The Mandie Collection (36 page)

Especially for—
Dr. and Mrs. Jack (Phinalia) Hunter,
Owners of Lemstone Books, Spartanburg, S.C.
With love and thanks
for all their support throughout the years

CONTENTS

MANDIE AND THE UNWANTED GIFT

Chapter   1   Home!

Chapter   2   More Questions

Chapter   3   A Mysterious Package

Chapter   4   Visitors

Chapter   5   Getting Ready

Chapter   6   Up Went the Tree

Chapter   7   A Misunderstanding

Chapter   8   Is It a Map or Not?

Chapter   9   A Scary Ordeal

Chapter 10   This and That, Here and There

Chapter 11   More Company

Chapter 12   Secret Revealed

CHAPTER ONE

HOME!

“Here comes Ben,” Mandie told Celia Hamilton as they stood in the window of the Misses Heathwood's School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina. She reached back to the chair behind her, picked up her winter coat, and hurriedly put it on.

“Are you going to tell your grandmother?” Celia asked as Mandie placed her blue tam on her blond head and pulled on her matching gloves.

Mandie sighed loudly as she looked at her friend. “I suppose I'll have to sooner or later, but I dread doing it,” she replied.

“Yes, you do have to, Mandie, and the sooner you tell her the better,” Celia said. “Oh, how I wish I could go home with you for Christmas. I'd sure like to know what the repercussions are. You're going to have some interesting holidays.”

“Maybe you could ask your mother just one more time. Maybe she would finally agree to come to our house. You never know,” Mandie replied as she picked up her small purse from the chair.

“Mother might agree for her and me to come, but Aunt Rebecca won't,” Celia said. “She says she has so many things to do for the holidays, and Mother won't go off and leave her because she does live with us, you know.”

“I have to go now. I hear Ben in the hallway, and I need to show
him my baggage,” Mandie said as she reached to squeeze her friend's hand. “I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, Celia. I'll see you when we come back to school the day after New Year's. I hope your Aunt Rebecca's train gets in on time so you can get on home.”

Celia squeezed Mandie's hand and said, “You mean so we can catch the next train going back. You see how nice Aunt Rebecca is to me. She comes all the way here from Richmond just to travel back home with me so my mother won't have to make the trip.”

“I know. I wish I had an aunt like that, but I don't have an aunt at all,” Mandie said. She released Celia's hand to go out into the hallway to look for her grandmother's driver, Ben. Glancing back at her friend, she said, “Good-bye, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I'll see you in 1902.”

“Same to you, Mandie,” Celia called after her. “Don't forget to tell your grandmother. Also, you should prepare Joe for the forthcoming event.”

Mandie sighed and looked around the hallway where the other schoolgirls were standing about, waiting to be picked up for their journeys home for the holidays. She spotted Aunt Phoebe, the school's housekeeper, pointing to Mandie's trunk as Ben went toward it.

“Here I am, Ben,” Mandie called to the man, who smiled at her as he bent over to pick up the trunk. Hurrying over to the old woman, Mandie quickly hugged her and said, “Merry Christmas, Aunt Phoebe. I've already seen everyone else, and I was afraid I was going to miss you.”

“Merry Christmas to you,” Aunt Phoebe replied as she returned the hug. “You hurry back, now. Gonna be awfully quiet round here wid all you girls gone.”

“Then you'll be able to get some rest. Bye now,” Mandie told her, smiling and hurrying after Ben, who was going out the front door.

She followed Ben to her grandmother's carriage that was parked in the long driveway. As she got in, Ben put the trunk on the back and called to her, “Miz Taft, she say hurry now so y'all don't miss dat train.” He jumped up on the seat.

Mandie knew Ben liked to drive fast when her grandmother wasn't around. He raced the carriage through the cobblestone streets of Asheville and pulled up at her grandmother's huge mansion before she could sort out her thoughts. She knew she would have to tell her
grandmother about what she had done, and Celia was right, the sooner the better. She quickly stepped down from the vehicle and hurried to the house.

Ella, the maid, opened the heavy carved wooden door with stained-glass panels as Mandie stepped up onto the front porch. “Miz Taft, she say hurry,” she told Mandie. “Gotta eat a bite 'fo you goes to de depot.”

“Thank you, Ella,” Mandie said. She removed her coat and hat and hung them on the hall tree. “Where is Grandmother?” She looked around the hallway. “And where is Snowball?”

“Yo' grandma, she be in de dinin' room waitin' fo' you, and dat white cat, he be eatin' in de kitchen,” Ella explained. “Now, git on wid you. Hurry.”

Mandie smiled at the girl and hurried to the dining room. Mrs. Taft was putting food on her plate from the sideboard. “Get a plate, Amanda,” she said as she glanced at Mandie. “And please hurry.”

Mandie quickly picked up a plate, spooned bites of food on it, and followed her grandmother to the table where they sat down.

“Is the train going to be early, Grandmother? Is that why we have to rush so? It's not supposed to be here for another two hours,” Mandie said, dipping into the food with her fork.

“No, dear, it's supposed to be on the regular schedule,” Mrs. Taft explained as she hurriedly ate. “It's just that I have to pick up some packages down at Wharton's Store, and Ben will have to open my trunk and put them inside before we can get on the train.”

Mandie looked at her grandmother and said, “Packages? Hmm! Like Christmas presents?” She smiled.

Mrs. Taft smiled back and said, “Yes, like Christmas presents, and don't ask me anything else. We won't discuss it.”

“I will have to buy some things to give certain people when I get home,” Mandie said with a mysterious smile.

“Oh dear, there's not much of a selection in Franklin. You should have done your Christmas shopping here in Asheville,” Mrs. Taft told her.

“But I would have had too many presents to pack and take home,” Mandie reminded her. “After all, there's Mother, Uncle John, Aunt Lou, Liza, Jenny, Abraham, Mr. Bond, Uncle Ned, and—”

“Never mind, dear,” Mrs. Taft interrupted her. “I'm aware that
there are quite a few people you give to, but just eat up now so we can be on our way.”

Mandie knew this was not the time to talk to her grandmother, so she put it off. Maybe on the train she would have the right opportunity to tell her what she had done. She had written to her mother and told her, and Elizabeth had replied that it was all right. She hoped her mother would help her out when she told Mrs. Taft. She was worried that her grandmother would become angry and pack up and go back home.

And then she thought about her friend Joe Woodard. Joe was jealous of her. In fact, he had asked her to marry him when they grew up, and now at the age of thirteen Mandie smiled as she remembered the occasion. It happened during the day her mother, Elizabeth, had married John Shaw, brother to Mandie's father, Jim Shaw, who had died last year. Sharp pains shot through Mandie's heart as she remembered losing her father, but she had been happy when her mother married John. Joe had become possessive of Mandie beginning that day. And now Mandie knew there was bound to be some friction during the holidays when Joe and his parents came for their usual Christmas visit.

“Amanda,” Mrs. Taft spoke sharply, bringing Mandie back to the present. “Are you going to finish that food?”

“Oh, I'm sorry, Grandmother,” Mandie quickly replied as she began cramming the food into her mouth. “I was thinking about something.”

“Well, right now we'd better think about getting to the store and on to the depot,” Mrs. Taft reminded her.

They made it to Wharton's Store, picked up the packages, and Ben put them in Mrs. Taft's trunk. Then they got to the depot on time. Later, when they were on the train going to Franklin where Mandie lived with her mother and her uncle John, Mrs. Taft removed her hat and put a pillow behind her head. “I'd like to rest for a while, Amanda. Please don't let that cat get loose,” she said.

“I won't, Grandmother,” Mandie replied, glancing down at Snowball curled up on her bag at her feet. “I have his leash on, and I'll be sure to keep a tight rein on that.”

If her grandmother was going to rest, Mandie wouldn't be able to talk to her and explain what she had done. Somewhat relieved at not having to discuss the matter, Mandie wrapped the end of Snowball's
leash around her wrist and got comfortable herself. Soon she dozed off and slept the rest of the trip.

“Franklin! Franklin! All out for Franklin!” the conductor called as he walked through the car.

Mandie quickly sat up, rubbed her eyes, and found Snowball had jumped up into her lap. He stretched and began meowing. “Snowball, we're home,” Mandie said as she set the white cat on the floor and held on to his leash.

“My, my, I must have been asleep,” Mrs. Taft said. She sat up straight, put on her hat, and stood up as the train came to a halt.

Mandie rose, looked through the window, and said, “I see Mr. Jason out there. I thought maybe Uncle John would come to pick us up.”

“Your uncle John is a busy man with all his business matters to look after. Let's go now,” Mrs. Taft told Mandie. She picked up the small bag she had brought on the train and led the way to the door.

Mandie looped the handle of her bag on her arm, held on to Snowball, and followed.

“It's nice to see you, Mr. Bond,” Mrs. Taft told the tall, gray-haired man as he assisted her down the train steps.

“Thank you, ma'am. It's always a pleasure to have you visit, I'm sure,” Jason Bond told her. Turning to Mandie, he said, “Your uncle John had to go to Sylva on business, so he sent me to pick y'all up.”

“Mr. Jason, do we have any company yet?” Mandie asked as she and Mrs. Taft followed him to John Shaw's carriage and got inside.

“Why, no, nobody,” Jason Bond told her. “I suppose you are expecting a lot of people for Christmas, but nobody has arrived yet.”

Mandie blew out a breath of relief and relaxed for the short ride to her home after Mr. Bond loaded their trunks on the back of the vehicle.

Mandie's mother, Elizabeth, met them at the front door. She quickly hugged her mother and then Mandie. Looking around she asked, “Did you not bring Hilda with you?” Hilda was the girl Mrs. Taft had taken into her home after Hilda's parents had given up on ever keeping her from running away. They claimed Hilda was not able to talk, although she was almost as old as Mandie.

Mrs. Taft and Mandie quickly removed their coats and hats and hung them on the hall tree. Snowball scampered away down the hall.

“No, Elizabeth,” Mrs. Taft replied. “The Mannings wanted her to
stay with them for Christmas to be company for their daughter. She broke her ankle, so they can't go anywhere for the holidays.”

“I'm so sorry,” Elizabeth replied and then said to Mandie, “I missed you at Thanksgiving, dear.”

“And I missed you, Mother, but that was the only way I could go to New York, you know, just go straight back to school from New York,” Mandie said, smiling up at the woman who was an older likeness of herself. “I've just got to tell you and Uncle John about the trip. I couldn't tell everything in the letter I wrote y'all.”

“Well, right now let's go sit by the fire and get warm,” Mrs. Taft said. “I do declare, Elizabeth, you are just going to have to get one of those furnaces installed, like they're putting in Amanda's school. The house would be so much more comfortable.”

As the three of them walked toward the parlor, Elizabeth asked, “Have you had one put in your house, Mother?”

“Not yet, but I'm planning to,” Mrs. Taft replied. She led the way into the parlor and went directly to a chair by the huge open fireplace, with logs blazing away inside.

“Oh, Mother, they make holes all over the place—in the walls and in the floors, and the rats can come in,” Mandie said. She sat on a stool by her mother, who had taken the chair opposite Mrs. Taft.

“Yes, I understand why they have to do that,” Elizabeth said. Then she turned to her mother and said, “John and I have been talking about getting a furnace. It would make the house warmer, but I understand from the Campbells that these things take a lot of work just to keep the fire in them going.”

“There are different kinds of furnaces, Elizabeth,” Mrs. Taft said. “If you pay enough to get a good one, there's some contraption to it that allows the coal to go into the firebox as it's needed.”

“Well, I do hope you don't get the kind like they have in Edwards' Drygoods Store in Asheville. The radiators hiss and pop and make a terrible noise sometimes,” Mandie said. “If they put a noisy radiator like that in our room at school, I don't know how Celia and I will ever sleep at night.”

“Speaking of Celia, I wrote to her mother and asked if they would come visit for the Christmas holidays, and she said they couldn't leave Rebecca alone for Christmas,” Elizabeth said to Mandie. “But I suppose
we're going to have a houseful of people anyway, with the Woodards all coming and—”

“I know,” Mandie quickly interrupted her mother. Then she hurried to say, “Mother, I will have to do some shopping for presents.”