes, ma'am,” both girls replied.

“Here is the list. If you have any problems with it, just talk to Mr. Heyward himself. He will know what I want,” the headmistress explained, handing a folded sheet of paper to Mandie.

“Yes, ma'am,” Mandie said, taking the paper.

“Now, I have to get back to the office to other duties. When you return, bring the music sheets straight to me there,” Miss Hope said, turning away.

The girls hurried upstairs, grabbed their hooded cloaks, and rushed down to where Uncle Cal was waiting. Uncle Cal had been at the school for many years. He was Aunt Phoebe's husband, and the couple had their own little house on the grounds behind the main building.

“You know where we are going, don't you, Uncle Cal?” Mandie asked as she and Celia stepped up into the rig.

“Dat I does,” Uncle Cal said with a smile from the front seat. He glanced back as the girls sat down and then shook the reins. The horse trotted down the driveway.

Mandie glanced at the paper Miss Hope had given her. “Since I am not sure what this all means, I'll just give it to Mr. Heyward. I suppose we can just wait while he gets things together,” she said.

Celia looked at the list Mandie was holding. “Looks like some really old classical music,” she remarked. “I suppose we will be going into more complicated music lessons soon.”

“That's what I was thinking,” Mandie agreed. “Unless this order is just for Miss Hope herself, or maybe for Miss Prudence.”

“Look, Mandie. We're going down Main Street,” Celia pointed toward a sign. “Is Mr. Heyward's store on Main Street?”

“Yes. Miss Hope has written here that Mr. Heyward's store is on Main Street,” Mandie replied, scanning the sheet of paper. She looked around and suddenly caught her breath. “And there's King Street that we just crossed.”

Uncle Cal slowed the rig and pulled into a space in front of a tall, slender building bearing the name “Heyward's” over the doorway.

“I waits right heah whilst you young ladies goes inside and does de bidness fo' Miz Hope,” Uncle Cal told them as he stepped down from the rig to help the girls out.

“This is a long list, Uncle Cal. I don't know how long it will take,” Mandie told him, holding up the sheet of paper as she and Celia headed for the front door.

“I be heah,” the old man replied, hooking the reins over the hitching post.

Mandie and Celia stepped inside the store and looked around. A huge piano stood near the front door. On the other side was a glass showcase containing violins. Toward the back were racks of sheet music, pamphlets, and instruction books.

“This is a big store,” Mandie commented as they slowly walked on through. No one seemed to be around. She turned back to Celia. “I wonder where we can find Mr. Heyward.”

Before Celia could reply, a tall elderly man with thick gray hair and spectacles perched on his long nose appeared from the side. “I'm right here, young ladies,” he greeted them. “Now, what can I do for you today?”

“Oh, Mr. Heyward, Miss Hope sent us with a list that she needs,” Mandie told him, stopping to let him catch up with them in the middle aisle. She held out the sheet of paper.

“Miss Hope, now, there's one nice lady,” Mr. Heyward said with a smile, taking the paper and peering through his glasses at it. “Seems she has quite a list here.”

“Yes, sir, that's what we thought, too. If you don't mind gathering up all those things for her, we'll just look around as we wait,” Mandie replied.

“Yes, ma'am, be glad to. Y'all just make yourselves at home now. This will take a few minutes,” he said, looking at the list as he disappeared behind shelves of merchandise.

Mandie and Celia roamed the store, looking at everything, and then Mandie happened to notice there was another entrance into the store from the street behind the building. She stopped to look out through the glass door. From what she could see, the neighborhood back there seemed to be old and run-down.

Celia came to her side. “Looks like alleys back there to me,” she remarked.

“Alleys!” Mandie exclaimed. “You are right. And we crossed King Street, remember, the one that Tommy and Robert mentioned.
Let's go take a look while Mr. Heyward gets the order together.” She pushed on the door.

“Mandie, wait,” Celia protested, but she followed Mandie outside. “I don't think we ought to go out here by ourselves. Besides, Uncle Cal is waiting for us.”

“Come on. It won't take but a few minutes to walk down this street and back. Come on,” Mandie urged. She began rapidly walking toward the next alleyway.

Celia skipped and caught up with her. “Oh, Mandie, I don't really feel right about this. We could get in trouble,” she reminded her friend. “And it could be dangerous.”

“In the daytime? Who's going to bother us in the daytime?” Mandie replied, hurrying across the side street.

“How will we know the alley when we see it? It was dark that night, remember?” Celia asked, panting along behind Mandie.

“I'll know it,” Mandie declared, leading the way across several other streets that looked more and more like alleys. She kept looking down the side streets. Now and then she saw someone walking, but the cobblestone corridor through the maze of buildings was mostly isolated.

Celia stayed close by her side. “Mandie, don't you think we've looked enough and we ought to go back now?” she asked timidly.

“In a minute, Celia. I just want to see a little more,” Mandie replied without slowing down.

Then they came to an alley that ran across the street they were on. It was narrow, hardly wide enough for a rig to pass through, with old dilapidated buildings along each side. Mandie quickly stopped.

“This is it!” she declared excitedly, turning to enter the alley. “There are the old buildings we couldn't see very well at night, and the cobblestones are rough and lopsided in places, and all those straggly trees growing in between everything.” She quickly walked into the passageway.

Celia followed on her heels. “Well, now we've found it, so let's go back, Mandie,” she begged.

“I wonder exactly where the rig broke down,” Mandie murmured. “It was near there that I thought I heard the puppy whining, remember?” She stopped to look around and listen.

“I don't hear it now,” Celia whispered, huddling close to Mandie's side.

“I don't, either, but look! There's a man leaning on the side of a building down there. Let's just ask him if he has seen a puppy around here,” Mandie said, moving forward.

“Mandie!” Celia groaned in protest.

As they approached, Mandie saw the man was poorly dressed—holes in the knees of his dirty pants, and his shirt, too small for him, was gaping at the buttons. He had a cap pulled down to shade his eyes as he watched them come closer.

Mandie stopped within ten feet of the man and asked, “Mister, have you seen a puppy around here? We heard one crying the other night and came back to look for it,” she explained.

The man grunted something unintelligible and suddenly turned to push aside a board in the wall of the building behind him. He stepped inside, then turned to peep out through the cracks.

Mandie, slightly afraid, controlled her voice as she asked, “Well, have you seen a lost puppy?”

The man suddenly spat tobacco juice through the crack, barely missing the girls, and hissed, “Git.”

Mandie and Celia almost knocked each other down as they turned to flee back the way they had come. Mandie ran into a low branch of one of the trees, and it caught the fabric on the open collar of her cloak.

“Oh, shucks!” she cried, thoroughly frightened now. She managed to jerk her collar free and continued to run up the street.

Finally within sight of the Heyward store, they stopped to look back.

“That man must have been one of those bums Tommy and Robert said are known to hang out in that street,” Mandie said, catching her breath and brushing at her skirts.

“Yes, come on, Mandie. Let's get back inside the store before he comes after us,” Celia gasped out, rushing toward the back door.

“I don't think he'll follow us here,” Mandie said as they entered Heyward's store.

Mandie looked around and didn't see anyone. She decided Mr. Heyward must still be gathering up the order.

“Let's sit down, Mandie, before my legs collapse,” Celia said in a shaky voice, walking toward a long bench in the middle aisle.

As soon as the girls sat down, Mr. Heyward came back into the store from a side door, his arms full of parcels.

“Sorry to keep you young ladies waiting so long, but I had to go through some stock to find everything Miss Hope wanted. Now, where is your driver? I'll give these to him,” Mr. Heyward explained, walking toward the front door to look outside.