The Mandie Collection (6 page)

“Why not?” Jonathan asked.

Mandie quickly replied, “Because I had already asked my grandmother about the boys at Mr. Chadwick’s School helping us search for Miss Hope, and she didn’t think they could be of any help.”

“So then what do we do if Jonathan and I disappear and then turn up with Robert?” Joe asked.

“I don’t think Robert will be able to come back with y’all tonight because Mr. Chadwick has rules at his school about going and coming, so if y’all could just tell Robert about Miss Hope disappearing, maybe he can figure out how he can come over here and help us search,” Mandie explained.

“And if he hasn’t come back to school, are we supposed to leave a message for him?” Jonathan asked.

Mandie looked at Celia.

“Mandie, Mr. Chadwick must know that Miss Hope has disappeared. The whole town knows,” Celia reminded her.

“Just tell Mr. Chadwick we would like to talk to Robert about something important and could Robert come over here for a few minutes,” Mandie said.

“I have an idea this is going to be complicated,” Joe said with a loud moan.

Celia stood up and said, “Look.” She pointed at the clock. “We have five minutes to get down to the parlor.”

“Let’s go,” Mandie said, starting toward the staircase.

The four young people rushed down to the parlor where Mrs. Taft, Senator Morton, and Uncle Ned were sitting. As they entered the room, Annie came down the hallway to the doorway and announced supper.

“We just barely made it,” Mandie said, blowing out her breath as she looked at her friends.

Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton stood up and started to leave the room. Uncle Ned followed.

“Y’all come along now and we’ll have supper,” Mrs. Taft told them as they went on out into the hall. “We need to hurry now,” she added as she looked back at them. “I’ve decided to go over to the school tonight and speak to Miss Prudence again, to see if she has learned anything more.”

The four young people looked at each other as they followed.

“Y’all won’t be able to go to Mr. Chadwick’s School tonight,” Mandie whispered to the boys.

“Too bad,” Jonathan replied.

“But y’all could go early in the morning,” Mandie added.

“We’d better wait and see what plans your grandmother has before we make any plans,” Joe said as they slowly walked toward the dining room.

“If y’all get up real early and go over there before Grandmother gets up, you’d have time,” Mandie said as they entered the room behind the adults.

Joe moaned and said, “How early?”

“Probably about the time the sun rises,” Mandie replied under her breath as they sat down at the table with the adults.

“Your grandmother may have plans to rise about that early,” Jonathan told Mandie. He and Celia were sitting across the table from Mandie and Joe.

“Yes, maybe we should forget about trying to see Robert,” Celia said.

“We’ll work it out somehow,” Mandie replied.

She didn’t tell her friends, but she would wait and listen for her grandmother’s plans and then she would suggest to the boys when they would be able to go to Mr. Chadwick’s School. It would be too late tonight after they visited Miss Prudence. They would probably have a chance tomorrow.

During supper, no one had much to say because they were hurrying to finish and get over to the school to see Miss Prudence before it got too late. The young people were hungry and tried to eat everything on their plates, and the adults were eating quickly, too. With mostly just the sound of tinkling china and silver, Mandie tried to figure out what to do about getting the boys to see Robert.

“I could ask Uncle Ned,” Mandie whispered to her friends.

They immediately understood what she was talking about, and all three quickly shook their heads no. Mandie guessed they did not want any adults involved in their plan. However, she knew Uncle Ned could go and come at any hour, whereas the boys would have to be secretive about what they were doing. She thought about talking to Uncle Ned. She would decide about this later.

“Shall we go?” Mrs. Taft was saying to Senator Morton and Uncle Ned when Mandie was brought out of her daydreaming.

Mandie looked up and scrambled to her feet. The adults were already on their way out of the dining room. Her friends followed.

“Your mind must have been a million miles away, Mandie,” Joe teased her.

“Almost,” Mandie said with a big grin.

Ben had the rig waiting and drove them over to the schoolhouse. The sun was still shining but was already dropping behind the mountains in the distance. Asheville was far from a level town, and the sun would hide behind the steep hills and then reappear at the top as they traveled along the cobblestone streets. Other conveyances passed them as they continued toward the Misses Heathwood’s School for Girls. Finally Ben turned the rig into the curved driveway surrounded by huge magnolia trees, leading up to the clapboard mansion that housed the school.

Mandie and her grandmother paused in the yard to look up at the house. Mandie held tightly to Snowball.

“I wonder if anyone has seen a light in the attic again,” Mandie said, squinting to look up at the third floor.

“If there had been, I’m sure someone would have let us know, dear,” Mrs. Taft said. Looking at the white cat in Mandie’s arms, she said, “Please hold on to that cat. Miss Prudence may not like the idea of your bringing him inside with you.”

Mandie laughed and said, “Miss Prudence only likes Snowball when he is chasing mice for her.” She glanced back at her friends, who were waiting with the senator and Uncle Ned for them to lead the way into the schoolhouse.

Miss Prudence met them at the door.

“Do come in,” she said, standing aside so they could enter the front entrance hall. “I was just coming to check the door to be sure it was locked for the night.” She led the way on down the front corridor. “Let’s just go sit in the parlor here.”

Aunt Phoebe met them in the hallway. “How’s my girls tonight?” she asked Mandie and Celia.

“Fine, Aunt Phoebe,” Mandie replied.

“Fine,” Celia said.

Aunt Phoebe looked at Joe and Jonathan and said, “You ain’t gwine believe this, but I just took a chocolate cake out of the oven.”

The boys looked at each other, grinning.

“Do you think it would be possible for us to partake of that chocolate cake?” Jonathan asked.

“Just a tiny piece,” Joe added, grinning as he held up his fingers to indicate how much.

“I’m sho’ Miss Prudence will be wantin’ coffee, and I’ll jes’ bring de cake along wid it,” the old woman told them.

“Thank you,” echoed around the young people.

They followed Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton, Uncle Ned and Miss Prudence on into the parlor, where everyone sat down. The young people sat in chairs nearest to the adults. Mandie held Snowball in her lap even though he protested.

“This has been an uneventful day,” Mrs. Taft said with a sigh. “We haven’t uncovered one iota of information about Miss Hope and I came to see whether you had.”

“Oh dear, no, not a thing,” Miss Prudence replied. She fingered the large brooch at the high neck of her blouse. “I was hoping someone might come forward with some information by now. I’m really worried about my sister.” She dabbed at her eyes with her lace handkerchief.

“Yes, and we all are, too,” Mrs. Taft agreed. “This is such a time-consuming task. We’ve only been to the farm and to the preacher’s house. No one at the farm has seen her, and the preacher was out making calls. I shall try again tomorrow morning to see him. I was hoping you had heard something by now.”

“I wish I had,” Miss Prudence said.

Senator Morton cleared his throat and said, “I don’t suppose anything unusual has been going on here at the school today, like perhaps lights in the attic or strange noises.”

Miss Prudence frowned as she looked at him. “Why, no, nothing,” she said. Turning back to Mrs. Taft she said, “I will certainly inform you of anything occurring here.”

Mandie spoke up. “Miss Prudence, would you give us permission to look in the attic? Since we go up there a lot for different things, we might notice something out of place, or whatever, that other people would overlook.”

Miss Prudence shrugged her shoulders in her black blouse and replied, “Why, no, I don’t mind if you young people go up there. But please be sure you don’t move things around or leave things open. As you know, we try to keep everything neat and orderly.”

“Thank you, Miss Prudence, we won’t mess anything up,” Mandie replied, and looking at her friends she asked, “Do y’all want to go up to the attic?”

Everyone seemed to hesitate, and finally Joe replied, “All right, as long as we don’t miss out on the chocolate cake.”

Everyone laughed.

“I’ll be sure you all have a slice when you come back down,” Miss Prudence promised.

Mandie, holding Snowball in her arms, led her friends down the long corridor and up the long staircase to the attic. The house had three floors plus the attic.

“Where do you girls stay when school is in session?” Jonathan asked as he brought up the rear.

“Our room is on the third floor, but we are not allowed to show it to you. Miss Prudence has strict rules about anyone outside going into the girls’ rooms,” Mandie explained, glancing back at him as she led the way. She pushed open the door to the attic and said, “There is a light bulb hanging down on a long cord in here.” She walked into the darkness feeling for the wire, found it, and turned the switch on the bulb. The light swinging on the cord made wavering shadows here and there around the packed attic. Mandie set Snowball down, and he darted into a jungle of boxes.

“What a way to light up a room,” Jonathan remarked with a big grin. “Why don’t they have lights on the ceiling with wall switches?”

“Because we only got electricity here recently,” Mandie said. “Before that we had oil lamps everywhere. This is not New York, you know, where you have everything modern.”

“It hasn’t been long since we got the furnace in the building here,” Celia added. “That was a mess to install, holes everywhere.”

“And Miss Prudence allowed Snowball to stay here to chase the mice that came out of the holes,” Mandie said with a big grin.

“Now that we are up here, what did you plan on doing, Mandie?” Joe asked as he surveyed the shadowy room.

Mandie walked back over to the doorway and lit an oil lamp sitting on a trunk with matches beside it. “We need this to light up the corners that the light bulb doesn’t reach,” she explained, picking it up.

The tall pieces of furniture—dressers, headboards, wardrobes, and such—prevented the light of the bulb from shining between them. Mandie walked around with the lamp. “If y’all see anything open—drawers, trunks, anything—let me know, because Miss Prudence keeps a strict rule about how everything must be closed.”

Jonathan walked around and said, “I still don’t know what we are doing.”

Mandie looked at him with a big grin and said, “I just said if you see anything open let me know. If someone has been up here, maybe they left something open and we might find it.”

Jonathan had stopped in front of a huge wardrobe. He reached over and opened the door on it. Suddenly piles of papers came falling out of it. It seemed to be packed with papers of some kind. Everyone stopped to look.

Mandie quickly set the lamp down on a nearby box and hastened to stop the flow of papers.

“What a mess!” Celia exclaimed as she knelt to pick up the papers.

“Yes, and Miss Prudence said things must be neat and orderly,” Joe added as he bent to help.

“What are all those papers, anyhow?” Jonathan asked, looking at one he had picked up.

Mandie was also inspecting the papers. “Looks like real old bills of some kind,” she said, and reading from one she added, “One case of dish towels. A case of dish towels? My goodness, that would be a lot of dish towels, wouldn’t it?” She glanced at her friends.

“This one says one case of pillow cases, embroidered in pastels,” Celia read.

“And so does this one,” Joe said. “A case of pillowcases embroidered in pastels. I wonder what they did with all these pillowcases.”

“Look at the dates on these papers,” Mandie said excitedly, holding one up. “June 30, 1880. That’s twenty-three years ago. Why would they want to keep stuff that old?”

“You said one time Miss Prudence never throws anything away,” Celia reminded Mandie. “Besides, I don’t believe anyone ever comes up here and goes through these things. Remember we found those old love letters in that trunk that time?”

“Yes, that was an exciting discovery,” Mandie said as she kept picking up papers.

“Yes, it was. I was with y’all that time when we found those, remember?” Joe said, shuffling through a stack of papers from the wardrobe.

“Yes, I remember that very well,” Mandie said, grinning. “We found out lots of secrets that time.”

Jonathan was trying to place the papers back into the wardrobe, but it was too full and they kept falling out. “Mandie, I don’t think all these are going back in there,” he said.

Everyone straightened up to look at the inside of the wardrobe.

“But they all came out of there,” Mandie said.

“And it was absolutely running over, too,” Joe said.

“Let’s look for something else to put some of them in,” Mandie said, walking around the area and looking at the discarded furniture.

“Here,” Celia said. She had opened an old trunk and found it completely empty. “This will hold a lot of them.”

Mandie glanced at the trunk and then at the wardrobe and said, “But how are we going to divide them? I wonder if all these papers are bills from way back in 1880.”

“We can find out,” Joe said and began taking stacks of the papers from the wardrobe and placing them on the floor. “So far all these are 1880.”

Jonathan reached for a handful, too. “These are dated 1870, I believe,” he said, flipping through the brittle papers.

Mandie looked over his shoulder. “And these are some kind of inventory,” she said. She reached for more in the wardrobe.

Celia also took a handful from the wardrobe. “Some of these are newspaper clippings,” she said and began reading. “ ‘Miss Aurelia Quincy was awarded the top honors in her class at the graduation on May 20, 1870.’ The print has faded.” She examined the other clippings. “A lot of these are faded, too.”

“Well, they are a little old,” Joe joked.

Jonathan stood up from the stack on the floor and said, “Don’t you think we ought to hurry and get back to the parlor? The cake may be all gone if we don’t get back soon.”

“Yes, I agree with that,” Joe said, pushing some of the papers back into the wardrobe.

“Let’s just get all of them out of sight. We can come back later and try to put them back in order,” Mandie told her friends.

They quickly filled up the wardrobe and then put the overflow into the old empty trunk Celia had found.

Once everything had been closed back up, Mandie glanced around for her cat. “Snowball, where are you?” she called as she moved around the room looking for him.

Her friends spread out and searched for the cat, too. Wherever he was, he was not making a sound, not a single meow.

“Oh, Snowball, come here,” Mandie called impatiently as she looked between old furniture and boxes. She almost stepped on him when she finally located him. He was crouched down near a loose board in the floor. He was not moving and evidently had something cornered.

“Snowball has something cornered,” Celia said as she came up behind Mandie.

“Yes, but what?” Mandie agreed as she stopped to watch her white cat.

“Must be a mouse,” Joe said as he, too, watched the cat.

“Oh, let’s just pick up that cat and get back downstairs before all the chocolate cake is gone,” Jonathan told them.

“Yes, we can’t stay here forever and wait for him to catch whatever it is,” Mandie agreed. She reached down and picked up the white cat. He immediately jerked out of her hands, ran to the door, and disappeared down the stairs.

“I don’t think he really wanted whatever it was anyhow,” Joe said with a laugh.

“Let’s look around and be sure there is nothing open, or Miss Prudence might say we left it open,” Mandie told her friends.

She moved around the dark spots with the lamp. Everything seemed to be neat and in order. Her friends quickly covered the entire attic.

“I believe everything is just fine,” Jonathan said. “Now let’s go.” He started for the door.

Mandie looked back and spotted one paper under an old dresser; it had evidently fallen out of the wardrobe. She quickly stooped and picked it up. Without even glancing at it, she folded it up and stuffed it into the pocket in her skirt. “I’ll put it back later. I’m not going to take a chance of opening that wardrobe and having everything spill out again,” she said as she blew out the lamp and placed it back by the door.

“I’ve got the light,” Joe said, putting out the electric light hanging from overhead.

They left the attic and hurried down the stairs.

“I hope we weren’t gone too long, or Grandmother might be angry with me,” Mandie said as she brought up the rear.

“Does anyone really know what all is in that attic?” Jonathan asked as they descended the staircase.

“I doubt it,” Celia said. “This school has been here practically forever, and I suppose everyone keeps adding to the mess in the attic.”