The Mandie Collection (3 page)

Mandie's blue eyes squinted at her image in the mirror. “I guess I
should
be getting taller,” she reasoned. “I'll be thirteen years old next June.” She tossed back her long blonde hair which she had left loose for the afternoon tea.

“Don't forget, we're about the same age,” Celia replied, twirling her long skirt. “I'm going on thirteen, too. And I'm a teeny bit taller than you are.” She reached into her dresser drawer to find a ribbon to match her dress and quickly pulled her auburn curls back with the ribbon.

“Tommy is so tall that I have to lean back to look at him,” Mandie remarked. “Joe is tall but not that tall.”

“Will Joe be at your house for Christmas?” Celia asked.

“He and his parents are all coming,” Mandie replied. “Joe's school will be out, too, and his father has to come to Franklin to doctor sick people, so they're going to be staying with us.”

“I wonder when your mother will tell you what the surprise is,” Celia mused.

“As soon as I get home, I'm going to find out what it is,” Mandie said quickly. “I don't know why Mother couldn't have just told Uncle Ned so he could tell me.”

“Be sure and find out before I get there so you can tell me,” Celia urged.

Snowball suddenly leaped through the air. The girls froze, staring at him. Then they breathed a sigh of relief. He was only playing.

“Whew! I just knew he had caught the mouse!” Mandie exclaimed.

“Me, too. Maybe he'll catch it while we aren't in the room.”

“I don't imagine April Snow is being allowed to go downstairs for the tea,” Mandie said.

Celia frowned. “With all of us downstairs she'll have a chance to come back into our room here.”

“But if she does any more meanness, everyone will know who did it because she'll be the only one upstairs,” Mandie reasoned. “Come on. Let's go downstairs and get this over with.”

Mandie led the way, and Celia made certain the door to their room was closed so that Snowball couldn't get out.

Most of the other girls in the school were already milling around downstairs. It was too cold to go outside, so everyone had to stay inside. Mandie and Celia found two seats in the parlor near the Christmas tree and sat there silently watching and listening as the other students buzzed around the room.

Soon there was the sound of rigs pulling up in front of the school and laughter and talking outside as the boys from Mr. Chadwick's School arrived.

All the girls became silent and quickly grabbed places to sit wherever they could find them. Mandie and Celia watched through the doorway for Tommy and Robert.

“Welcome to our school, Mr. Chadwick and all your young men,” Miss Prudence announced at the front door. “We are glad to have you. Come into the parlor. I believe most of the young ladies are in there.”

“Thank you for inviting us, Miss Heathwood.” Mr. Chadwick returned the greeting amidst the murmured thanks from his students.

Mandie's heart beat faster.

Celia leaned over to her. “My hands are all wet,” she whispered.

Tommy Patton and Robert Rogers were among the first to enter the parlor. Together, they spotted Mandie and Celia right away.

“Hello, Miss Amanda. How are you?” Tommy greeted Mandie with a smile. Then under his breath he added, “We have been admonished to mind our manners.”

Mandie grinned mischievously, going along with him. “Fine, thank you,” she said quite properly. “And how are you, Mr. Thomas?”

“Sorry, Miss Celia,” Robert began, “but you heard Mr. Thomas. We have to keep this thing formal today per instructions from our headmaster, Mr. Chadwick. So I am supposed to ask how you are. And how are you, Miss Celia?”

Celia laughed nervously. “I am fine, Mr. Robert,” she replied. “And I hope you are the same. Please have a seat.”

“Yes, do,” Mandie said. She and Celia moved closer together to give the boys room to sit on the long settee with them.

Their conversation continued on, stilted and unnatural, because Mr. Chadwick and Miss Prudence were keeping close watch on their students. Mandie and Tommy talked about Tommy's home in Charleston, South Carolina, which Mandie and her parents had visited. Mandie had seen the ocean for the first time then. Celia and Robert joined in with a question or comment here and there, but the other two did most of the talking.

Millie, the dining room maid, and the extra maids hired for this get-together came in with tea trays and began serving.

Mandie accepted the dainty cup of hot tea and frowned. “I don't see why we can't have cocoa or something other than tea,” she protested to her friends.

Celia laughed. “But then it wouldn't be afternoon tea,” she said. “It would be afternoon hot cocoa.”

They all laughed and the cups wobbled in the two girls' hands.

“I agree with Mandie,” Robert said. “Not everyone likes hot tea.”

“I suppose we're stuck with hot tea, though, until we grow up and can serve what we want in our own homes,” Tommy remarked.

At that moment Celia screamed and spilled her tea. Teacups all around the room clattered, and other girls screamed. An uninvited visitor had startled everyone.

Snowball walked nonchalantly up to Mandie with a live mouse in his mouth and sat down.

“Snowball!” Mandie cried, lifting her feet. “Snowball, go away!”

“Get, Snowball!” Celia scolded the white kitten. “Get away from here!”

Snowball looked up at his mistress as if not understanding her reaction to his bringing her the treasure he had caught.

Mandie gave him a little shove with her toe. Snowball quickly let go of the mouse, and it ran under the Christmas tree. Snowball disappeared through the doorway.

All the other students hurried out of the parlor and gathered in the hallway.

“Let me see if I can find that mouse,” Tommy volunteered. He stooped under the tree and shook various ornaments, hoping to scare the mouse from its hiding place. But nothing happened.

Miss Prudence walked up to Mandie. “How did that cat get out of your room?” she demanded. “I told you he would not be allowed anywhere else.”

“I-I'm sorry, Miss Prudence,” Mandie told her. “We were certain we shut the door when we left our room.”

“Snowball was down here in the parlor last night, too,” Celia said. “And I know we closed the door then. Evidently, somebody is letting him out.”

“April Snow is the only one not present here,” Miss Prudence said. “April Snow.” She tapped her foot impatiently. “Let me check on her.”

As Miss Prudence left the room, Mandie told the boys about April's escapades and the mouse in their room.

Tommy looked around under the tree again. “Do you think the mouse Snowball had came from your room?” he asked.

“We hope so,” Mandie said, exchanging glances with Celia. “Then we won't have to worry about finding it in our room.”

“Well, evidently he got away,” Tommy said, rising to sit back down on the settee.

“That's a smart cat, Mandie,” Robert said. “He knew right where you were.”

“Well, he didn't have to bring that mouse with him,” Mandie protested. She shivered at the thought of it.

“Young ladies,” Miss Hope called over the confusion in the hallway. “Please return to the parlor. The mouse is gone.”

“You young men, too,” Mr. Chadwick ordered.

Things finally settled down, but everyone kept looking around the floor for the mouse.

Miss Hope walked over to Mandie on the settee. “My sister has gone upstairs to check on April,” she said. “We think she must have let your kitten out of your room. The door was open.”

Mandie and Celia looked at each other.

“We definitely shut the door, Miss Hope,” Mandie told her. “Snowball is a smart cat, and he knows a lot of other things, but he hasn't learned to open doors yet.”

“Don't worry about it, Amanda. It wasn't your fault,” Miss Hope replied as she left the room.

Mandie sighed. “Let's talk about something else,” she said. “My mother says she has a big surprise waiting for me when I get home for Christmas, but I can't figure out what it is.” She gave them all the details about Uncle Ned's visit and his message.

“I hope it's something wonderful,” Tommy told her. “Are y'all having visitors for Christmas this year?”

“Well, yes,” Mandie replied. “Dr. Woodard and his family will be there for Christmas, and then Celia and her mother are coming for New Year's. I wish you and your family could come.”

“I do, too,” Tommy said. “But maybe we can make it the next time your mother invites us. My parents did give me permission to visit with your family at your home some holiday weekend after Christmas.”

“Oh, that's great!” Mandie exclaimed. “Miss Prudence never lets us know very far ahead when we're going to have a holiday, but I suppose you will have the same holidays at Mr. Chadwick's.”

“I'll let you know,” Tommy promised. He paused for a minute, looking straight into her blue eyes. “Mandie,” he said, “will you be my partner for dinner at our school tomorrow night?”

“Of course,” Mandie replied, smiling. “I'd love to.”

Following Tommy's lead, Robert asked Celia to be his partner, and she agreed also.

After the boys left and the girls were free to go to their rooms until time for supper, Mandie and Celia hurried up the steps.

“Mandie, are you going to give Tommy a Christmas present tomorrow night?” Celia asked anxiously as they entered their room.

“I suppose it's expected,” Mandie replied. She looked around. “Snowball is not here,” she said with concern.

“What are you going to give him?” Celia wanted to know. “I don't have a thing to give Robert.”

Mandie stopped to think. “I don't know,” she said. “Maybe we'd better ask Miss Hope about presents.”

“Yes, I think we'd better,” Celia agreed.

The girls went back downstairs and found Miss Hope in her office.

“You girls don't have to give the young men gifts,” Miss Hope explained, “but it's the normal practice. We must have neglected to mention that to you, I'm sorry. One thing I should tell you, however,” Miss Hope emphasized, “is that my sister insists that the presents be something very inexpensive and simple.”

“We don't have a thing to give Tommy and Robert,” Mandie said.

“Well, let's see what we can come up with,” Miss Hope said thoughtfully. “I know. I have some handkerchief linen. You girls have plenty of time tonight to make some handkerchiefs for them. How will that do?”

“Oh, thanks, Miss Hope,” Mandie said.

“We appreciate it,” Celia added.

“Wait here,” Miss Hope said. She hurried into the rooms she occupied with her sister and immediately returned with a roll of white linen, some needles, thread, thimbles, and a pair of scissors. “If you just
roll and whip the edges like this”—she demonstrated as she spoke—“it

will be simple, and I think it will look nice.”

“I've done that before,” Mandie said. “It'll be easy.”

“I know how to do that, too,” Celia said.

“Then if you want to, you could embroider their initial in the corner,” Miss Hope suggested. “Here's some embroidery thread.”

Gratefully, the girls took the supplies and turned to leave the room.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Mandie said, turning back. “Snowball has disappeared, Miss Hope. He's not in our room.”

“I'll ask Aunt Phoebe to look for him. He can't be far away,” Miss Hope assured her.

Mandie and Celia returned to their room and hurriedly changed clothes, hanging up the fancy dresses and putting on gingham frocks that they normally wore around the school.

Finally, seated on the windowseat, the two girls began their work. They cut the material into four large squares, which would make two handkerchiefs each for Tommy and Robert.

“I wish we had thought about this earlier,” Celia said, quickly stitching the edge of one piece of material.

“Everything got delayed because we had to be out of school during the flu epidemic,” Mandie reminded her.

“All that time out of school was pretty interesting, though,” Celia admitted. “Solving that mystery about the bells in the church steeple was fun—most of it—now that I can look back on it. I did get a little scared now and then, though.”

“I don't think we could have figured that all out if we hadn't had time out from school,” Mandie said.

“But now we have to make up all that lost time when we come back after the holidays,” Celia reminded her. She accidentally pricked her finger with the needle. “Ouch!” she cried, quickly sucking her finger.

“Be careful,” Mandie warned. “If your finger bleeds, you'll get it all over the handkerchief. You'd better run some cold water on it.”

“I guess I'd better.” Celia stood and laid her needlework on the windowseat. “Be right back.”

Mandie continued her sewing as her friend left the room. Celia left the door partly open, and Mandie could hear her running water in the bathroom.

Suddenly Celia screamed. “Mandie! Mandie! Come quick!”

Mandie threw down her sewing and hurried across the hall to the bathroom. There was Celia standing on top of the lid to the commode. “What's the matter?” Mandie asked.

“There! Down there!” Celia cried, excitedly pointing to the floor. “A mouse ran under the bathtub!”

Mandie looked at the claw feet of the huge tub and stepped back, bending to look under it. “I don't see anything,” she said.

“It was the same mouse Snowball had in the parlor,” Celia moaned, still standing on top of the commode.

“How do you know it's the same one?” Mandie demanded. “Mice all look alike.”

“I just know,” Celia insisted.

“Come on,” Mandie said, taking Celia's hand and helping her down. “Let's get out of here.”