The Mandie Collection (23 page)

“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.

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 graduation 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.

“We’ve got to get our books, Mandie,” Celia reminded her.

“Yes,” Mandie agreed.

Mandie and Celia were in classes all afternoon and had to hurry to their room to get back down in time for supper. Everyone else was already in line. She saw April and Polly together ahead of her, but there was no sign of the twins.

“The twins aren’t here,” Mandie whispered to Celia.

Celia looked ahead up the line and agreed, “I don’t see them.”

After supper, when Mandie and Celia returned to their room, they again found their things on the bureau moved about.

Mandie blew out her breath and said, “I’m going to catch whoever is doing this.”

“Yes,” Celia agreed.

Mandie rushed over to the wardrobe and looked inside. Nothing seemed to be disturbed in it.

After that, almost every time they left their room they would come back and find things on the bureau rearranged.

Finally one night after supper Mandie stomped her foot and said, “I think I’m going to speak to Miss Prudence about this.” She put her things back in place.

“Yes, it’s time to do that,” Celia agreed.

They found Miss Prudence in her office. The lady looked up from her desk and invited them in.

“Come in, young ladies, and have a seat,” Miss Prudence said. Mandie and Celia sat in the straight chairs.

“What can I do for you now?” Miss Prudence asked.

“I hate to bother you with this, Miss Prudence, but it has been going on a long time now,” Mandie began. “You see, almost every time we leave our room, someone comes in and rearranges everything we have on the bureau.”

“Rearranges things on the bureau?” Miss Prudence repeated. “Please explain.”

Mandie told her everything she could think of about the situation. “So far we aren’t missing anything,” Mandie said.

“They seem to be doing this for aggravation,” Celia added.

“Do you have any ideas as to whom this might be?” Miss Prudence asked.

Both girls shook their heads.

“We left our graduation dresses at my grandmother’s because of this. We were afraid someone would do something to them,” Mandie said. “And we were wondering if you have a key to the wardrobe in our room that we could use to lock it up.”

“Yes, I do have keys to just about everything in this school,” Miss Prudence replied. “But we need to get to the bottom of this problem.”

“It seems impossible to catch whoever is doing this,” Mandie said.

“I’ll have Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Cal check on your room now and then,” Miss Prudence said. “Sooner or later they are bound to see someone going in and out of your room,” Miss Prudence said. She got up and opened a drawer in a cabinet behind her desk. “In the meantime I’ll let you have the key to your wardrobe and you can at least keep that locked.”

“Oh, thank you, Miss Prudence,” Mandie said.

Miss Prudence handed Mandie a key and said, “Now please don’t lose this, but keep the wardrobe locked from now on so no one can get in it. In the meantime maybe we’ll catch whoever is going into your room.”

“Thank you, Miss Prudence,” Mandie said as she and Celia left the office.

“At last we can lock the wardrobe,” Celia said.

“And when we bring our graduation dresses over here we can lock them up,” Mandie said with a smile.

As the days passed, someone kept moving things about on their bureau and no one was able to catch them. However, Mandie and Celia kept the wardrobe locked. Finally it was the week before graduation. Mandie decided it was time to bring their dresses to the school.

“Since we will have to fold them and put them in a bag so no one can see them, we will have to ask Aunt Phoebe to press them for us,” Mandie said as she took down her dress from the wardrobe in Mrs. Taft’s house.

“Yes, they will get wrinkled,” Celia agreed.

The girls borrowed a large travel bag from Mrs. Taft, put the dresses inside, and had Ben bring them to the school.

Uncle Cal took the bag from Ben when he brought it and the girls followed him up to their room.

“Uncle Cal, would you please tell Aunt Phoebe we’ll need our dresses pressed that are in that bag? We’ll just hang them in the wardrobe until she gets time,” Mandie said.

“I sho’ will,” the old man promised as they climbed the stairs.

Mandie and Celia’s room was isolated from the other rooms. It was at the top of the stairs by itself. As they went up the last flight, Mandie looked up ahead and saw April Snow hurrying down toward them. These steps only led to Mandie and Celia’s room.

Mandie quickly stepped in front of April as they met on the stairs. “What have you been doing in our room?” she demanded.

April frowned at her and said, “I was not in your room. I knocked on the door and no one answered, so I came back down the steps.”

Uncle Cal had stepped back and was watching the girls.

“Just what were you knocking on our door for?” Mandie asked.

“I—I—just—wanted to ask you something,” April stuttered out.

“What did you want to ask us?” Celia said to her.

“It was nothing important,” April said, and she quickly darted around Mandie and hurried on down the staircase.

“She is probably the one who has been moving things on our bureau,” Mandie said as they continued up the steps.

When the girls went into their room and Uncle Cal brought in the bag, they quickly went over to the bureau to look.

“Nothing has been moved,” Mandie said.

Uncle Cal set the bag down and said, “I’ll tell Phoebe you need some pressing done.” He went out the door.

“Thank you, Uncle Cal,” Mandie called after him.

The girls looked around the room. Nothing seemed disturbed.

“If she came in here, she didn’t bother anything. Maybe she heard us coming,” Mandie said.

Aunt Phoebe came to their room, got the graduation dresses in the bag, and took them downstairs to press. “I be sure nobody sees dese dresses,” she promised the girls. “Be right back.”

All the other girls were in classes and Mandie and Celia waited for Aunt Phoebe to return the dresses so they could lock them up in the wardrobe.

Aunt Phoebe was back in a short time. She carried the dresses over her arm and had them covered with a sheet. She helped put them on hangers and place them in the wardrobe.

Mandie took the key out of her pocket and said, “I’m locking the door now . . .” She put the key in the lock and turned it, and then returned the key to her pocket.

“They ought to be safe till you girls graduate,” the old woman said.

“Whew!” Mandie exclaimed as she sat in one of the big chairs. “I’ll be glad when everything is over and we can get away from here.”

The days seemed to pass slowly because the girls were eager to get graduation over with. Then finally everyone arrived at Mrs. Taft’s house to attend the ceremonies—Uncle Ned, Morning Star and Sallie, Riley O’Neal, Dimar, Dr. and Mrs. Woodard and Joe, Elizabeth and John Shaw, Mr. Jacob Smith, Celia’s mother, Aunt Rebecca and Mollie, and other friends and relatives.

With all these people arriving, Mandie and Celia thought about other friends.

“You never did get a reply from Lily Masterson, did you, Mandie?” Celia asked.

Mandie took a deep breath of surprise and said, “No, I didn’t, and I had plumb forgotten about sending her that note with so much else going on. I wonder why she didn’t reply.”

“Maybe she’s on a long journey somewhere and hasn’t received your letter yet,” Celia suggested.

“Well, I hope I hear from her sometime,” Mandie said. She happened to glance across the room at the wardrobe. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She quickly jumped up to run to it. The door was open. “Celia!”

Celia quickly followed. They pushed the door the rest of the way open and searched for their graduation dresses. Celia’s was there but Mandie’s was missing.

“Oh no!” Mandie exclaimed, tears flooding her blue eyes as she collapsed on the floor.

“I’m going to get Miss Prudence,” Celia said, and went out the door before Mandie could protest.

She came right back with the lady, who was clearly upset.

“What is going on, young ladies?” Miss Prudence asked as she looked at Mandie sitting on the floor.

“Someone has unlocked the wardrobe, but I have the key. How could they?” Mandie wailed. “My dress is gone.”

“Oh dear, oh dear,” Miss Prudence exclaimed as she rushed to look inside the wardrobe.

Aunt Phoebe stuck her head in the door. “I heard all de commotion, Miz Prudence. Somethin’ wrong?”

Miss Prudence explained. “We need to search every room in this house immediately,” Miss Prudence added. “Get Uncle Cal and Miss Hope.”

With one of the teachers standing guard at the staircase so no one could go up or down without being seen, Miss Prudence led the search. They went into all the girls’ rooms, examined their wardrobes, which were all unlocked, and found nothing.

Finally Miss Prudence and the others gathered at the top of the main staircase where they could talk.

“I’m sorry, Amanda, but your dress seems to have completely left this house,” Miss Prudence told her.

Mandie had been crying and she said, “I’m going to my room to wash my face, Miss Prudence.”

“I’ll go with you,” Celia said.