The Mandie Collection (6 page)

Out on the sidewalk, Uncle Cal had seen Mr. Heyward and came to the door to accept the packages.

“Please tell Miss Hope I appreciate her order very much, and I hope you come back to visit,” Mr. Heyward said to the girls.

“Thank you, sir,” Mandie replied, slipping through the doorway.

“Yes, thank you, sir,” Celia added, quickly following.

Uncle Cal helped the girls up the steps of the rig, then jumped onto his seat up front, and they were on their way back to school.

“Did you get tired waiting for us, Uncle Cal?” Mandie asked, hoping to find out whether he might have wandered around and seen them go out the back door.

Uncle Cal glanced back. “No, ma'am, missy, dat was purty quick like. When I brings Miz Hope to dis store, she stay long time, play dat big piano, talk to de Mistuh Heyward, and look at jes' 'bout ev'rything in de store, she do.”

Mandie smiled and said, “Well, I'm glad you didn't mind waiting for us.” She turned to Celia and said under her breath, “Do you think Miss Hope might be interested in Mr. Heyward?” She grinned at her friend.

Celia grinned back. “Could be,” she agreed.

When they returned to the school, Uncle Cal took the packages to the office, and the girls rushed upstairs to their room. It was getting late and would soon be time for supper. And the girls didn't want to be late for that meal. Miss Prudence might have recovered and be presiding at the table.

“Oh, that was exciting, wasn't it?” Mandie said triumphantly as she removed her cloak and hung it up in the wardrobe.

“No, that was dangerous, Mandie,” Celia argued, coming to
hang her cloak alongside Mandie's. “I hope you don't plan on going back there, ever.”

“But I've got to go back to look for the puppy,” Mandie told her, going over to the bureau and picking up her brush to straighten her blond hair.

Celia came to join her, brushing her own auburn curls and preparing to tie her hair back with a ribbon. Suddenly she turned to look carefully at Mandie. “Where is your locket, Mandie?” she asked.

Mandie quickly felt for the locket as she gazed into the mirror. “Oh, Celia, I've lost it!” she cried, examining the collar of her dress. “What will I do? I
have
to go back now. You know it has the only picture of my father in it that I have. Oh, goodness!” Tears came into her blue eyes.

“Mandie, I understand, I understand,” Celia said, trying to comfort her. “And I'll even go back with you to look for it. This is much more important than a puppy.”

“You will? Oh, thank you, Celia!” Mandie replied, turning to give Celia a quick hug. “Thank you.”

“We won't be able to go back until after supper, and it's going to be awfully dark then,” Celia noted nervously.

“We'll take a lantern, that's what we'll do,” Mandie decided.

“But how are we going to get permission to go back to that alley?” Celia asked.

“We won't get permission because it would not be granted. So we'll just wait until everyone goes to their rooms after supper and then we'll slip out,” Mandie replied.

Suddenly there was a loud meow from under the big bed. Mandie rushed over to kneel on the floor.

“Snowball!” she cried excitedly as she held up the edge of the counterpane. “Come out from under there. How did you get here? Celia, it's Snowball. Where did he come from?”

Celia joined her as the white cat slowly made its way out from under the bed. Mandie snatched him up and squeezed him tight, causing him to loudly protest.

“I wonder how he got here,” Mandie said again, sitting on the floor with the cat in her lap. She certainly was happy to see her cat but could not figure out how he got to their room. Then the bell in
the backyard announced supper. The girls made sure Snowball was shut up in the room and went down to the dining room.

Miss Hope met them in the front hallway. “I appreciate your running that errand for me, young ladies,” she told them as they walked toward the dining room.

“You are welcome,” Mandie quickly said. “But, Miss Hope, how did Snowball get in my room? I mean, he was at Grandmother's house.”

Miss Hope smiled and said, “My sister thought she heard a mouse while she has been staying in her room all day, so I took it on myself to send for your cat. I will inform my sister after supper that he is here.”

“Oh, thank you, Miss Hope.” Mandie beamed. Then she said mischievously, “I'm so glad Miss Prudence thought she heard a mouse.” All three laughed.

As soon as the evening meal was over, the girls went back to their room with food for Snowball. Someone had already placed a sandbox in the girls' room for the cat.

They made their plans to venture forth into the alley again and settled down to wait till all was quiet.

CHAPTER FIVE

OUT IN THE NIGHT

Not long after Mandie and Celia went to their room, there was a knock on the door. Mandie opened it to find Miss Hope standing outside.

“Come in, Miss Hope,” Mandie invited, opening the door wide.

Miss Hope remained in the hallway. “Thank you, Amanda, but I've only come to say that my sister asked if you would agree for Snowball to spend the night in the kitchen. She is hoping he will catch the mouse she thinks she heard in the wall. Mice automatically come to food, you know, and she thinks the kitchen would be the place it would go after everyone goes to bed and all the lights are out,” she explained.

“Oh yes, of course, Miss Hope. I'll take him down to the kitchen,” Mandie agreed.

“All the doors and windows are closed up and locked for the night, so I think he'll be safe, with no way to get outside,” Miss Hope said.

“Oh, he probably wouldn't want to leave the warmth of the woodbox behind the stove,” Mandie said with a little laugh. “But if a mouse does come within his smelling or hearing distance, he will go after it, I'm sure. I'll take him down right now.” She turned toward the bed, where Snowball was curled up.

“That's all right, Amanda, I'll take him. I have to go back downstairs myself,” Miss Hope told her.

“All right.” Mandie went to pick him up and handed him over to Miss Hope. “If I were you I wouldn't set him down until you get to the kitchen. He might run off somewhere else, and then we'd have to search the house for him.”

Miss Hope took the white cat in her arms. “I know very well he does just that,” she said, “so I'll go straight to the kitchen. Aunt Phoebe has already gone to her house outside, but I alerted her that he might be in the kitchen when she comes in in the morning. Good night now, girls, both of you.”

“Good night, Miss Hope,” Mandie said, stroking her cat's head as Miss Hope held him.

“Good night,” Celia called as Miss Hope started down the hallway.

Mandie closed the door. “I hope Snowball doesn't catch a rat tonight, or Miss Prudence might declare his work done and send him back to Grandmother's.” She crossed the room to sit in one of the big chairs.

“Mandie, I've been thinking about your locket,” Celia said, joining her in the other chair. “How can you be sure you lost it in the alley? Maybe it fell off in Mr. Heyward's store.”

“No, I've figured it all out,” Mandie replied. “When we turned around to run back to the store, when that man in the alley scared us, remember I ran into a tree limb and my collar got tangled up in it? I'm sure I lost it then.”

“Oh goodness, Mandie, that man was watching us! He might have seen it happen and taken it himself,” Celia said, her eyes wide.

“I hope not, Celia. That's why I need to go back and look for it as soon as possible, before someone does pick it up,” Mandie answered.

“Do you think we can find the way to the alley from here?” Celia asked.

“Oh sure,” Mandie replied. “Remember, King Street is a long street. It crosses this one, so if we walk toward downtown from here, we'll come to it, and then we'll just walk down King Street.”

At that moment the old iron bell in the backyard of the schoolhouse rang out for curfew. Celia hurried to the string hanging down
from the single lightbulb in the ceiling, gave it a yank, and turned off the light. Mandie blew out the oil lamp sitting on the table.

“Let's leave that lamp on by the bed,” Mandie said. “If we close the curtains, it won't be seen in case someone is in the yard. And I think we ought to wait a few minutes just in case someone is still up,” Mandie said, flopping back down in the chair.

“Let's don't wait too long, Mandie, or it will be awfully late by the time we get to bed tonight,” Celia reminded her. She, too, sat down again.

“All right, let's wait thirty minutes and then we'll go,” Mandie agreed, turning to squint at the clock on the mantelpiece in the dim lamplight.

“It's five minutes after ten,” Celia told her. She was nearer to the clock.

“The bell rang at ten. So we'll leave at ten-thirty,” Mandie decided.

At ten-thirty the girls slipped into their coats and hats, moving as quickly as they could. The cloaks they had worn earlier that day would be too bulky, they had decided. They could move faster in their coats.

They carefully made their way downstairs and to the backdoor in the hallway. For some reason the lamp that usually burned all night in the hallway was not lit. But Mandie knew the area well, and she quietly opened the door to a pantry by the back door. Cautiously stepping inside, she felt around until her hand came in contact with a lantern that she knew was kept there. Running her hand along the shelf above it, she found matches and quickly put them in her coat pocket.

Celia, waiting outside the door, wordlessly reached out to touch the lantern. Mandie bent near her and whispered in her ear, “I have the lantern and the matches. Let's go.”

Celia went ahead and unlocked the back door, stepping aside for Mandie to go outside. She followed and pulled the door shut.

The two girls gingerly made their way through the tall shrubbery to the front of the house and then hurried down the front walkway to the road.

As soon as they were out of sight of the schoolhouse, Mandie
blew out a long breath and said, “Now, if we can only get back in without disturbing anyone.”

“Yes,” Celia agreed, walking fast to keep up with her friend.

Just as they got to the corner of King Street, the two girls heard a loud meow behind them. Mandie looked back with a groan. “That can't be Snowball!” she said.

“But it is,” Celia told her, peering through the darkness.

Snowball came bouncing up to his mistress in the dim moonlight and meowed loudly as he caught up with her.

“Snowball, how did you get out?” Mandie scolded. “You are supposed to be locked in the kitchen.” The cat sat down and looked up at her, head cocked to one side.

“Somebody must have let him out,” Celia said.

“I don't know. If someone let him out, then they might have seen us. I sure didn't see anyone when we left the schoolhouse, did you?” Mandie asked anxiously.

“No, not a soul,” Celia replied. “What are we going to do now?”

Mandie shook her head doubtfully. “We're about halfway there, so I suppose we'll just go on and Snowball can come with us.” She looked down at the cat and said, “Come on, Snowball, let's go. And mind me, you'd better not run off because I don't have time to chase you.” She straightened up and continued down the street, swinging the unlit lantern.

Snowball seemed to understand that his mistress was disgusted with him. He stayed close to her feet as they walked, and once in a while he made a soft meowing sound.

When the girls came within sight of the alley, they paused to peer into it. The alley looked awfully dark. The tall old buildings were close together, and the roadway was very narrow, shutting out almost all the moonlight.

“Let's stay real close together, Mandie,” Celia said in a whisper even though there was no indication anyone was around to hear at that time of night.

“All right, as soon as we get partway into the alley, I will light the lantern so we can look for the locket. I'll put it out when we start back so if anyone
is
around, they won't be able to see us for very long,” Mandie said, starting forward.

“All right,” Celia agreed, hovering close by.

Snowball began sniffing as they entered the alley, and Mandie immediately picked him up. “You are not going to run off, Snowball. There are lots of nasty things to smell in this old alley,” she said, holding on to the lantern in the other hand.

“Mandie, let me hold him,” Celia offered, reaching out to take the white cat. “You have to light the lantern and carry it.”

As Mandie handed Snowball over, she said, “Please keep a good grip on him. If he picks up any interesting smells, he'll do all he can to get down.”

“I will,” Celia promised, holding Snowball with both arms.

Mandie stooped and lit the lantern with a match from her pocket. Flashing the light around, she bent over and began looking at the ground near the tree that had caught her collar earlier that day. She inspected the limbs and moved around in circles where the locket could have possibly fallen.

Celia squeezed Snowball tightly in her arms, causing him to wiggle in an attempt to get down as she bent over to help search.

“I'm afraid we are not going to find it,” Mandie finally said with a sad sigh.

“It could have been thrown farther if that tree limb snapped it and flew back,” Celia remarked as she moved away, bending over to look again.

Suddenly, Snowball found the right moment to escape Celia's arms. But he didn't run away. He sat near Mandie's feet and began washing his face and paws.

“Oh, Snowball, you'd better not run off.” Mandie shook her head at him.

“Should I pick him up again?” Celia asked.

“I think he'll be all right,” Mandie replied. “Just help me watch him in case he does decide to wander off.”