The Mandie Collection (11 page)

Suddenly Hilda ran over to Mrs. Taft, knelt by her chair and threw her arms around her. “Mother!” she said to everyone's surprise.

Mrs. Taft hugged her back. “Yes, Hilda, darling,” Mrs. Taft said. “I'll be your mother. I love you.”

Then just as suddenly, Hilda jumped up and started dancing around the Christmas tree, saying, “Red, green, red, green,” in a sing-song fashion.

Mandie couldn't help but wonder why Hilda kept saying that if she had nothing to do with the missing presents.

That night, before Mandie crawled into bed, she knelt with Hilda by the fire to say her prayers. “Thank you, dear God, for letting me hear from my mother. But please, don't you think we've had enough snow?” she prayed. “Please make sure my mother and all the others get home in time to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Thank you, dear God. Thank you for everything and everybody.”

Hilda tried to repeat what Mandie was saying, but finally she just said, “Thank. God.”

Mandie hugged the girl and they quickly crawled into the warm featherbed and pulled the heavy quilts over them.

Just before she dropped off to sleep Mandie's last thoughts were,
My mother will be home for Christmas. And now I can find out what the big surprise is
.

CHAPTER EIGHT

MYSTERIOUS FOOTPRINTS

The next thing Mandie knew, Liza was shaking her awake.

“Missy, better git up and go look under de Christmas tree,” Liza said.

Mandie's eyes opened wide, and she jumped out of bed. “What's wrong now, Liza?”

Startled by Mandie's sudden movement, Snowball hopped down and ran out the open door.

“I hates to tell you dis, Missy,” Liza said, stirring up the fire she had just built in the fireplace, “but all dem red presents, dey be back under de tree, and de green ones dey be gone now.”

“Oh, no!” Mandie shrieked so loudly that Hilda woke up and jumped out of bed.

“Secret?” Hilda asked, joining them by the fire.

Mandie ignored Hilda. “What else is going to happen?” She sighed.

“Dat ain't all. No it ain't,” Liza said.

“Liza, come on and tell me,” Mandie begged. “What is it?”

“Well, it be like dis,” the little maid replied. “All dem presents be back, but somebody done messed 'em all up.”

“Messed them all up? How?” she asked, slipping into her robe and helping Hilda with hers. “I'll just go see.”

As she hurried down the stairs, Liza and Hilda followed. Down in the parlor beneath the Christmas tree, they found all Mandie's red-wrapped presents, but the paper and ribbons were all wrinkled. And now all the green presents were missing.

Tears came to Mandie's eyes as she stooped down to pick up some of the presents and examine them. Hilda stood back.

“How could anybody do this to me?” Mandie said as the tears ran down her cheeks.

Liza stooped beside her. “Missy, I'll help you put new paper on all dem presents,” she said. “We kin fix 'em up all pretty agin.”

“But, Liza, whoever did this found out everything I had wrapped up, and it was all my secret,” Mandie said with a catch in her voice.

“Secret. Secret,” Hilda said, walking around the tree.

Mandie ignored her. “Liza, would you please help me carry all these things back to my room?” she asked. “And after we have breakfast I would appreciate it if you'd help me rewrap everything.”

“I sho' will,” the Negro girl said, piling her arms full of presents.

The two carried the packages to Mandie's room while Hilda followed, watching. Mandie opened her trunk and put them all inside, then shut the lid.

When Mandie saw Hilda watching, she picked up a dress nearby. “We have to get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast, Hilda,” she said. “Thank you for your help, Liza.”

Liza danced over to the door and started to leave, but then she stopped. “I be seein' you after breakfus',” she said, closing the door behind her as she left the room.

Then the door opened again, and Liza stuck her head back inside the room. “Missy, what we goin' to do 'bout all dem green presents dat's missin'?” she asked.

“I don't know, Liza,” Mandie replied, pulling her dress over her head. “I suppose we'll have to look for them. But Joe and I looked the whole house over before, and we couldn't find the red ones.” She paused and then looked at Liza, questioningly. “How did you know the red-wrapped presents were missing, anyway?” she asked. “We didn't tell anybody except Grandmother.”

“I got eyes, ain't I?” Liza laughed. “You got eyes, too. Draw dat curtain and look outside.” She closed the door quickly and left.

Mandie ran to the window and drew the draperies. Bright sunshine poured into the room. And although there was plenty of snow on the ground, there was not a single snowflake in the air.

“Oh, thank you, dear God!” she cried excitedly, looking up into the beautiful blue sky. “I knew you'd stop the snow so my mother and the others could come home for Jesus' birthday.” Then she sighed as she looked across the deep snowdrifts. “I wonder if it's warm enough to melt all that snow,” she said to herself.

Hilda joined her at the window, and when Mandie turned to look at her, she saw that Hilda had put on her dress backward. The tiny buttons that were supposed to be on the back of the bodice were in front.

“Hilda, we have to take off your dress and turn it around,” Mandie said, smiling.

Hilda moved away from her and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Come on, Hilda, you can't wear the dress like that,” Mandie scolded as she tried to get near enough to unbutton Hilda's dress.

“No!” Hilda screamed. And she ran out the door into the hallway.

Mandie quickly finished dressing, gave a quick brushing to her long blonde hair, and went after Hilda. But she couldn't find her. Thinking the girl had gone on down to breakfast, Mandie hurried to the breakfast room. Everyone else was there except Hilda.

“Did Hilda come in here?” Mandie asked after greeting everyone quickly.

“Don't tell me that girl is missing again,” Joe moaned.

“Amanda, dear, don't you know where she is?” Grandmother Taft asked.

Ludie Burns looked up from her plate. “That's the beatingest girl I ever seed for disappearing,” she said.

“Well, this time I'm not going to worry about her,” Mandie said, taking a plate and filling it at the sideboard. “I'm going to eat my breakfast right now.”

Mr. Bond laughed. “Good idea. She's around here somewhere,” he said.

“I really think she's just playing games with us,” Joe said, biting into a piece of crisp bacon. “She likes us to hunt for her.”

“Well, we won't this time,” Mrs. Taft announced as Liza filled her coffee cup.

Mandie sat down next to Joe with her plate full.

“I take it you've already looked outside,” Joe said.

Mandie smiled. “I certainly have,” she replied. “It looks wonderful out there this morning. Mr. Jason, do you think it's warm enough to melt all that snow?”

“Well,” the caretaker replied, “maybe later in the day. We'll get it all dug off the driveway and walkway, though.”

“May I help?” Mandie asked, excited at the prospect of going outside.

“Me, too?” Joe added quickly.

Mr. Bond looked across the table at Mrs. Taft.

Mrs. Taft nodded. “I suppose it will be all right if you young people wrap up real good and don't stay out too long,” she said. “I certainly don't want to be responsible for letting you two get bad colds.”

“Thank you, Grandmother. We'll put on our heaviest coats and boots,” Mandie promised, hurrying to finish her breakfast.

Liza walked around the table, refilling coffee cups. “Want me to he'p, too?” she asked. “We could make one of dem snowmen things.”

Joe brightened. “That's a great idea, Liza.”

Mrs. Taft pushed her empty plate aside. “You may help them clear the pathways, Liza,” she said. “And then you young people may build a snowman if you have time before noon.”

“Thank you, ma'am,” Liza said. “I goes and tells Aunt Lou you say fo' me to he'p dig de snow out.”

“Liza, tell Aunt Lou I also gave you permission to go ahead and eat your breakfast now so you can help outside,” Mrs. Taft called to her across the room. “Now hurry and get finished.”

Liza scurried out to the kitchen.

“Thanks, Grandmother,” Mandie said. “Aunt Lou probably wouldn't allow Liza to help us unless you said so.”

“I'm not exactly the lady of the house, but since your mother is not here, and I am her mother, I thought perhaps I could use a little influence,” Mrs. Taft said, laughing.

With Joe's help, Mandie quickly searched the house for the missing presents while Liza was eating her breakfast. But they found nothing. Then the presents were forgotten as they got involved in the snow shoveling.

“Grandmother said she would ask the servants to help her look for Hilda again while the others were outside,” Mandie said.

When Jason Bond opened the back screen door, the young people saw Abraham shoveling a wider pathway from his house in the back yard to the Shaws' big house. There was already a narrow trail between the huge drifts, which he evidently made so that Jenny could get back and forth to do the Shaws' cooking.

“Good morning, Abraham!” Mandie called across the yard. “We're going to help you.”

“Mawnin', Missy,” Abraham replied, stopping to lean on his shovel. “I be right glad to git some he'p. I sho' will.”

Jason Bond gave out the shovels that had been pushed up under the back porch out of the snow. Since the mountains of western North Carolina were always filled with snow and ice, Mr. Bond kept an adequate supply of tools for digging out.

Mandie stood on the back porch steps and took the shovel he handed her. “Mr. Jason, why don't I go back through the house and start on the front walkway?” she offered.

“Yes,” Joe said. “Mandie and I could get the front done in no time.”

“All right,” Mr. Bond agreed. “Now don't waste time doing any extra shoveling to the sides. Just make a straight bee line down the front walk. Then if we have time, we'll spread out wider.”

Liza stayed in back to help since that area was a lot larger.

Mandie and Joe hurried back through the house to the front door, and when they opened it, they found most of the front porch covered with snow.

As Mandie pushed the screen door open, she gasped. “Look, Joe!” She pointed to deep footprints across the porch.

Joe joined her. “Looks to me like all the footprints are headed up toward the front door,” he said, “and whoever made them didn't go back out again.”

“You're right,” Mandie agreed. “But nobody has come in since it started snowing.”

“The messenger from the telegraph office . . .” Joe began, “but then he came in the back door, didn't he?”

“Yes, he did.”

“And Abraham goes in and out the back door.”

“What could all this mean?” Mandie was puzzled. “I'd say they were made by a man's shoes, wouldn't you?”

“A large pair of shoes, yes,” Joe agreed. “Well, are we going to get to work shoveling or not?”

Mandie picked up her shovel. “Why don't we just shovel around these footprints for the time being?” she suggested. “That way, we can show them to Mr. Bond later.”

“All right,” Joe said. “Since they are so near the edge of the steps, we'll still be able to clear enough snow away to make a path.” He thrust his shovel into the snow and tossed a load out into the side of the yard.

“We're going to have to be careful working so close together,” Mandie cautioned, “or we'll hit each other with the handles of our shovels.” She pitched a shovelful of snow off the other side of the porch.

“You take one side, and I'll take the other,” he said. “Give me a minute to get a few steps ahead of you. Then we won't bang into each other.”

Mandie waited until he had cleaned one side of the wide front porch steps, and then she began shoveling the other side, being careful to preserve the large footprints in the snow.

They made rapid progress down the walkway toward the road, tossing the snow into the yard as they went. As they neared the gate, they could see tracks in the snow where at least one wagon had gone through.

“I suppose when we get the driveway cleaned out at the back, we'll be able to get the wagon into the street,” Mandie remarked, looking down the road.

Joe came over to her side to glance outside the gate. “I wouldn't want to get a wagon out into that road,” he said. “Look how deep the snow is.”

“I heard Grandmother ask the Burnses to stay over another night because she thought they might not be able to get all the way to their house,” Mandie said, resuming her shoveling.

“And they don't live very far from here,” Joe answered, flipping a shovelful of snow into the yard. “There's just too much snow on the roads today.”

“It's melting fast, though,” Mandie observed. “Look how soft it is, and it's all runny underneath.” She demonstrated.

“Today's Saturday. Maybe by Monday our folks will be able to get back,” Joe remarked.

Mandie straightened up. “Monday!” she cried. “Christmas Day is Tuesday!”

“If they get back on Monday, I'll consider them lucky with all this snow,” Joe said.

“But Mother's message said they would be back in time for Christmas,” Mandie moaned.

“Well, if they get back on Monday, that'll be in time for Christmas,” Joe reminded her.

“Barely,” Mandie answered.

Just then Snowball came bounding down the pathway they had dug from the front porch. He was shaking his paws as he went, trying to get rid of the trace of snow sticking to them.