The Mandie Collection (32 page)

Mandie stared after her. “The President certainly is a thoughtful man,” she said.

“Yes, he thought up all kinds of things for us to do between now and when we leave on Tuesday,” Joe remarked.

“Like what?” Mandie asked.

“Like going to church,” Joe counted on his long, bony fingers as he named the activities, “coming back to eat, an excursion to a museum, back again for afternoon tea, a concert in the East Room, supper in the formal dining room with all those other house guests, and—”

“How do you know all this?” Mandie asked.

“Uncle Ned told me,” Joe answered.

The maid brought Mandie and Sallie's breakfast and placed it before them. After a short prayer of thanks, Mandie looked at her grits curiously. She laughed. “They certainly don't know how to cook grits,” she said. “This looks like soup.”

“There're lots of things these people don't know that we know—like the conversation we overheard,” Joe teased, “and dead people you've seen walking the halls of the White House.”

“Joe Woodard,” Mandie protested. “I'll have you know I saw George Washington again last night walking across the lawn. I didn't just imagine it. I saw him with my own two eyes.”

Sallie and Joe looked at each other in surprise.

“You did?” Joe questioned.

“Are you sure, Mandie?” Sallie asked.

Mandie wished she hadn't given herself away. She had not meant to tell Joe and Sallie about the figure she had seen—at least not yet, anyway.

Uncle Ned spoke up. “Papoose see,” he said. “I on lawn, too, last night.”

Mandie noticed that he didn't say he saw George Washington, but he was trying to imply that he did. She smiled up at him.

Joe leaned forward toward Mandie. “Well, what are you going to do about it?” he asked.

Mandie looked straight into Joe's brown eyes. “Nothing,” she said. “At least not right now.”

“I know. There's always later,” Joe replied, turning back to his breakfast.

Later that morning as they all left for church, Senator Morton escorted Mrs. Taft, and Mandie quietly smiled to herself. Things were going well between them, she thought. The First Lady felt a little better, so she attended church with all of them, too.

The President was Methodist, Mandie learned, and she admired his kindness and the way he lived.
The President of the United States should set an example for the rest of the country
, she thought.

During the service at the church, the minister mentioned the forthcoming inauguration and the capable way the President had handled his first term. After the sermon, the congregation stood in respect as the President left the church building.

When they returned for the noon meal, the White House overflowed with guests as predicted. People were rushing every which way.

The dining room was crammed full for the meal, and the young people hurried to finish, hoping they could sneak around to the room where they had heard the angry voices. But there was no way. The
President rose from the table and announced that carriages would be at the front door for sightseeing.

Mandie went over to her grandmother. “Do we have to go on the sightseeing trip, Grandmother?” she asked. “Can't we just stay here and relax?”

“I'm sorry, dear, but you'll have to go,” Mrs. Taft replied. “When you are in another person's home, you must do whatever has been planned, especially when it is the President of the United States that you are visiting. Amanda, you have to understand what an honor this is for you to even be here. Now run along, all of you, and get your wraps quickly,” she said, turning back to Senator Morton, who was at her elbow.

Mandie made a face as she joined her friends. “You both heard?” she asked. “We have to go.”

“Yes,” Sallie nodded.

“That's all right.” Joe brightened. “Maybe we can skip teatime later.”

Mandie smiled. “We'll see,” she said doubtfully.

But her grandmother required her to attend everything, and before Mandie knew it, the day was over. And they hadn't had any time to investigate.

Maybe tomorrow
? she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE BIG DAY

Inauguration Day began with a dark sky, and as Mandie got dressed in her finest blue gown, she listened to the bands outside warming up and entertaining the crowds that had already started to gather along President McKinley's route to the Capitol. But Mandie worried about the ceremonies on the east portico of the Capitol building.

At breakfast the young people discussed the situation. What would happen if it poured down rain—especially since the President had so recently been sick?

Mandie served herself some coffee from the pot the maid had left on the table. “I think the President would have to change his plans at the last minute and hold the ceremonies inside somewhere,” she said.

Joe dug into a plate heaped with bacon and eggs and pancakes. “Maybe he'll come in for breakfast while we're here and we can ask him,” he replied.

“I do not believe the President would stand outside in the pouring rain to be sworn in again as President,” Sallie mused. “This is his second term, and I imagine he had lots of celebrations the first time he was inaugurated.”

“You know these politicians like to make a big to-do about everything,” Joe said. “And I imagine President McKinley is as big a politician as any of them when it comes to putting on a big splash.”

“I just wish he didn't have everything planned minute to minute where we can't have any time alone,” Mandie said between bites of hot biscuit. “Those men in that room, whoever they were, could have already gone out and done something terrible. Remember they said they were going to ‘get on with it,' and they were talking about killing people.”

Sallie held her cup with both hands and stared into the steamy, dark coffee. “Yes, they might have even done it already,” she said.

“And we don't know who they were talking about, so there's nothing we can do about it,” Joe added.

But even as they prepared to leave for the inauguration, Mandie still hoped they could investigate later on that day.

About ten-thirty that morning, when the President left the White House, he took off his silk top hat and waved it at the cheering crowd in the street. Then he climbed into his coach for a quick ride to the Capitol. The streets along the route to the Capitol seemed alive with elaborate decorations of red, white, and blue.

The inaugural ceremony greatly impressed Mandie and her friends. The President had invited them and many of his other house guests to sit with him during the proceedings on the east portico. The sky remained overcast, but there was no rain at noon when President McKinley stood to be sworn into office for the second time. Raising his right hand, he placed his left on a large Bible. Mrs. McKinley sat behind the President, smiling proudly, as Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller administered the presidential oath. The young people listened carefully.

“I, William McKinley, do solemnly swear,” the President repeated in all seriousness, “that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

The crowd cheered. Then as a light rain began to fall, the President addressed the spectators huddled under heavy black umbrellas. “My fellow citizens . . .” the President began, telling them what an honor it was to be elected a second time.

After the speech came the inaugural parade, which the young people watched from the street among thousands of other rain-drenched spectators. Mandie and her friends enjoyed the big brass bands and ranks of men in military uniform.

As the rain grew heavier, many people either ran for shelter or left altogether. The parade picked up speed, and the young people hurried behind the marching bands, making their way back to the White House.

The President and Mrs. McKinley, as well as most of the other White House guests, including Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton, had already returned by the time Mandie and her friends arrived. Coming into the entrance hall, they quickly removed their wet coats and hats, smoothed back their hair, and hurried to their rooms to change.

Mandie stood in front of the mirror, drying her hair with a towel. “Look how wet my hair is,” she moaned. “My hat didn't do much good.”

“My hair is very wet also,” Sallie replied. Quickly wrapping it in a towel, she changed dresses.

“It was worth it, though,” Mandie commented. “I feel as if I'm in fairyland or something—that things just aren't real. We've done and seen so much! I can't wait to get back to school and tell Celia all about it.”

“And I will tell my grandmother about everything,” Sallie said, buttoning another of the fancy dresses Mandie's mother had bought for her.

Mandie stood back and admired her Indian friend. The pale yellow dress looked pretty against her bronze skin and black hair. “You know we still haven't had a chance to put on our old dresses,” she said. “We just keep going and going and putting on more and more fancy clothes. It's really funny.” She burst into laughter and fell onto the bed.

Sallie looked at her curiously. “Mandie, what is so funny?” she asked.

But Mandie couldn't quit laughing. The more she laughed, the funnier it became. Soon Sallie began giggling at Mandie, which made Mandie laugh all the more.

Finally, Sallie regained control and looked at her friend with concern. “Mandie, are you all right?” she asked.

“Sure I am,” Mandie replied through tears of laughter. “It's just that I'm so wound up, I had to have a good laugh.”

“That is fine, but I think we had better hurry,” Sallie warned. “Here, let's go over by the fireplace, and I'll help you dry your hair.”

As the two girls stood in the warmth of the fire, Sallie reached for the towel and began briskly rubbing her friend's long locks.

“Thanks, Sallie,” Mandie said as the Indian girl finished. “I think it's dry now. I can brush it back. Let me find a dress to put on.”

Taking down a new green silk dress from the wardrobe, Mandie hurriedly put it on, and Sallie buttoned up the back.

“I wonder where Joe is,” Mandie said. She quickly combed through her damp hair and tied it back with a wide piece of green satin ribbon.

At that moment there was a knock on the door. “Are y'all ready yet?” Joe called from the hallway.

Mandie opened the door. “We're ready,” she said. “What took you so long?”

The three young people headed toward the East Room where everyone was supposed to be.

Joe looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I ran to look in that room where the men were talking, and—”

“You did?” Mandie interrupted. “How could you go without us?”

“Since I'm not a girl, it doesn't take me long to change clothes,” Joe teased. “But anyway, the door was still locked, and I didn't even see anyone in the hallway down there.”

When the young people entered the East Room, they found it full of people. Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton stood near the doorway, and Mrs. Taft saw them at once. “Dears, are you all right?” she asked. “I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone. We have just been told that the fireworks for the evening have been postponed because of the rain. Instead, a dramatic group will put on a skit. This was scheduled for the ball tonight, but since there is some free time now, the group will perform before we get dressed for the ball.”

“Grandmother, are you sure you want me to go to the Inaugural Ball?” Mandie protested. “I've never been to a ball before.”

“I know, dear,” Mrs. Taft replied, “and I am giving you permission to stay just for the first part of it when the President and the First Lady lead things off.” She turned to Joe and Sallie. “Of course you two will stay with Amanda all evening, won't you?”

Joe and Sallie nodded.

“Will my grandfather be there?” Sallie asked, looking around the room.

“Yes, dear, he will,” Mrs. Taft assured her. “He's around here somewhere right now.”

Just then Mandie heard music, and she raised her head. In the corner of the room a small orchestra had begun playing. The loud talking across the room quieted as the stringed instruments filled the room with gentle but happy music. Then the President stepped onto a small platform, and the conductor stopped the music.

The President looked around the room. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “please be seated. The play is about to begin. Thank you.”

The adults took their time being seated, and the young people scrambled to find chairs near the front. Mandie spied her old Indian friend near the orchestra. “There's Uncle Ned,” she told the others. “Let's go find a seat by him.”

Hurrying across the room, they managed to find enough chairs by him just before a chord sounded from the orchestra and the curtain on the improvised stage slowly opened.

The young people watched as the actors, dressed in costumes from the Revolutionary War period began talking and moving about the stage.

Mandie listened intently to the dialogue, then caught her breath as a new character came on stage. It was George Washington! The same George Washington figure she had seen in the hallway and on the lawn!

She nudged Joe and leaned forward. “Look!” she whispered. “There he is. I told you I wasn't imagining things! There's the George Washington I saw.”

Joe stared at the characters on stage. “Of all things!” he said.

“That man certainly does look like the pictures I have seen of George Washington,” Sallie agreed.

Uncle Ned nodded and turned back to watch the play.

Mandie smiled in self-satisfaction, then watched as the first scene ended and the curtain closed. Seconds later, it reopened, showing a group of men gathered around a table.