The Mandie Collection

by Lois Gladys Leppard

  “No one would ever think these two girls were heathens, Aunt Phoebe,” Miss Prudence said, smiling. “I’m right proud at how they’ve turned out since enrolling here.”

  “Thank you, thank you,” Mandie quickly told the two women as she hurried toward the front door. She was always uncomfortable with compliments.

  The girls’ trunks had been brought down and Ben was loading them on the rig. The girls waved good-bye as they got into the rig and Ben drove the vehicle out into the street.

  They spent the weekend with Mrs. Taft discussing the upcoming shopping trip to New York and their graduation and then their journey to Europe. The girls were becoming more and more excited as those things came closer to being realities.

  Mandie remembered Lily in the middle of their conversation with Mrs. Taft in the parlor. “Grandmother, I was wondering if I might ask Lily Masterson and her little sister, Violet, to go to Europe with us. Remember them?”

  “Oh, yes, I remember them,” Mrs. Taft agreed. “But, Amanda, you don’t know what Lily is doing these days because you haven’t been in touch with her in a long time. She’s old enough now that she might have even gotten married.”

  “Married? Lily?” Mandie repeated in surprise. “Well, I suppose I had not thought about that. But, Grandmother, I could write to her and find out what she and Violet are doing now.”

  “All right, that will take a while. I wish that telephone company would hurry up and get the wires in for our telephones.”

  “I’ll write a note this afternoon and get Ben to mail it for me,” Mandie said. “And, Grandmother, I don’t believe anyone from the school is going except Mary Lou.”

  “I invited everyone, dear,” Mrs. Taft said. “But I suppose all the others already had plans. However, I told everyone they had until the first of May to let me know whether they were going or not, so we may have others coming with us.”

  “Thank you, Grandmother,” Mandie said with a big smile.

  Ben posted Mandie’s note to Lily Masterson that afternoon.

  Monday morning they were all up and ready to get the train to New York. And when they got to New York the next day, Jonathan and his father, Lindall Guyer, and John Shaw met them at the depot. Celia’s mother, Jane Hamilton, and Mandie’s mother, Elizabeth Shaw, were waiting for them at the Guyer mansion. Since this was strictly a hurried shopping trip, no one else was coming to New York this time.

  And Mandie and Celia were happy two days later when all the shopping had been done and they all started home—Mandie and her mother and uncle to their home in Franklin, and Celia and her mother to their home in Virginia. Mrs. Taft came home with the Shaws.

  Snowball was waiting at the front door when Mandie arrived. He growled, purred, swished his tail, and made circles around Mandie’s feet. She stooped down to pick him up. “I suppose you must have missed me, Snowball,” she said.

  He purred loudly in her ear and tried to lick her face.

  Aunt Lou came down the front hall. “Lawsy mercy, heah’s my chile,” she said, rushing forward to embrace Mandie, cat and all.

  Mandie hugged her back. “I’m glad to be home, Aunt Lou. I’ve been worried about—”

  Aunt Lou cut her short as she said, “Don’t worry ’bout dat graduation dress. It’s all done and hanging in my sewing room ready to go to Asheville when you go back, my chile.”

  “Now how did you know I was going to say I was worried about my dress?” Mandie asked with a big grin.

  “ ’Cause you been worrying ’bout dat dress ever since we planned to make one fo’ you, my chile,” Aunt Lou said. “And now it’s done and ready.”

  Mandie quickly squeezed Aunt Lou’s hand with her free hand as she held Snowball. “Thank you, Aunt Lou. I can always count on you. I love you.” She bent forward and planted a quick kiss on the old woman’s cheek.

  “Now, now,” Aunt Lou said, flustered as always when anyone tried to love her. She quickly turned away and started back down the hall. “Got to see ’bout dinner now.” And stopping to glance back, she added, “I be thinkin’ we’re havin’ chocolate cake for dessert tonight.” She walked on toward the kitchen door.

  “Oh, thank you, Aunt Lou,” Mandie called after her.

  Mandie went up to her room, deposited Snowball on the big bed, and plumped up a pillow to sit beside him.

  “You know, Snowball, you were too young to remember, but I remember the day you and I came here to Uncle John’s house. He was out of town but Mr. Jason invited us in and Aunt Lou gave us this room here to stay in until Uncle John would come home. I only had two dresses, both of them cheap, country clothes that I had had back home at Charley Gap when my father was living. Aunt Lou decided to make me all these wonderful dresses and everything. Oh, how I loved her for that.”

  Snowball moved closer and rubbed his nose against her arm.

  “Snowball, you and I were orphans. We didn’t have anyone at all who loved us, except my father’s old Cherokee friend, Uncle Ned. And bless his heart, Uncle Ned has always looked after me since my father went to heaven, just like he promised my father he would do.”

  There was a knock on the door, the door opened, and Liza, the maid, came in with a sandbox for Snowball.

  “Aunt Lou say to bring dis heah box up heah since you at home now and Snowball won’t be staying in de kitchen no more,” the girl said, going to the far corner of the room and placing the box for the cat.

  “Oh, thank you, Liza,” Mandie said, straightening up.

  Liza stood there a moment looking at Mandie and then she asked, “You been up to see dat new dress for de school thing?”

  “No, Liza, I haven’t yet,” Mandie said. “Have you seen it?”

  “I sho’ has and it’s beautiful,” Liza said with a big grin.

  Mandie quickly stood up and said, “Come on, let’s run up to Aunt Lou’s sewing room and look at it.” She started toward the door. Liza followed.

  Once in the sewing room, Mandie reached for the dress and took it down as she held it up before Liza. “I do believe we are about the same size except you may be an inch or two taller than I am.”

  “Dat’s right. Dat dress it jes’ fit me only it’s a little short,” Liza agreed with a big grin.

  “This dress fits you? Did you try it on, Liza?” Mandie asked.

  Liza walked around in circles in the room and wouldn’t look at Mandie for a few minutes.

  Mandie began thinking about the missing dress. Had Liza “taken it,” maybe to try on, or look at, or something? Was that where it was when she couldn’t find it?

  “Liza?” Mandie asked as she took Liza’s hand to stop her from walking around the room. “Liza, answer me. Did you try this dress on?” she asked.

  Liza stomped her feet, dropped her gaze, and mumbled, “I’se sorry. I didn’t do it no harm. I jes’ wanted to see how I feel all dressed up like dat.”

  Mandie drew a deep breath and said, “All right, Liza, you are forgiven. But you should have asked me if you could try it on. The dress was missing and I was worried about it.”

  “I won’t be doin’ dat agin never,” Liza told her.

  “Liza, I’m going to get Aunt Lou to make you a real fancy dress,” Mandie said. “You can wear it to church. Would you like that?”

  “Oh, yessum, Missy, I’d like dat sho’ nuff,” Liza replied. “Does you really mean it?”

  “Sure I mean it, Liza. I’ll speak to Aunt Lou as soon as I get a chance while I’m home for the holidays.” She reached to hang the dress back on the hook.

  “Thank you, Missy Mandie, I’se got to go now, ’fo Aunt Lou be lookin’ fo’ me,” she said and quickly ran out the door.

  Mandie breathed a sigh of relief. That mystery was solved. She picked up Snowball, who had followed her up there, and said, “Come on, Snowball, let’s go downstairs.”

  Mandie enjoyed her time with her mother during the holidays. School took so much of her time away from home. And she was overjoyed when her mother told her that this time she
and Mandie’s uncle, John Shaw, whom Elizabeth had married when Mandie’s father died, would be going to Europe with the group.

  “Oh, Mother, I am so thrilled. Last time you couldn’t go,” Mandie said as they sat alone in the parlor one afternoon.

  “I don’t get enough time with you, Amanda, but school is definitely necessary,” Elizabeth told her, reaching to squeeze her hand.

  Mandie smiled and said, “Well, just as soon as I get finished with my education I am going to come home and spend all my time with you, Mother.”

  “By that time you will probably have other things you will be involved in, that is, if my mother has her way about things,” Elizabeth said, smiling at her.

  Mandie quickly shook her head. “No, Mother, by that time I will be a grown woman with a mind of my own. Grandmother won’t always be the boss,” she said, grinning at her mother. “She’s your mother. You know how overbearing, bossy, protective, or whatever you want to call it, she is. And I think she is beginning to realize I won’t always be a child at her beck and call. I love her with all my heart. But you come first, Mother.”

  “I’m looking forward to our journey,” Elizabeth said. “Now, do you know yet who all is going of your friends?”

  “No, ma’am, the only sure one is Celia, and I suppose Joe Woodard. However, he keeps teasing me and saying he might not go,” Mandie said, smiling. “You know how he is. Then I suppose Jonathan and his father will be going with us. And I imagine Dr. and Mrs. Woodard will go because Joe is going so they can spend time with him.”

  “Yes, Dr. and Mrs. Woodard are definitely going. She has told me,” Elizabeth said. “All of us parents have to take every chance we can get to spend time with our young ones.”

  The few days with her mother came to an end and Mandie had to return to school. Her next trip home would be her final one from the school because graduation would be coming up in May.

  Mrs. Taft allowed Mandie to bring Snowball back with her. He would stay at her house while Mandie was at school. Sometimes Miss Prudence would think she heard a rat and she would ask Mandie to bring Snowball to the school to hunt it. Mandie was sure the lady did not always hear a rat. She was just being kind. But no cats were allowed at the school so she had to make up some excuse.

  Ben met Mandie at the depot and took her to Mrs. Taft’s house. Mandie would have to check in to school the next day.

  There was a note that had arrived in the mail for Mandie from Celia saying she would arrive the next day to return to school.

  “Grandmother, Celia will be back tomorrow,” Mandie said as she read the note. “Do you suppose we could wait until the next day to check back in to school? Miss Prudence is vague about exact days usually and our return mostly depends on whenever we can get back.”

  “Yes, I suppose it will be all right for you to do that. I’ll send Ben over with a note for Miss Prudence, just in case she has any objections,” Mrs. Taft said.

  “Thank you, Grandmother,” Mandie said with a big smile.

  The next day Mrs. Taft sent Ben to the depot to meet the train when Celia returned. Her aunt Rebecca always traveled with her back and forth to school, so Aunt Rebecca would be returning home the following day.

  They all sat up late at Mrs. Taft’s, discussing their journey to Europe.

  “I do hope that little Mollie will behave and not throw a fit to remain in Ireland when we go there,” Mrs. Taft said. “I’m not sure it was a good idea to take her with us.”

  “I’m sure I can control her, Mrs. Taft,” Aunt Rebecca said. “And she will remember her sad life in Belfast once she’s there, I’m sure, and she will realize she has to return with us.”

  “I do hope you are right,” Mrs. Taft said.

  As the two women talked, Celia looked at Mandie and asked, “When are you taking your graduation dress over to the school?”

  “I’m not sure, but I’ll have to have it pressed in time for graduation,” Mandie said. Mandie had told Celia about Liza trying on the dress.

  “I think it should be safe in the school, in our room,” Celia said.

  “I just don’t know,” Mandie replied. “Remember someone has been moving our things on the bureau and I’m not sure what they might do to my dress.”

  “You know, Mandie, there is a lock on the wardrobe door, but we don’t have the key. Do you think Miss Prudence might have it? We could just lock it up in the wardrobe,” Celia said.

  “That’s a good idea, Celia,” Mandie said. “As soon as we get to the school tomorrow I’ll ask her.”

  Mandie was determined nothing was going to happen to her beautiful dress that Aunt Lou had so lovingly made for her. If Miss Prudence didn’t have a key to the wardrobe, she would have to think up some other secure way to protect the dress.

  However, whoever was coming into their room and moving things on the dresser might decide to do something to the dress if she left it hanging out.

  She would have to figure all this out tomorrow when she and Celia returned to school.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  WHAT?

  When Celia and Mandie checked in to school the next day, they both left their graduation dresses at Mrs. Taft’s house.

  “They will be safer at Grandmother’s,” Mandie said as she and Celia hung the dresses in the huge wardrobe in the room they shared at her grandmother’s house.

  “Yes, we can bring them to the school just in time for our graduation,” Celia agreed.

  “In the meantime I’ll ask Miss Prudence if she has a key to our wardrobe so that when we do put them in there we can lock it up,” Mandie added.

  When Ben drove them to the school that morning, all the other girls seemed to have returned after the holidays. Uncle Cal delivered their trunks to their room and the girls unpacked.

  “We don’t know if anyone has been in here or not because we took all our things off the bureau,” Mandie said, placing her comb and brush on the bureau, and then she opened her drawer. “Everything seems to be like I left it.”

  Celia inspected her drawer and said, “Yes, mine, too.”

  They went down into the parlor to wait for the bell for the noonday meal. They sat down near the door to the hall. The room was full.

  “There’s Polly over there, with April and the twins,” Mandie told Celia, who turned to look.

  The group seemed to be excitedly talking about something. As they watched, Mary Lou came in the door on the other side of the parlor near where Polly, April, and the twins were sitting. The minute the group looked up and saw Mary Lou walk past them they became quiet. Mary Lou only glanced at them and headed over to Mandie and Celia.

  “They must have been talking about me, the way they shut up,” Mary Lou said as she sat down next to Mandie.

  “I was watching. Yes, or else they were discussing something they didn’t want you to hear,” Mandie agreed.

  “Mandie, I just thought of something terrible,” Mary Lou said with a quick intake of breath.

  “What?” Mandie and Celia asked together.

  “Your grandmother told Miss Prudence to make a blanket invitation to any of the girls here who want to go to Europe. Suppose those four decide to go with us?” Mary Lou said.

  “That would be disastrous,” Mandie said, frowning as she watched the other girls.

  “You don’t think they would have the nerve to go after the way they’ve acted, do you?” Mary Lou asked.

  “I don’t put anything past Polly Cornwallis,” Mandie said. “I don’t know about the twins, and I’d say April dislikes me enough that she wouldn’t dare go.”

  “I sure hope you’re right,” Celia said.

  “They could cause a lot of discord if we were all cooped up together on a ship for a while,” Mary Lou said.

  “It sure could ruin our trip,” Celia said.

  “Not if my grandmother knows about it. Remember she is in charge and she knows how to handle everything,” Mandie reminded the girls.

  “Did y’all bring back your gradu
ation dresses?” Mary Lou asked.

  “Yes, but we left them at my grandmother’s house for the time being,” Mandie said.

  “Did you bring yours?” Celia asked.

  “Yes, and I tried to hide it in with my other clothes in the wardrobe in my room,” Mary Lou said.

  “It won’t be long now until we graduate,” Celia remarked.

  “I wonder if the girls here will be going to Mr. Chadwick’s School for Boys to their graduation ceremony,” Mary Lou said.

  “I hadn’t really thought about it, but we do know some of the boys over there,” Mandie replied.

  “I don’t know if those boys will be coming to ours, either,” Celia said.

  “Since Miss Hope is married to Mr. Chadwick, I would imagine we will attend each other’s graduation,” Mandie said. “Celia and I are expecting a lot of relatives and friends from back home, so there won’t be a whole lot of room for all those boys at that school.”

  The bell in the backyard rang and all the girls in the room rushed out into the hall to form a line to the dining room. Mandie noticed that she and Celia and Mary Lou were going to be near Polly and the others in the line, so she fell back and said, “Let them get ahead so we don’t have to stand near them.”

  As the other girls moved forward, Polly turned to look back at Mandie. She seemed to be talking to April, who also looked back.

  “They’re talking about us,” Mary Lou said under her breath.

  Mandie nodded in agreement as she watched the other girls split off to the other side of the room where they sat for meals.

  Since no talking was allowed during a meal, Mandie and Celia quickly left when dismissed and Mary Lou followed. They stood in the hall to talk a minute.

  “I just can’t imagine what they are talking about,” Mary Lou said as the other girls passed them in the hall.

  “It certainly is strange that the twins got so deeply involved with April and Polly. They had just arrived here and didn’t know anyone and then suddenly they are thick as hops with Polly and April,” Mandie remarked as she glanced at some girls going in the other direction down the hall.