After the service everyone returned to the house and to the parlor where the fire burned brightly in the fireplace and felt good after the cold outside. Mollie went to sleep in her chair and Aunt Rebecca woke her and took her upstairs to bed.
Mandie sighed. “Maybe Mollie will ask Grandmother in the morning about going to Ireland,” she told her friends.
Soon the adults began saying good-night and going to their rooms. Elizabeth told Mandie, “Please don’t stay up too late now. Remember we will be up very early tomorrow morning to give out the presents.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie replied. And as the last of the adults left the parlor she said to her friends, “I suppose we might as well retire, too.”
“Yes, so morning will hurry up and come and I can see what that present is my father put under the tree for me,” Jonathan said, grinning as they passed the tree in the hallway.
They stopped to glance down at the presents. “Somebody has been adding a lot of presents. Every time I pass here the pile gets larger and larger,” Mandie remarked.
“When you stop to think about the number of people staying here at your house, no wonder the presents are piling up,” Celia said.
“But I can’t see a single name on any of them,” Jonathan said, squinting as he walked around the tree.
“That’s because people always turn the name tag under the bottom of the present so no one can see what is for whom,” Joe said.
“At my house my mother and I just exchange gifts. We don’t wrap them up and put them under the tree,” Dimar said.
“But there are only two of you. Look how many people are here,” Mandie said. “Let’s sit in the back parlor a few minutes.” She led the way.
“Dimar, I hope your mother is not spending Christmas alone,” Celia said as everyone sat down.
“No, she is staying with Uncle Wirt while I am gone. She didn’t want to travel this far,” Dimar explained.
“My grandfather and my grandmother asked her to come with us to visit you and your family, Mandie, but she did not want to come and stay away from her home for so long,” Sallie said.
“I’m sure she will have a nice visit with Uncle Wirt and Aunt Saphronia,” Mandie said. “I would like to go and visit my Cherokee kinpeople. If Grandmother takes us to Europe she probably won’t leave for at least a week or two after we graduate, Celia, so we could go then. You will go with me, won’t you, all of you?” She looked at her friends.
“I can’t promise right now, Mandie, because my mother may have plans,” Celia replied.
“Since you’re coming back to my neighborhood at Charley Gap, of course I’ll be there,” Joe said.
“If you are going to visit Uncle Wirt I will see you then, since I live so near him,” Sallie said.
Jonathan looked at Mandie and said, “I don’t know about coming back down here at that time, but I will be home because all of you will have to come to my house to get the ship since it sails from New York.”
“Celia, I do hope your aunt Rebecca will go to Europe with us so she can bring Mollie, because I’ve already asked Mollie if she would like to go back to Ireland, you know,” Mandie said.
“Yes, Aunt Rebecca will probably agree to come with us, because I don’t want the job of keeping up with Mollie,” Celia said. “I can imagine what she will do when she gets back to Ireland. She’ll probably try to run away, chasing leprechauns. And I imagine there are still people there she would know because it hasn’t really been long since your grandmother brought her to the United States.”
“You know, we could just sit here and wait for everyone to get up in the morning,” Joe said with a big grin.
“I don’t think I like that idea,” Jonathan said as he stood up.
Everyone else rose and said good-night as they went to their various rooms.
When Mandie, Celia, and Sallie got to Mandie’s room, Mandie turned back as she opened the door and said, “I think I’d like to go take a peek at my graduation dress so I can remember the exact shade of the blue and pink and lavender flowers on it so I can match a hair ribbon sometime before I wear it. Y’all want to come with me?” She looked at the two friends.
Celia shrugged and said, “If you think we won’t get caught snooping in Aunt Lou’s sewing room.”
“Yes, I will go, too, if you believe it will be all right for us to do this,” Sallie added, tossing back her long black hair.
“Come on,” Mandie said. She quickly picked up the lighted oil lamp from the hall table and led the way up to Aunt Lou’s sewing room.
The three quietly crept down the hallway, went upstairs to the door of the room, and Mandie slowly pushed it open. She stepped inside and held the lamp up to look for the dress.
“Do y’all see my dress? It was hanging right here when we were up here before,” Mandie said, going to a hanger by the huge wardrobe. She opened the door and looked inside. The dress was not there, either.
There were quite a few garments half finished lying around and hanging about the room that evidently Aunt Lou was working on. After they quickly examined all of this, Mandie straightened up and said, “The dress is not here.”
“I don’t see it,” Celia replied.
“I do not see it, either,” Sallie added.
“Let’s go, Mandie, before we wake someone and are caught in here,” Celia said, going toward the door.
“All right,” Mandie agreed and led the way back to her room after leaving the lamp where she had found it.
As the three girls began getting ready for bed they discussed the dress.
“How am I going to find out where the dress is?” Mandie asked, brushing out her long blond hair.
“You certainly can’t ask Aunt Lou or she will know you have been in her sewing room,” Celia said, fastening the buttons on her nightclothes.
“Have you thought about the possibility that Aunt Lou has taken it to her room to work on it?” Sallie asked, hanging up the dress she had taken off.
“Oh no, I don’t think she would do that. Remember she said she was too busy because of all the company we have for the holidays?” Mandie reminded her. She shoved Snowball off her pillow and turned down the cover.
“I’m sure she must know where it is right now,” Celia said, getting into bed on her side of the big bed.
Sallie quickly jumped into the single bed she slept in, puffed up her pillow, and looking across the room at Mandie, she said, “Since no one is allowed in her sewing room without her permission, she must know where the dress is right now.”
“I hope she does, but I can’t ask about it, either,” Mandie replied. Then she added with a frown, “I suppose I could ask her if she is working on my dress, without letting her know we’ve been to her sewing room.”
“She might be suspicious of that question,” Sallie reminded her.
“Or she might just shoo you away with her big apron without even giving you an answer,” Celia told her.
The girls finally fell asleep discussing the missing dress.
When Liza came in to light the fire on the hearth in their room, she woke them with a cheery greeting, “Mawnin’ y’all now. Git up and let’s open dem presents under dat tree downstairs.”
Mandie rubbed her eyes and looked at the girl. “Don’t tell me it’s time to get up. We just now went to bed.”
Liza looked up at the clock on the mantelpiece and said, “You means y’all dun stayed up all night? It’s seven o’clock right now and dem boys dey dun dressed and waitin’ fo’ y’all at de top of de stairs.”
Mandie pushed Snowball out of the way and swung her feet down from the bed. Snowball ran for the heat of the fire. “If the boys are up then we’d better hurry,” she said, yawning and stretching.
Celia and Sallie jumped out of bed and quickly began dressing.
Liza started toward the door and then turned back to say, “Oh, I forgot to say Merry Christmas to y’all.”
The three girls answered together, “Merry Christmas, Liza.”<
br />
As the maid went out the door, Mandie called to her, “Please tell Joe and Jonathan and Dimar we’re on our way.”
“Dat I will do,” Liza promised as she went out the door and closed it behind her.
As Mandie tied the sash on her dress she said, “I suppose I should have asked Liza if my mother and the other adults are up, too.”
“Seems like we just went to bed,” Celia fussed as she buttoned up her green dress.
“I feel that way, too,” Sallie agreed, brushing back her long black hair.
“Mandie, are you going to say anything to anyone about your graduation dress?” Celia asked.
“If I can think of a way to do it without letting anyone know we have been in the sewing room,” Mandie replied, joining Sallie at the mirror on the bureau.
“I just remembered the mother cat and the kittens,” Celia said, coming over to join them. “Do you suppose the cat stayed in the storage room this time, or maybe it got out again?”
“I hope it stayed in the storage room with its kittens,” Mandie said. “I wish I could keep one of the kittens.”
Sallie quickly turned to look at her and said, “Keep one of the kittens?”
“What would you do with it?” Celia asked. “You already have one cat, Snowball, and he is enough, don’t you think?”
Mandie looked over at the cat while he was washing his face in front of the fire on the hearth. “I suppose he is, but the kittens are so pretty and tiny.”
“Remember Snowball was once tiny, but cats do grow up, you know,” Celia replied.
“Yes, he was a tiny kitten back at my father’s house at Charley Gap when my father was still living,” Mandie replied, sadly looked at the cat. “I brought him with me when I ran away.”
“But Mandie, you did not run away. You were sent to live with those terrible people, and my grandfather brought you here to your Uncle John’s house,” Sallie reminded her.
“You are right, Sallie, and I love your grandfather so much for looking after me,” Mandie replied.
Celia started toward the door. “Come on, the boys are waiting, and no telling who else is up, and we have presents to open,” she said.
They found the boys waiting at the top of the stairs.
“We were about to come pound on your door,” Joe told Mandie. “Even your grandmother is up this early. They’re all down in the parlor.”
“Oh goodness, let’s hurry,” Mandie replied.
The group rushed down the staircase, and when they came to the open door of the parlor, they stopped, looked into the room, and all together said, “Merry Christmas!”
The adults returned the greeting.
“Now we will proceed to the Christmas tree and distribute the presents,” John Shaw said.
As they got to the tree, Mandie saw Aunt Lou and all the other servants coming to join them, and again everyone chorused, “Merry Christmas!”
And Aunt Lou added loudly, “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” and the others echoed the greeting.
CHAPTER SIX
TIME FLIES BY
Christmas Day and the week following passed quickly. During that time Jenny and Abraham decided to take the mother cat and her kittens to their house in the back of John Shaw’s property.
“I sho’ am glad dem cats ain’t comin’ into my kitchen now,” Aunt Lou told the young people one morning. “Jenny promises to keep dem at her house.”
“Yes,” Mandie agreed. “Snowball is enough to have around. I had thought I’d like to keep one of the kittens but decided it was too much trouble.”
“You couldn’t have took it back to school when you goes back,” the old woman reminded her.
“That’s right,” all of Mandie’s friends chimed in with a smile.
“I know, and my grandmother would not have allowed one to live at her house while I’m in school.”
Mandie had not mentioned her graduation dress to Aunt Lou but decided this was the right time to ask. “Oh, Aunt Lou, have you been doing any work on my graduation dress since you showed it to me?”
Aunt Lou looked at her, put her hands on her broad hips, and said, “Now I dun told you I can’t be workin’ on dat dress with so many visitors in dis here house, and I also told you I’d have it ready for you to take back with you when you come home for spring break. So now, dat’s de last of dis heah conversation ’bout dat dress.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie replied, and as she turned to look at her friends drinking coffee with her at the kitchen table, she said, “Guess we’d better get out of Aunt Lou’s way so she can get breakfast.”
“That’s right,” Joe agreed.
“Yes, dat’s right, now, shoo, I’se got to git de food ready,” the old woman fanned her large white apron at the young people. They all quickly rose from the table.
“Yes, ma’am,” they all agreed as they left the kitchen.
“It didn’t do any good to ask,” Mandie said with a loud sigh as she looked at Celia and Sallie in the hallway.
“No,” the two girls agreed.
Since the boys didn’t know about the missing dress, Mandie decided not to tell them right then.
Christmas week passed quickly and then it was New Year’s Eve. John and Elizabeth had planned a large dinner party for that night and the house was running over with people when the clock struck twelve.
“Happy New Year!” Mandie and all her friends said together. Everyone was standing around the loaded dining room and were taking plates full of food to a seat wherever they could find one.
“Where are we going to eat this?” Jonathan asked as he held a heavily laden plate in his hands.
Mandie frowned thoughfully and said, “Maybe no one is in the back parlor. Let’s see.” She led the way down the hall.
Luckily no one was inside the room. The young people found seats and hungrily began eating, even though they had had supper earlier that night.
“My parents and I will be leaving tomorrow morning,” Joe told them.
“I think my father is planning to leave then, also,” Jonathan said, and added between bites, “and of course I’ll have to go with him. Too bad you haven’t been able to get your grandmother to tell us whether we are going to Europe or not, Mandie.”
“I’m sorry, but I’ve done everything I could think of to find out,” Mandie said. “She just isn’t telling yet.”
“If she doesn’t hurry up and decide, my mother may be making plans for something else for the summer,” Celia said.
“I am not certain I would like to go on that huge ship all the way across the ocean so it does not matter to me,” Dimar told them.
“Oh, but Dimar, you’ve just got to go if my grandmother does take us,” Mandie told him.
“Yes, Dimar, you must go,” Sallie said. “You may never have such an opportunity to see what it is like on the other side of the ocean.”
“But Mrs. Taft may not go anyhow,” Dimar replied.
“And you must come to our graduation,” Mandie told him.
“Yes, you must come with my grandfather and me,” Sallie said. “Next school year we will all be separated in different places.”
“At least Celia and I will be together at the College of Charleston,” Mandie remarked, glancing at her friend.
“At least for one year,” Celia added. “Remember I said I would try it out for one year.”
“Yes, and if we don’t like the college we will go to another one the next year, together,” Mandie agreed.
“Y’all may end up at my college yet,” Joe teased her.
“Or they may end up at my school in New York,” Jonathan said with a big grin as he swallowed a huge bite of mashed potatoes.
Mandie looked forward to the coming year of 1904. So many things would be happening. She thought to herself that there would not be any time for any mysteries this year. Then she remembered her missing dress. That was a mystery, and unless the dress was there when she came home for spring break, she would have to really investigate the
matter. After spring break, graduation day was not long off, and she certainly had to have her graduation dress.
Next day when Joe and his parents and Jonathan Guyer and his father left for their homes, Mrs. Taft informed Mandie, “We will be leaving tomorrow. Jane Hamilton and Celia will also be going. We need a day or two of rest before you girls have to return to school on Tuesday.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie replied and turned to ask Celia, “Will you be going home and then coming back to school on Tuesday?”
Celia looked at her mother, who was standing nearby on the platform after they had waved good-bye to the Woodards and Guyers.
“Yes, Celia, we’ll go home and then you can come back to school on Tuesday. We need a day or two by ourselves since we’ve spent the whole holiday time away from home.”
Mandie silently groaned to herself. She wasn’t looking forward to spending the next two days alone at her grandmother’s house in Asheville. She smiled at Celia, who always understood what she was thinking. Celia smiled back.
But Tuesday did finally arrive and the girls were back in the Misses Heathwood’s School for Girls at last that afternoon.
As they began unpacking their trunks, Mandie looked around the room and noticed things on the bureau had been moved about. She pulled open the drawer she used and found personal belongings jumbled up in the drawer.
“Celia, look,” she said, pointing to the open drawer. “Someone has been messing in my things, and on the bureau, too.”
Celia came to look and replied, “Yes, it looks like someone must have gone through your things in a hurry. Let me check my drawer.”
Mandie pushed her drawer shut so Celia could open the one she used beneath it.
“Oh, Mandie, mine is a mess, too,” Celia said. “I wonder if they took anything.” She anxiously tried to refold things and put them back in some kind of order.
After Celia closed her drawer, Mandie quickly straightened up her belongings in her drawer.
Celia went over to check the inside of the huge wardrobe where they hung their dresses.
“I can’t tell for sure but it looks like someone has been pushing our clothes about in here,” Celia said.
The Mandie Collection Page 18
