The Mandie Collection (9 page)

“Thanks. We'll hurry,” Mandie promised.

Miss Hope gave permission, and the girls quickly put their things in a bag. As they finished, someone knocked on their door. Mandie opened it.

Aunt Phoebe was holding Snowball in her arms. “Miss Hope, she say you take dis heah cat wid y'all so she won't hafta tend to him whilst y'all gone,” she announced.

Mandie reached for the cat. “Then she must have decided she doesn't need him here anymore,” she said.

“Oh no, missy, she say fo' you to bring him back when you comes back,” Aunt Phoebe explained.

Mandie smiled. “Please tell Miss Hope I will,” she assured the woman.

When they finally arrived at Mrs. Taft's house, Mollie was overjoyed to see the white cat. She had come to the front door with Ella, the maid, who let them in.

“Mandie, I be glad you be bringing Snowball,” Mollie said, smiling joyfully as Mandie put Snowball down in the front hallway.

Snowball took one look at Mollie and quickly disappeared down the corridor. Mollie ran after him.

“I'm not so sure Snowball is glad to see Mollie,” Mandie laughed as she removed her coat.

“Dat white cat, he run like dat every time he see dat little girl.” Ella laughed, too. “But he jes' be playin' wid huh, 'cause he keep lookin' back to see if she comin' after him.”

“Miss Hope wanted me to bring him with me and then take him back when we go,” Mandie explained. “He hasn't found that mouse that Miss Prudence says she keeps hearing.”

“I take yo' bag to yo' room,” Ella said, reaching for it. Ben had set it inside the door for them. “Miz Taft, she in de parlor now.”

“Thank you, Ella,” Mandie said as she and Celia hung their coats and hats on the hall tree.

Mrs. Taft was sitting by the fireplace. Mandie and Celia pulled up low stools near the crackling fire.

“Grandmother, why do you still build a fire in the fireplace now that you've got the new furnace?”

“Oh, my dear,” Mrs. Taft replied. “Those furnaces are good for heat, but they make the most awful racket sometimes, hissing and clanking. So unless it is terribly cold outside, I tell Ben to leave it alone and build a fire here instead.” Her tone turned brisk. “Now, while the child is nowhere in sight, tell me what you were talking about last night.”

“Oh, Grandmother, Mollie did the most dangerous thing,” Mandie began, and she related the happenings of the night before.

“Oh dear, I suppose I'll have to ask Ella to keep her within her sight every minute she is here. I didn't realize she would try such dangerous things,” Mrs. Taft said, shaking her head. “I thought it would be nice for Hilda to have her come and visit, but now I just don't know. She may influence Hilda to do some of those dangerous escapades.”

“When is Aunt Rebecca coming back after her?” Celia asked.

“Next weekend, unless I let her know otherwise,” Mrs. Taft replied. “And you know Mollie is studying part of every day with Mrs. Manning's daughter, who has a private tutor, so I won't be able to keep track of her every minute.”

“Maybe Ella could go and stay with her when she goes to Mrs. Manning's,” Mandie suggested.

“Yes, I suppose Ella could,” Mrs. Taft replied. “I'm worried about her getting into something that is dangerous and getting hurt—or worse.” Looking at Celia, she asked, “Does your aunt Rebecca not have any trouble of this kind with her?”

“Not that I know of,” Celia replied.

At that moment Ella came to the doorway of the parlor. “Supper is on de table, Miz Taft,” she announced. “Annie done got Hilda and Mollie in de sitting room to eat their supper.” Annie was Mrs. Taft's other maid.

“Thank you, Ella,” Mrs. Taft said, rising from her chair. “Let's go eat, girls.” As she left the room, she looked back and said,
“And we can talk without Mollie taking over the conversation.” She smiled.

Mandie and Celia followed Mrs. Taft into the dining room. As everyone sat down, Mrs. Taft glanced at the buffet and said to Ella, “I see Mrs. Manning has come to pick up the silver set.”

Ella frowned and said, “I ain't seen Mrs. Manning this week. She musta come and got it while I was not around.”

“You haven't seen Mrs. Manning this week?” Mrs. Taft repeated. “But I haven't seen her, either. Ben has been taking Mollie and Hilda over there for lessons every day.” She walked over to the buffet and looked around. “She wouldn't have simply walked in and taken the set without saying anything. I wonder what happened to it, then.”

“I don't be knowing, Miz Taft,” Ella said, staring at the buffet. “I sho' didn't move it. It was right there until yesterday mornin' when I came back from de store. Then I noticed it was gone.”

“Yesterday? I was here all day except for that tea Mrs. Simms had at noon yesterday,” Mrs. Taft said thoughtfully.

Mandie spoke up, “Maybe Mrs. Manning came while both you and Ella were gone, Grandmother, and Annie let her have it.”

Mrs. Taft shook her head. “No, I gave Annie the day off yesterday to go visit her sister. She left early in the morning and didn't return until after dark last night.”

Celia cleared her throat and asked slowly, “You don't think Mollie could have moved it, do you?”

“No, Ben took Mollie and Hilda over to the Mannings' early yesterday because I was going out, and they didn't get back until after I returned,” Mrs. Taft replied. She went back to the table and sat down looking perplexed.

“What day was Mrs. Manning going to have that dinner at her church, when she would be needing to borrow the set?” Mandie asked.

“That dinner is scheduled for tomorrow night,” Mrs. Taft told her. “Well, let's eat while the food is hot.” She started passing the bowls around the table while Ella poured the coffee.

As they ate, Mandie was busy trying to figure out what had happened to the silver set. She also kept waiting for Mrs. Taft to say
something about their ride through the forbidden alley last Sunday night. By the time the meal was over, she had decided her grandmother did not know anything about it. Miss Prudence must not have mentioned the incident during her visit with Mrs. Taft.

Later that night when everyone had retired, Mandie and Celia lay awake in the room they shared discussing the disappearance of the silver tea set.

“Someone had to take it. It couldn't just leave by itself,” Mandie declared, pushing up on her pillow.

“Yes, definitely someone had to take it. But who, Mandie?” Celia wondered.

“Everyone was gone. Grandmother was at that tea, Ella had gone on an errand at that time, and Annie had the day off,” Mandie said, listing off the people in the household.

“What about Ben? Where was he?” Celia asked.

“He had driven Grandmother to the tea and waited there,” Mandie said.

“Well, there's Gabriel, who works in the yard,” Celia remembered.

“No, he never comes in the house,” Mandie told her.

“Do you think some stranger might have come in and taken it, then?” Celia asked.

“That's exactly what I was thinking,” Mandie said. “However, I know Grandmother is very careful about locking up the house when she goes off. Someone would have had to break into the house, and Grandmother didn't say anything about that.”

“Maybe they broke in somewhere that no one has noticed,” Celia suggested.

“Maybe,” Mandie agreed. “Tomorrow we should go through the whole house checking all the windows and doors to see if any of them have been forced open.”

“I wish we had thought about doing that before we went to bed,” Celia said. “This is such a big house and some of the rooms aren't used very often.”

“If someone did break in, I suppose that silver set was all they wanted,” Mandie said. “Grandmother didn't notice anything else missing. And from what Ella said, it must have happened yesterday, so whoever it was has been long gone.”

Celia sat up in bed and looked around the dim light from the moon at the window. “Mandie, would you mind if I got up and locked our door?”

“I don't mind, Celia,” Mandie told her. “Go ahead if it will make you feel any safer.” She propped herself up against her pillow and watched Celia swing her legs off the bed.

“I'm going to check the window locks, too,” Celia said, standing up.

“I'll help,” Mandie told her as she slid out of bed.

While Celia locked the door to the hallway, Mandie pushed back the draperies and felt for the window locks. Every one was securely locked.

“Now everything is locked up tight,” Mandie said, jumping back into bed.

“Yes, and this might serve another purpose, too,” Celia said, getting back under the covers. “It will keep Mollie from barging in on us in the middle of the night.”

“I think Grandmother has Annie staying in the room with Mollie and Hilda now so they can't run off somewhere,” Mandie reminded her.

“Yes, but Annie has to sleep sometime, and Mollie is smart enough to take advantage of that,” Celia said.

Suddenly, the radiator across the room began hissing and rattling, startling both girls until they realized what it was.

“That noisy old radiator, acting up at this time of the night!” Mandie exclaimed, taking a deep breath to slow her pounding heart.

“It sure picked a scary time to do it,” Celia said, swallowing hard.

“Yes, and pretty soon it'll get so hot in here we'll have to start turning down the quilts,” Mandie added. “Anyhow, I think we'd better go to sleep. Grandmother always expects us to be on time for breakfast, and she never sleeps late.”

The girls finally went to sleep and didn't waken again until morning, when someone softly tapped on their door.

Mandie raised up in bed and rubbed her eyes.

“Someone is knocking on the door,” Celia said, climbing out of bed to investigate.

“It's probably Mollie,” Mandie said.

But when Celia opened the door, it was Ella. “Miz Taft sent me to say breakfast in ten minutes,” Ella told the girls.

“Ten minutes?” Mandie exclaimed, jumping out of bed. “We must have overslept.” She rushed to the mantelpiece to look at the clock. “Oh, goodness, we did. It's ten minutes to eight. Thanks, Ella. Please tell Grandmother we'll be there on time.” She ran for her clothes.

“She got more company, dis early in de mawnin',” Ella told the girls. “Dat big tall Injun man is here.”

“Uncle Ned?” Mandie turned to quickly ask.

“He sho' is, so don't be late,” Ella said as she closed the door behind her.

“Uncle Ned is here,” Mandie repeated as she scrambled into her clothing. “I wonder if he came for a special reason, or just to visit.”

“Maybe he is just traveling through and stopped to see you,” Celia commented as she also hurried into her dress.

The girls rushed downstairs to the parlor, where Uncle Ned and Mrs. Taft sat talking. Snowball was curled up asleep on the hearth.

“Snowball!” Mandie exclaimed. “I completely forgot about you last night. You must have slept in the room with Mollie.” Then looking at her father's old Cherokee friend, Uncle Ned, she said, “Good morning, Uncle Ned. You are out awfully early this morning.” She sat down nearby.

Celia also pulled up a stool and bent to pet Snowball.

The old man smiled at her and said, “Come early to spread the word. Bad men stealing from people.”

Mandie caught her breath. “Thieves?” she gasped.

“Yes, dear, from what Uncle Ned has told me, I believe that someone somehow managed to steal the silver set from the buffet,” Mrs. Taft said.

“Lots of burglaries in this community,” Uncle Ned explained.

“Where did you hear this, Uncle Ned? How do you know?” Mandie asked.

“People tell sheriff things go missing,” Uncle Ned explained.

Celia listened to every word. “You see, Mandie,” she said, “it was a good idea to lock our door last night.”

Mrs. Taft looked at the girls and asked, “You locked your bedroom door last night?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Mandie said. “But it was mostly to keep Mollie from wandering in in the middle of the night.”

“That might have been a good idea. However, Annie is staying with Mollie and Hilda every minute to see that they don't get into something else,” Mrs. Taft assured her.

“What have these people been stealing, Uncle Ned?” Mandie asked.

“Small things like silver set, jewelry, things that can be easily hidden,” he explained.

“But what are they going to do with the stuff that they steal? They couldn't sell it around here because someone would find out where it came from,” Mandie said.

“Do not know,” Uncle Ned replied. “Steal and hide somewhere maybe for later to sell.”

“Uncle Ned has already been by your school and talked with Miss Hope,” Mrs. Taft explained. “The schoolhouse will keep all its windows and doors locked until these thieves are caught. When you girls return tomorrow night, the doors will be locked and you will probably have to go get Aunt Phoebe or Uncle Cal in their house in the backyard to let you in.”

“This sounds dangerous,” Celia murmured.

“Uncle Ned has some of his young men keeping watch over the town, trying to help the sheriff catch them,” Mrs. Taft explained.

“Grandmother, if these people stole your silver set, how did they get in? Don't you always lock the door when you go off?” Mandie asked.

“We haven't figured that out yet, dear,” Mrs. Taft replied. “I'm going to send for Ben and Gabriel in a little while and have them search the whole yard, barns and all, and Uncle Ned will check the house for us.”

“Can I help, Uncle Ned?” Mandie eagerly asked.

Uncle Ned shook his head and said, “Not safe. Two braves out back wait to help me search everywhere.”

“But can't I help? I could stay right with you, Uncle Ned,” Mandie begged.