The Mandie Collection (56 page)

“All right. Celia and I will question Miss Hope,” Mandie resolved. “Joe, can you come back to our school tomorrow afternoon? We have a free period from three-thirty until suppertime.”

“Sure,” Joe replied, his eyes twinkling. “I'd sure like to know more about those diamonds.”

“When are we going to visit Hilda?” Celia asked.

“Let's do that Saturday,” Mandie suggested. “We'll have more free time then anyway. Is that all right?”

Joe nodded.

“It's fine with me,” Celia said. “Mandie, don't forget to ask your grandmother to send Miss Hope a note. You know how strict they are about visitors, and we don't want to break any more rules, remember?”

“I'll ask Grandmother to tell Miss Hope that Joe will be coming to visit us in the afternoon,” Mandie promised. “She knows Joe and Dr. Woodard, so I don't think she'll mind.” Mandie squeezed Joe's hand. “We'll have plenty of time to explore the woods.”

“We sure don't want to get into any more trouble,” Celia repeated.

As the three young people made their plans, they had no idea what kind of trouble lay ahead.

CHAPTER FIVE

SEARCH IN THE WOODS

By the time their free period was over next morning, Mandie and Celia had the attic in neat order with the help of Uncle Cal and Aunt Phoebe. The four of them stood back to admire their work.

Mandie glanced around at the old furniture lined up along the wall. Worn trunks and discolored boxes were neatly spaced nearby. “I think we did a pretty good job,” she said.

“Me, too,” Celia agreed.

“Dis place ain't nevuh been dis clean,” Uncle Cal remarked. Aunt Phoebe gave both girls a squeeze. “Both my lil' Missies make good housekeepuhs someday,” she said.

“That wasn't such a big job,” Celia said.

“No, but that's because we had Uncle Cal and Aunt Pheobe to help us,” Mandie replied. “Without them we would have been working here for days. Well, I guess we'd better get cleaned up before the bell rings to go to the dining room. Thanks for your help, Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Cal,” she said, giving them both a hug.

“Lawsy mercy, Missy, dat's whut de good Lawd put us all heah fo', to help one 'nuthuh,” Aunt Phoebe said. “Now you gits goin' 'fo' you bees late.”

“You Missies don't wanta git in no mo' trouble,” Uncle Cal warned. “Miz Hope mought not 'llow de doctuh's son come visit.”

As they started down the steps, Mandie turned to the old Negro. “You're going after Joe at three-thirty, aren't you, Uncle Cal?”

“Yessum, Missy. I'se gwine to brang him heah. Miz Hope done tol' me to go,” the old man confirmed. “But, Missy, please be careful and don' make no mo' trouble.”

“I'm trying real hard, Uncle Cal,” Mandie told him. “Uncle Cal, and Aunt Phoebe, have y'all been working here ever since Miss Prudence and Miss Hope opened this school? Did you know the lady who owned this house before they did?”

Aunt Phoebe shook her head, and Uncle Cal replied, “No, Missy. Phoebe and me had jes' got hitched 'bout de time dis school opened up. We lived on a farm. Jes' come heah 'bout twenty yeahs ago. But my—”

The bell in the backyard interrupted their conversation, and the girls turned to run down the stairs.

“See you later,” Mandie called back to them.

“Thanks,” Celia said, quickly following her friend.

Stopping by the bathroom, the girls hastily cleaned up, then ran to their room to take off their aprons and smooth their hair before hurrying down to the dining room.

“I guess that means we won't get any clues from Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Cal,” Mandie told Celia as they walked briskly down the hallway. “They wouldn't know anything about our mystery if they didn't live here back then.”

The day seemed to drag as the girls waited impatiently for three-thirty. When Joe arrived, they would explore the woods. The girls' minds were not on their lessons.

April Snow, the tall, dark-haired troublemaker at the girls' school, bent across the aisle and whispered to Mandie. “What kind of trouble are y'all thinking up this time?” she asked.

Mandie felt the blood rush to her face and tried to ignore the girl. April was always trying to start something. Mandie did her best to control her temper.

Even though the girl had called Mandie a half-breed savage one day, creating a stir that resulted in both of them being suspended
from school, Mandie had tried to forgive and forget. But somehow she just couldn't be friends with April. And April took every opportunity to make verbal jabs at her.

Mandie fidgeted nervously, silently asking God to help her remain calm. She drew in a deep breath and blew it out.

Miss Cameron paused in her recitation about the battle of Cow-pens in the Revolutionary War and looked at Mandie with concern. “Amanda, are you all right?” she asked.

“Yes, ma'am, Miss Cameron. I'm fine,” Mandie replied quickly. Sitting up straight in her chair, she tried to focus her attention on the lesson.

“Now, young ladies, as I was saying.” Miss Cameron continued with the events that led to the victory at Cowpens.

When at last three-thirty came, Mandie and Celia raced upstairs to leave their books, then hurried back downstairs.

“Well, here I am,” Joe said as he met them at the front door. “I didn't bring Snowball.”

“That's good. He might get lost. We're all ready to go,” Mandie replied. “Let's go outside.”

The three young people walked out into the yard beneath the giant magnolia trees.

Joe eyed the girls suspiciously. “Are ya'll sure you want to go down there into the woods with those fine dresses on?” he asked.

“Fine? These are just our everyday school dresses,” Mandie told him.

“I remember when that would have been finer than your Sundaygo-to-meeting clothes back in Swain County,” he said with a laugh. “Well then, what are we waiting for?” As he turned to hurry down the hillside, the girls followed close behind but paused when they reached the edge of the thick woods.

“Looks like an awful lot of underbrush,” Joe commented.

“Just a minute,” Mandie said. Running toward a huge tree nearby, she brought out a hoe and axe from behind it. “Here! Celia and I borrowed these from the tool shed. We figured we might have to
chop a path to get through,” she said. “Joe, you take the axe and Celia and I will use the hoe.”

Joe threw the axe across his thin shoulder and led the way into the trees. Mandie followed, using the hoe handle like a walking stick, and Celia brought up the rear. Briars caught in their clothes, tree limbs swept their heads, and unseen rocks in the undergrowth bruised the girls' feet through the thin soles of their dress shoes, but they didn't complain.

Joe stopped for a moment after traipsing through the dense forest for what seemed like hours. “Suppose we get lost?” he asked.

“Impossible,” Mandie told him. “Remember, I'm part Cherokee. I've watched my Cherokee kinpeople mark a trail.”

“Is that why you've been breaking twigs on bushes all along the way?” Celia asked.

“That's the way you do it,” Mandie explained.

“All right, my papoose. Please mark a good trail so we can find the way back,” Joe teased her.

“Will do, my brave. You keep a lookout for panthers,” Mandie replied, going along with his joking.

The farther they went into the woods, the darker it became. None of them had a watch, so they didn't know what time it was.

But finally Joe stopped again. “I think we'd better go back,” he said. “It seems to be getting late.”

Mandie sighed. “I wish we could have found something,” she said.

“Couldn't we come back later?” Celia asked.

“Later?” Mandie frowned. “You mean after dark?”

“Isn't it the night for Uncle Ned to come visit you? The moon changes tonight,” Celia observed.

“He's supposed to come tonight, but he doesn't come until after ten o'clock. That will be entirely too late,” Mandie told her. “On the other hand, how about tomorrow? I could ask Uncle Ned to come back tomorrow afternoon and go with us. He would know how to get around in a place like this better than we do.”

“That's a good idea,” Joe agreed.

“I'll ask him when he comes tonight,” Mandie promised.

The three found their way back through the woods and left the tools at the hiding place. As they hurried up the hillside, they saw Uncle Cal waiting with the rig to take Joe back to Mandie's grandmother's house.

“Hurry, Missies. 'Bout late fo' suppuh,” the old black man warned as they came up the driveway. “Come on, doctuh's son. Let's go.”

The girls ran for the front door.

“See you tomorrow,” Joe called to them as he stepped into the rig.

Mandie and Celia hurried down the hallway and joined the line of students as they began filing into the dining room for the first seating of the evening meal. Miss Prudence glanced sharply at them, and the girls suddenly realized that they must look quite disheveled after their trek through the woods. But it was too late to do anything about it.

Mandie patted her hair and whispered to Celia. “We might be in trouble,” she said, holding up crossed fingers.

Celia straightened her skirt. “I sure hope not,” she replied.

The meal went swiftly, and the girls were dismissed as the second group of students waited outside the doorway. Steering clear of Miss Prudence, Mandie and Celia hurried upstairs.

Standing in front of the long mirror in their room, the two girls could now see why Miss Prudence had given them such a sharp look. Celia had a faint scratch across her cheek. Mandie's chin was smudged. Both girls' hair looked as though it hadn't been combed for weeks.

Shocked at her appearance, Mandie fell across the bed laughing, and Celia joined her.

“How terrible we look and none of the girls at the table seemed to notice,” Mandie said between giggles. “Not a single person even smiled at us.”

“Miss Prudence noticed,” Celia said, sitting up. “I wonder if we'll be called in for it.”

Mandie groaned. “I hope not,” she said. “But right now I think we'd better get cleaned up a little and make a ladylike appearance on the veranda with the others.”

“Right,” Celia agreed.

Suddenly Mandie whirled around. “Celia, I forgot,” she said. “We haven't told Miss Hope that we're finished with the attic.”

“That's right,” Celia replied.

“Let's find her tonight and tell her, so she won't expect us up there tomorrow,” Mandie suggested. “She ought to be finished with her supper by the time we get ourselves presentable.”

Not satisfied with their dirty, rumpled clothes, the girls changed dresses and carefully combed their hair. By the time they left their room, the only remaining trace of their trip into the woods was the scratch on Celia's cheek, which she tried to cover with bath powder.

Downstairs they found Miss Hope just as she was going into her office.

Mandie stopped her at the door. “Miss Hope, we're all done in the attic,” she said. “Everything is clean and orderly.”

“That's nice,” Miss Hope replied. “Come on into my office a minute. I'd like to talk to you girls.”

Mandie's heart beat wildly; they were in trouble again! Celia turned to look at Mandie as they followed Miss Hope into her office.

Miss Hope sat down behind her desk, her face giving no indication of her mood. “Sit down. This will only take but a minute,” she said.

The girls sat gingerly on the edges of their chairs, waiting for their scolding.

“Amanda, I know Dr. Woodard's son plans to call on you every afternoon this week,” Miss Hope began, “but I thought you girls might like to go to the farm with me tomorrow afternoon. As you probably know, the school owns its own farm, which is just a few
miles from here. We usually take all the girls from the school out there two or three times during the semester for candy pullings and hayrides, and there's a nice lake which freezes over for ice skating in the winter,” Miss Hope told them. “I have to go out there tomorrow to check over the books. Since you girls have done such a good job of mending your ways, I thought it would be a little treat for you to go along.”

“Tomorrow afternoon?” Mandie asked slowly. They had planned another search for the cabin the next afternoon.

“Yes, I have to go tomorrow,” the schoolmistress explained. “Miss Prudence and I can't both leave the school at the same time, and I don't like going alone, so I thought I'd ask you two.”

Celia looked at Mandie, then at Miss Hope. “I would love to go with you, Miss Hope,” she said. “Mandie can stay here and visit with Joe. She doesn't get to see him very often.”

“Neither one of you has to go,” Miss Hope told them. “I can ask one of the other girls.”

“I'd like to see the farm,” Celia said. “Really and truly. I know you have horses out there, and I've missed mine at home so much since I've been here.”

Mandie leaned forward. “I would like to go, too, Miss Hope, but since Joe is only going to be in town during his school break, could I please wait and go next time?” she asked.

“Of course, Amanda,” Miss Hope replied. “Now, Celia, meet me here at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I'll have you excused from your classes then. And please wear something rough if you plan to explore the farm.”

“Thank you, Miss Hope,” Celia promised. “I'll be here at two o'clock.”

The girls left the office and went out onto the veranda.

Celia explained to her friend. “Miss Hope has been so nice to us, Mandie, I just couldn't let her down,” she said. “I knew you didn't want to go. But now you, and Joe, and Uncle Ned can look for the cabin, and I'll go to the farm.”

“Thanks so much, Celia,” Mandie replied. “Miss Hope didn't say when you'd return, but I imagine you'll be back in time for supper. I'll tell you if we found anything then.” Mandie blew out her breath. “Thank goodness that was all she wanted with us,” she said.