The Mandie Collection (21 page)

Mrs. Taft finished her conversation and hung up the receiver. She smiled at Celia and said, “I see that Miss Prudence is lacking in some of her education program. She needs to get a telephone in the school and teach you young ladies how to use it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie agreed with a big smile.

“I guess so,” Celia mumbled, still nervous from her use of the sheriff’s telephone.

“Thank you, Sheriff Jones,” Mrs. Taft told him. “We will go home and discuss this matter and will be back in touch with you in order to contact Mrs. Hamilton again. Thank you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the sheriff said, opening the door for her to leave the office. “Anything I can do for you, just let me know, ma’am.”

As soon as they returned to Mrs. Taft’s house, they sat in the parlor and discussed the situation regarding the College of Charleston.

“Your mother did mail your registration papers in time to meet the deadline date the college had given her. However, it seems the college made an error in the written date they gave her. She has asked me to handle this for her since we are so much closer to the college and may have to make a visit down there, and also, Celia, they are having some very bad winter weather at your home right now.”

“Yes, ma’am, we do have lots of snow and bad weather in the winter back home,” Celia replied.

“I will write a letter tonight and get it mailed tomorrow to the college protesting their decision and explaining why. Then we’ll see what to do next. It will all depend upon their response,” Mrs. Taft told Celia.

“Oh, thank you, Mrs. Taft,” Celia said, smiling at her.

“I knew you could get everything straightened out, Grandmother,” Mandie said with a big grin.

“Now I think you girls should go on back to school in time for supper,” Mrs. Taft said. “I don’t want you staying away from school too much, Amanda.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie agreed, smiling at Celia.

“We have some studying to do tonight anyway,” Celia reminded Mandie.

Ben drove them back to school in Mrs. Taft’s rig, and they immediately went to look for Miss Prudence and found her in her office.

“Sit down, young ladies, and tell me what is happening now concerning your college,” Miss Prudence told them.

After the girls explained what they had been doing and what was going to be done, Miss Prudence frowned and said, “I’m sure whoever is running that college was not educated here in my school. I can’t imagine making such an important mistake.”

The girls smiled at each other and agreed. “Yes, ma’am.”

“We have to go study now, Miss Prudence, before suppertime,” Mandie told her as she rose from the chair.

“You don’t have much time left before suppertime, so you’d better hurry,” Miss Prudence told them.

As the girls started out the door, Mandie turned back to say, “And, oh, Miss Prudence, my grandmother thinks you should have a telephone installed here in the school.”

Miss Prudence threw up her hands and said, “Heaven forbid! That’s all the young ladies would be doing, talking on that telephone.” And then with a smile she said, “Thank you for warning me, Amanda.”

The girls immediately went to their room to study.

Mandie went over to the bureau to brush back her long blond hair. She glanced at the comb and brush and said, “Celia, we forgot to keep watch on our things to see if anyone was coming in here. My hairbrush has not been moved that I can tell.”

Celia rushed over to look at hers and said, “Mine hasn’t, either.”

“Maybe whoever was in here before is not coming back,” Mandie said. “However, I intend keeping watch on my possessions, that is, every time I can remember to do it.”

“Yes,” Celia agreed.

Mandie picked up her history book with a loud sigh and settled into one of the big chairs. She was sure her grandmother would pursue the situation until the college did accept Celia. Mrs. Taft always got whatever she went after.

During the next few weeks there was a lot of correspondence between Mrs. Taft and the College of Charleston. It seemed that no one down there knew what the other one was doing. Different people replied to Mrs. Taft’s letters every time she wrote. Then she began making telephone calls and kept getting different people on the line.

One weekend when Mandie and Celia were staying with her, Mrs. Taft told them, “It seems hopeless. I may have to go down there in person to get any results. The people who answer the telephone don’t seem to know what each other is doing, or what should be done to straighten out this affair for Celia.”

“Grandmother, may we go with you? Please?” Mandie quickly asked.

“No, that is out of the question, Amanda,” Mrs. Taft replied firmly. “You cannot miss any of your classes for the rest of this school year. Remember you will be graduating in May and need to put in every hour of study that you can.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie replied with a big sigh.

“If I don’t get any results by the end of next week, I will go down there and confront these people,” Mrs. Taft told the girls.

When the end of the next week came, Mrs. Taft had not received anything and made plans to go to Charleston.

Mandie and Celia were allowed to see her off on the train. Mrs. Manning, her friend and neighbor, went with her.

“If I need to speak to anyone up here while I’m there I will call Sheriff Jones’ office and ask him to give my message,” Mrs. Taft explained to the girls as she stood on the platform with Mrs. Manning.

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie said. “We’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

The train sat there huffing and puffing and the two ladies walked to the door of the car.

Mrs. Taft waved back at the girls and said, “And when I return we shall get a telephone in my house and also in the school.” She smiled and stepped inside the train car. Mrs. Manning followed her.

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie said, excitedly thinking of the prospect of a telephone that she could use sometime.

As the train pulled out of the station Celia said, “Oh, Mandie, I hope we don’t get the telephone at the school before we graduate. I’m not sure I like telephones.”

“Come on,” Mandie told her as they hurried off the platform to Mrs. Taft’s rig, where Ben was waiting to drive them back to the school. “Think of all the time that could be saved by using telephones.”

“Yes, but think of all the wonderful letters people write now that just won’t be written in the future when they can simply talk into one of those telephones,” Celia replied.

When they got back to the school they met up with Miss Prudence in the front hallway.

“Did Mrs. Taft get off all right?” the lady asked. “Was the train on time?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Mandie replied. “And when she comes back we are going to get a telephone here in the school.” Mandie grinned at her.

Miss Prudence gave a big sigh, frowned, and said, “I suppose we will get a telephone if Mrs. Taft wants one here, since she owns the school now. Oh, dear, Miss Hope went off and got married and will be taken care of. Would that I were that independent. I could retire.”

“You could do the same thing, Miss Prudence,” Mandie said with a big smile. Then she worried about the effect of that remark.

“What? Oh, Amanda, I’m too old for that,” Miss Prudence said. She straightened her shoulders and said, “Now you young ladies get back to your schoolwork.”

“Yes, ma’am,” both girls replied as Miss Prudence headed down the hall toward her office.

Walking toward the main staircase, Mandie stopped and said, “I wonder if Sheriff Jones is married. He’s a nice-looking old man, you know. And I know the preacher’s wife died a long time ago. You know, Celia, we ought to look for a nice husband for Miss Prudence.” She grinned.

“Oh, Mandie, now you are talking about trouble. I certainly don’t want to get on the bad side of Miss Prudence,” Celia replied.

“We’ll see,” Mandie replied with a secretive grin.

As they continued up the staircase Celia said, “Talking about older people getting married, I would think your grandmother would marry again, either Jonathan’s father or Senator Morton.”

“I’m not sure my grandmother would like being tied down to a husband,” Mandie replied. “She likes being the boss of everything, you know.”

In their room the girls settled down to do assignments they had been given because they had missed the morning classes by going to the depot.

When the bell in the backyard rang for the noonday meal, both girls rushed to the bureau to brush their hair. And both noticed their combs and brushes had been moved.

“Someone has been in here,” Mandie said, standing back to look at her things on the bureau.

“Yes, they have,” Celia agreed.

They quickly looked around the room but couldn’t find anything else that had been disturbed.

“I wonder why whoever it is just picks the bureau to snoop in.” Mandie said with a big sigh.

“I don’t know, but Mandie, come on. We’ll be late for the line to the dining room,” Celia urged her as she hurried to the door.

Mandie quickly put her things on top of the bureau back in the order she kept them and then rushed to join Celia. “I fixed everything back so I’ll know if someone comes in again,” she said.

Downstairs they found the twins last in line and followed behind them into the dining room. Although they were not supposed to talk in line, Mandie whispered to the girls, “What college are you all going to after you graduate here?”

The twins looked at each other, smiled, and said, “The one in Charleston, that is in the state of South Carolina.”

Mandie’s eyes grew wide as she looked at Celia. “We are going to the same college,” she whispered to the twins.

Both girls smiled and nodded as the line moved on.

When they finally got to their chairs at the table, Mandie whispered to Celia, “I wonder when they applied. It had to be before they came here because of the deadline.”

Celia nodded as Miss Prudence shook the little bell she kept by her plate. “We will return thanks, young ladies,” she said loudly. She watched as the girls bowed their heads before she began the blessing.

As soon as the meal was over and they were dismissed from the table, Mandie and Celia went to sit in the main parlor until time for their next class.

Polly Cornwallis came through the door on the far end of the parlor and sat down there. Then Mandie and Celia were surprised to see April Snow enter the parlor and join Polly.

“Well, when did they get to be friends?” Mandie whispered to Celia.

“This is the first time I have ever seen them even speak to each other,” Celia remarked.

Then, as they watched, the twins entered the parlor and went straight across the room and sat down with Polly and April.

“My goodness, remember what April said about the twins being foreigners,” Mandie whispered.

“She must have changed her opinion of them,” Mandie replied.

Mandie and Celia watched as April, Polly, and the twins laughed and talked, but they were too far away to hear what was being said. Mary Lou came into the parlor and joined Mandie and Celia.

“I just heard that April, Polly, and the twins are all going to the College of Charleston,” Mary Lou told them.

“Really?” Mandie said in surprise. “I wonder how they all got to be friends all of a sudden.”

“I don’t know, but I overheard them talking this morning between classes. I didn’t see y’all around so I figured y’all didn’t know about their decision to go to the College of Charleston,” Mary Lou said. “Miss Prudence told me y’all were both going to the College of Charleston.”

“We went to the depot to see my grandmother off to Charleston, to the College of Charleston, in fact, to straighten out a mixup in Celia’s registration,” Mandie explained. “Miss Prudence told us that you will also be going to the College of Charleston.”

“Yes, but as a day student. I’ll be living at home,” Mary Lou replied. “Y’all will have to come visit at my house and get to know my parents.”

“Thank you, that would be nice. We don’t know anyone in Charleston, except the Pattons who are friends of my mother. Do you know their son, Tommy, and his sister, Josephine, who is younger?” Mandie asked.

“Patton? No, I don’t believe I know anyone with that name,” Mary Lou replied.

The clock in the hall chimed. Mandie quickly stood up and said, “I’ve got to rush up to my room and get by books for my next class. I’ll see you later, Mary Lou.”

“Yes, I have to get my books, too,” Mary Lou replied.

In their room, Mandie and Celia quickly looked at their things on the bureau. Nothing had been moved. And as they grabbed their books from a chair Mandie said, “No one has been in here to move things around because whoever is doing it must have been downstairs in the dining room when we were and didn’t have a chance to do it.”

“I hope no one comes in here again while we’re out,” Celia said, following Mandie out the door.

“They’d better not because sooner or later they’re going to be caught,” Mandie said. “And they’re going to be in trouble then.”

Mandie and Celia anxiously awaited word from Mrs. Taft in Charleston, but no message came. Finally Mrs. Taft came home a week after she had left. She sent Ben over with a note to Miss Prudence, asking permission for Mandie and Celia to come to her house for supper.

“Your grandmother has returned,” Miss Prudence told Mandie when she had summoned the girls to her office one afternoon. “And you’re to go to her house for supper. She didn’t ask, but if you would like to spend the night there tonight it would be permissible. But be sure you let me know. Now get your things. Ben is waiting.”

“Thank you, Miss Prudence,” Mandie said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Celia added.

They hurried up to their room to get their cloaks and gloves. The weather had turned colder and it was also raining.

“I do hope Grandmother has everything straightened out,” Mandie said as they stepped out onto the front porch and hurried down the steps where Ben was waiting in the buggy, which had attachable curtains for protection against the weather.

“Does Grandmother seem to be in good spirits?” Mandie asked as she and Celia stepped into the buggy.

“I don’t rightly knows, Missy,” Ben replied, picking up the reins. “I gits her at the de depot dis here mawnin’ and brings her home. Den don’t see huh all day till she say come git you.” He drove the buggy on out into the road.

“She’s probably been sleeping all day after that train trip,” Mandie said.

Mrs. Taft was waiting for them in the parlor where a fire blazed and crackled in the huge stone fireplace. The girls left their cloaks on the hall tree outside the parlor and went on into the room to stand by the fire.

“It’s cold outside, Grandmother,” Mandie said.

“Yes, it is,” Mrs. Taft said. “You girls sit down here on these stools by the fire until you get warmed up.”

Ella, the maid, rolled the tea cart into the room and began pouring cups of hot coffee. “Heah, dis heah will warm you up,” she said to the girls. “And there’s sweet cakes heah, too.” She picked up a small plate on the cart, put a pastry on it, and handed it to Mrs. Taft, then gave some to Mandie and Celia.

“Grandmother, Miss Prudence said we could spend the night if you want us to,” Mandie said between sips of the hot coffee.

“Yes, the weather is bad outside. Ella, would you please ask Ben to run back over to the school and tell Miss Prudence the girls will be staying over. I don’t know why I didn’t think about that.”

“Yes, ma’am, Miz Taft,” Ella said, quickly leaving the room.

Mandie and Celia were silent, waiting to hear what Mrs. Taft had to say. After drinking half of her cup of coffee, Mrs. Taft finally spoke.

“Celia, you are now registered at the College of Charleston,” Mrs. Taft said with a big smile as she looked at the girl.

“Oh, thank you, Mrs. Taft!” Celia squealed, almost choking on the coffee.

“Grandmother, I knew you would get things straightened out, and I thank you, also,” Mandie said, smiling at her.

“It took some doing, but I accomplished the matter of getting Celia enrolled in the College of Charleston,” Mrs. Taft said. “It seems that they have students working in the office there and answering the telephone, and that is why it was impossible to get any information by telephone. And speaking of telephones, I will be talking to Miss Prudence tomorrow and discussing the installation of a telephone in the school, and I’ll also get one here in the house. Of course not many people have one here locally so it won’t be much good for calling here in town, but we certainly can call other places, like the College of Charleston. I will be able to talk with you, Amanda, and check on things without having to go all the way down to Charleston when you go to school down there.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie replied, but she was thinking Mrs. Taft might be able to check on her too often. After all, she was going to college and she didn’t need her grandmother treating her like a child anymore.

“And Celia, I imagine your mother will be getting a telephone just as soon as the lines out there are installed,” Mrs. Taft said.

“Yes, ma’am, she said she would,” Celia replied.

“Now we need to discuss a trip to New York to do some shopping,” Mrs. Taft told them. “You will both need clothes to begin school in the fall and we could spend the spring holidays in New York. What do y’all say?”

“Well, yes, ma’am, if you think we need to go to New York to shop,” Mandie agreed.

“I’ll have to ask my mother,” Celia said.

“I spoke to your mother on the telephone while I was at the college and she agreed we need to go,” Mrs. Taft explained. “It will be a fast trip, but we can do it.”

“Do you think my mother will want to go with us?” Mandie asked.

“I will talk to her before then,” Mrs. Taft promised.

Then Mandie remembered about the other girls who were planning to attend the College of Charleston. “Grandmother, you won’t believe it but April Snow and Polly Cornwallis are also going to the College of Charleston.”

“That’s too bad,” Mrs. Taft said. “I do hope they don’t get down there and stir up trouble.”