The Princess Club / Family Secrets / Mountain Madness

Christy
^®
Juvenile Fiction Series
VOLUME THREE

Christy
^®
Juvenile Fiction Series

VOLUME ONE

Book #1 –
The Bridge to Cutter Gap

Book #2 –
Silent Superstitions

Book #3 –
The Angry Intruder

VOLUME TWO

Book #4 –
Midnight Rescue

Book #5 –
The Proposal

Book #6 –
Christy's Choice

VOLUME THREE

Book #7 –
The Princess Club

Book #8 –
Family Secrets

Book #9 –
Mountain Madness

VOLUME FOUR

Book #10 –
Stage Fright

Book #11 –
Goodbye, Sweet Prince

Book #12 –
Brotherly Love

Christy
^®
Juvenile Fiction Series
VOLUME THREE

The Princess Club
Family Secrets
Mountain Madness

Catherine Marshall
adapted by C. Archer

VOLUME THREE
The Princess Club
Family Secrets
Mountain Madness
in the
Christy
^®
Juvenile Fiction Series

Copyright © 1996, 1997
by the Estate of Catherine Marshall LeSourd

The
Christy
^®
Juvenile Fiction Series is based on
Christy
^®
by Catherine Marshall LeSourd © 1967
by Catherine Marshall LeSourd © renewed
1996, 1997 by Marshall-LeSourd, L.L.C.

The
Christy
^®
name and logo are officially registered
trademarks of Marshall-LeSourd, L.L.C.

All characters, themes, plots, and subplots portrayed in this
book are the licensed property of Marshall-LeSourd, L.L.C.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced in any form without the written permission
of the publisher, except for brief excerpts in reviews.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Tommy Nelson
^®
,
a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

ISBN 1-4003-0774-0

Printed in the United States of America
05 06 07 08 09 BANTA 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The
Princess
Club

Contents

The Characters

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

The Characters

CHRISTY RUDD HUDDLESTON
, a nineteen-year-old girl.

CHRISTY'S STUDENTS
:

CREED ALLEN, age nine.

LITTLE BURL ALLEN, age six.

BESSIE COBURN, age twelve.

WRAIGHT HOLT, age seventeen.

LIZETTE HOLCOMBE, age nine.

GEORGE O'TEALE, age nine.

MOUNTIE O'TEALE, age ten.

RUBY MAE MORRISON, age thirteen.

CLARA SPENCER, age twelve.

LUNDY TAYLOR, age seventeen.

GRANNY O'TEALE,
a superstitious mountain woman.
(Great-grandmother of Christy's students Mountie and George.)

DR. NEIL MACNEILL
, the physician of the Cove.

ALICE HENDERSON
, a Quaker missionary who started the mission at Cutter Gap.

DAVID GRANTLAND
, the young minister.

IDA GRANTLAND
, David's sister and the mission housekeeper.

GRADY HALLIDAY
, a traveling photographer.

BEN PENTLAND,
the mailman.

FAIRLIGHT SPENCER
, a mountain woman.

JEB SPENCER
, her husband.

(
Parents of Christy's student Clara.
)

OZIAS HOLT
, a mountain man.

NATHAN O'TEALE,
father of Christy's students Mountie and George.

DUGGIN MORRISON,
stepfather of Christy's student Ruby Mae.

MRS. MORRISON,
Ruby Mae's mother.

LETY COBURN,
a mountain woman.

KYLE COBURN,
her husband.

(Parents of Christy's student Bessie.)

BIRD'S-EYE TAYLOR,
father of Christy's student Lundy.

PRINCE,
black stallion donated to the mission.

PRINCE EGBERT,
unwilling frog captive.

OLD THEO,
crippled mule owned by the mission.

GOLDIE,
mare belonging to Miss Alice Henderson.

CLANCY,
mule owned by Grady Halliday.

One

T
ouch that frog, Clara Spencer, and you'll be covered with warts from head to toe!” Ruby Mae Morrison warned.

The
two girls stood at the edge of Dead Man's Creek with their friend Bessie Coburn. It was a sparkling, warm afternoon, and the icy water burbled over their bare feet.

Clara rolled her eyes. “That ain't true about frogs, Ruby Mae. Miz Christy says frogs is amphi-bians. We're goin' to study 'em for science class. And I'm gonna catch me this here one for her to teach us with.” She pointed to the fat green frog sitting on a boulder in the shallow creek, sunning itself happily.

Ruby Mae sighed. Sometimes Clara acted like the biggest know-it-all in Cutter Gap.

“Warts,” Ruby Mae repeated firmly. “Hundreds of 'em. Granny O'Teale says they start on your nose first-off.” She nudged Bessie. “Ain't that right, Bessie?”

Bessie watched as Clara took another careful step toward the frog. “'Member that fairy tale Miz Christy told us where the girl kisses a frog and he turns into a prince?”

“'Course I do. Anyways, you oughta be careful how far out you wade, Clara,” Ruby Mae advised. “We ain't never been this far up the creek before.”

Clara took a deep breath and lunged for the frog. She grabbed him with both hands. Then she slipped him into the deep pocket of her worn dress and returned to the bank.

“I'm a-callin' him Prince Egbert,” she announced, peeking into her pocket.

“Can't call him Prince,” Ruby Mae said. She picked up a smooth stone and flung it far down the rushing creek. “We already got ourselves a Prince, in case you forgot. And the mission's stallion is a whole lot purtier than any warty ol' frog.”

“Prince
Egbert
,” Clara repeated. “And he don't have warts, I'm tellin' you.”

“Kiss him then,” Ruby Mae challenged with a sly grin. “Prove it.”

Clara lay back on the grass, her hands behind her head. “Don't need to kiss a frog, 'cause I don't want to be a princess. I'm a-goin' to be a doctor when I grow up. Just like Doc MacNeill.”

Bessie groaned. “Gals can't be doctors, Clara. That's just plumb foolish.”

“How about Miz Alice?” Clara sat up on her elbows. “She's got a bag full of herbs and medicines. And she births babies and fixes up broken bones and such, just like the doc.”

Bessie joined Clara on the bank. “Well, I'm a-goin' to be a teacher, just like Miz Christy. Only in a much fancier school than ours. One with lots of books and pencils, and no hogs under the floor. And no bullies like Lundy Taylor, neither. All
my
students will behave nice and proper-like, with citified manners.”

Ruby Mae turned to stare at her two friends. They were lying side by side on the grass, staring up at the sky. They looked alike, the two of them. They were both smaller than she was, with long blond hair. Of course, there were differences, too. Bessie had plump, rosy cheeks and a silly grin. Clara had a thinner face, with sensible brown eyes, like she was always fretting over something or other.

She usually was, too. Clara was a thinker. She was always asking how or why or when— questions that would make a normal person's head spin like a top.

Bessie, on the other hand, was more of a dreamer. She was the kind of girl who would forget her head if it wasn't attached.

Ruby Mae knew both girls leaned on her. After all, she was a year older, and that made her a whole year wiser. She was taller than they were, with long, curly red hair. If only she could get rid of her freckles, she figured she'd be just about perfect.

“Doctor Clara Spencer,” Bessie said in a wishing kind of voice, “and Pro-fess-or Bessie Coburn.”

Ruby Mae sighed. Of course, they were only twelve. They weren't so smart about the way the world worked.

“Hate to tell you, but you ain't a-goin' to be doctors or teachers or frog princesses,” Ruby Mae said as she stooped to get another stone.

“Since when can you see the future, Ruby Mae?” Clara demanded.

“Only Granny O'Teale can see the future,” Bessie said. “And that's if she's reading the innards of a squirrel on a full moon night.”

“What I'm sayin' is, you need cash-money to get those highfalutin' jobs. 'Cause first you need your schoolin'.” Ruby Mae tossed another rock upstream. “And in case you ain't noticed, we're just kinda short of cash-money.”

“Still and all, Ruby Mae,” Bessie said, “what do you want to be when you're all growed up? If'n you could be anything you wanted, I mean.”

Ruby Mae didn't have to think for a second. “I'd be a mama in a big house in a big city, like Asheville. Maybe even Knoxville. And I'd have me a beautiful golden horse, the fastest in the world. And about twenty-seven kids. All of 'em little angels, mind you . . .”

“Not like their mama!” Clara teased.

“And a husband as handsome as . . .” Ruby Mae paused. “As handsome as the preacher and Doc MacNeill, all rolled up into one. Only he'd comb his hair more often than Doc does. And wear fancy clothes with no patches. He'd have the preacher's eyes. And the doctor's smile. And he'd have a voice like—”

“R-R-R- R-IBBIT!” cried the frog in Clara's pocket.

“Like Prince Egbert!” Clara exclaimed. She started to giggle. Before long, she and Bessie were rolling on the grass, laughing so hard tears came to their eyes.

Furious, Ruby Mae rushed up the bank. “Ain't funny!” she cried, grabbing for Clara's pocket. Prince Egbert popped out and made a flying leap. He landed on the edge of the bank, eyeing the girls suspiciously.

“You made me lose Prince Egbert!” Clara cried. “Now help me get him back, Ruby Mae Morrison, or I'll tell Miz Christy what you done!”

Ruby Mae sighed. “You stop laughin' at me, and I'll help you get your frog. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Carefully the girls made their way toward the frog. But as soon as Clara reached for him, he hopped into the air. He landed on a big rock farther down the creek.

“Pretend you're huntin' squirrels,” Bessie whispered as they made their way toward the rock. “Nice and slow and quiet-like.”

“If we was huntin', my papa's hound would be doin' the hard work,” Clara said.

“We need us a froghound,” Ruby Mae joked. Bessie giggled, but Clara was still too mad to laugh.

“This time, we'll surround him,” Clara advised as they waded closer. “When I say three, we grab him. I'll do the countin'. One, two, THREE!”

All three girls lunged for poor Prince Egbert. He took another leap and landed at the water's edge underneath a thick, overhanging bush. Ruby Mae reached down in a flash and scooped him up, along with some rocks and sand from the bottom of the creek.

She held him up, nose crinkled. “Hope you're satisfied,” she said, depositing the frog into Clara's pocket. “I'll be covered with warts by morning.”

Ruby Mae dropped the stones she'd scooped up back into the water. As she started toward the bank, something sparkling on the bottom of the creek caught her eye.

Was it just the sun, bouncing off the water? Pieces of shiny metal? Maybe a belt buckle or some nails?