The Mandie Collection (8 page)

“Jes' you and me?” Liza asked.

“Yes, just you and me, because everyone is gone to bed and we have to be quiet,” Mandie replied. “Now come on. Let's go.”

“Go on, Liza. We listen out fo' you, and if we heahs anything we come see you all right,” Abraham told her.

“You be sho' you listens real good, Abraham,” Liza told him as she slowly followed Mandie out of the room.

Mandie led the way up the staircase. She looked at Liza and whispered, “Don't forget. We have to be quiet.”

“I knows,” Liza told her.

When they got to the landing on the second floor, Mandie picked up the lamp kept on a table there and took it with her as they continued their way up to the third floor.

Liza was right. It was awfully dark in the third-floor hallway. Mandie walked on down to the door to John Shaw's office and stopped there. Liza stayed close by her side. “Now show me where you were when you heard the noise,” Mandie said.

“Go dat way,” Liza said, motioning down the hallway. “To de next do'.”

Mandie moved on, and Liza told her to stop in front of the next door.

“I thinks I wuz heah,” the girl said.

Mandie pushed open the door to the room and said, “This is a guest room that is never used.” She stepped inside the room and held up the lamp to look around. There was a huge bed with the headboard almost reaching the ceiling. The mattress was covered with a heavy counterpane. Portable steps sat by its side to be used when getting into the high bed.

“Missy 'Manda, let's jes' go. We done seen ev'rything up heah,” Liza told her as she hovered near Mandie.

“Joe and I searched all the third floor, including this room, before we worked on the attic, and we didn't find anything unusual anywhere,” Mandie said as she stepped across the room and opened the double doors to the huge wardrobe standing there. “You see, even the wardrobe is empty.”

At that moment there was a scratching sound, and both girls jumped.

“Whut dat?” Liza asked in a whisper, moving closer to Mandie.

“Whatever it was, it sounded like it was upstairs in the attic,” Mandie said, clutching the lamp without moving. “Listen and see if you hear it again.”

The girls stood still, listening for any other noises. Mandie silently debated whether she wanted to explore the attic in search of the noise, and finally decided not to. She doubted that Liza would go with her, and she didn't want to be alone up there this time of night.

“Kin we go now, Missy 'Manda?” Liza asked in a nervous voice.

“I suppose so, Liza. I can't hear anything else,” Mandie said as she stepped back into the hallway. Liza stayed right next to her. “We can come back in the daytime when we can see better.”

“You git dat doctuh son t' go wid you next time,” Liza told her as they went down the hallway to the stairs.

“Joe came back with us, and we're going to finish searching the house for the will,” Mandie told her as they arrived at the second floor and she placed the lamp back on the table. Then she remembered her cat. “I came down to the kitchen looking for Snowball, Liza. Have you seen him tonight?”

“He wuz in de kitchen one time tonight. I don't rightly know whether he still be dere or not,” Liza replied.

“I'll go with you back to the kitchen and see if anyone knows where he is,” Mandie told her.

As soon as they entered the kitchen, Aunt Lou asked, “Well, did you find anything up dere? Any more noises?” They were still sitting and drinking coffee.

“Well, yes, we did hear something scratching like, but I think it was in the attic,” she said, and then asked, “It couldn't have been Snowball, could it? Do you know where he is?”

“Dat white cat he be in yo' room waitin' fo' you,” Aunt Lou said. “I knows 'cause I put him in dere myself after he had his late suppuh tonight.”

“Oh, thank you, Aunt Lou,” Mandie said. “Good night, y'all. I'll go on up to bed then. See y'all in the morning.”

“Night now,” the servants called to her as she left the kitchen.

Mandie hurried up the steps, and when she opened the door to her room she found Snowball curled up asleep in the middle of her bed. He didn't even move when she came in, so she hurried and undressed and then woke him so she could take off the spread. He complained with a loud meow, moved over to the other side, and curled back up.

Mandie blew out the lamp on the table and jumped into the bed. Her head was whirling with the events of the day. When she closed her eyes, she could see Etta Hughes sitting across the aisle in the courtroom and completely ignoring Mandie and the others. Etta had always been loud-mouthed and a busybody, so Mandie didn't understand why the woman didn't make some smart remark to her and the others. Maybe
she was actually afraid of the judge. But Etta had never been afraid of anyone who Mandie could remember. So maybe she was just putting on a good show trying to impress the judge with her honesty. The woman just hadn't acted normal.

“Oh, well, we'll see what she does about bringing in witnesses for the will she has,” Mandie said. She turned over to go to sleep, and then she remembered her letter. She had left it in the pocket of her skirt. Quickly jumping out of bed in the light of the moon coming in through the window, she got the letter and placed it on the table by her bed.

“So I'll know where it is,” she said to herself as she once more got into bed.

She thought about the love shown by that letter, and she drifted off to sleep with the happy thought that her father's house would really be hers.

CHAPTER SIX

SECRETS

Early the next morning Mandie and Joe returned to the attic to finish their search there. Liza could not be persuaded to join them. However, Snowball decided to go along.

“Snowball, you have to behave if you're going to stay up here, and I mean it,” Mandie said as she stooped to shake a finger at the white cat.

“Mandie, that cat doesn't understand you,” Joe said as he opened the shutters on the windows.

Snowball meowed with a loud growl and jumped up on a big trunk and from there to the top of a chifferobe. He sat down on the edge and watched his mistress.

“Don't tell me he doesn't know what I said. Look at him. He's behaving,” Mandie said with a little laugh as she pointed to Snowball.

“He won't stay there,” Joe said as he opened a trunk by the window. “We shouldn't be here very long anyway. If I remember correctly, we only have the stuff along this wall to search.”

“You're right. Let's see, I stopped with this chest,” Mandie said, going over to the piece of furniture. “So it looks like this huge wooden box is next.” She raised the lid and began pulling out the contents. The box seemed to be full of dishes. She removed the wrappings and found
a white dinner plate with tiny rosebuds around the fluted edge. “Oh, how beautiful!” she exclaimed. “I wonder what the story is on these dishes.” She carefully pulled out more pieces.

Joe glanced her way as he crammed the contents of the trunk back inside. “Do you think the will would be hidden in a box of dishes?” he asked.

“I don't know, but I do know I want to see all of these,” Mandie said, continuing to remove the dishes and setting them down on the floor.

Joe closed the trunk lid, walked over to her, and looked at the dishes she had taken out. “They are pretty,” Joe agreed as he picked up a coffee cup to inspect it.

“This seems to be a whole set,” Mandie said, quickly counting the pieces. “I can't imagine why we don't use these instead of those plain white ones in the dining room downstairs.”

Snowball had jumped down from his perch and came to smell the dishes on the floor.

“Oh, Snowball, I am not putting these down for you. There's no food in them,” Mandie said, pushing the cat aside as she stacked the plates together.

At that moment Liza came to the doorway and yelled across the room, “Miz 'Lizbeth she say you come take food to de Burnses whut live in de old house down by de ruby mine. Right now, she say.”

“Food to the Burnses?” Mandie said, straightening up to look at Liza. “Why is Mother sending food to the Burnses? Did somebody die?”

“Lawsy mercy, Missy 'Manda, I don't be aknowin'. I jes' tellin' you whut she tell me to tell you,” the girl replied. “Is you 'bout done in heah?” She looked around the room.

“Not quite, Liza,” Mandie said, beginning to replace the dishes into the box. “Joe, are you going with me?”

Before Joe could answer, Liza supplied the answer. “Miz 'Lizbeth she say fo' him to go, too. Sumpin' 'bout dere bein' too much food fo' you to carry, and I cain't go 'cause I'se busy in de kitchen.”

“All right, as soon as I can put all these back into this box,” Mandie replied. “Please tell her I'll be right down.”

“And so will I,” Joe added as he helped Mandie repack the box.Liza said, “In de dinin' room,” and went back downstairs. Mandie
and Joe followed a few minutes later. Snowball rushed down the stairs ahead of them and disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. Elizabeth was waiting for them in the dining room. Two large baskets sat on the end of the table. They were packed full and covered with white cloths.

“You want us to take those to the Burnses?” Mandie asked as they entered the room and saw the baskets.

“Yes, dear,” Elizabeth told her. “We've got so much food cooked we can't eat it all, and I thought Jake and Ludie might appreciate some of it.”

“Is it all right if we eat on the way?” Joe asked jokingly.

Elizabeth smiled at him and said, “Please be real careful. There are breakable dishes in the baskets.”

“Oh, Mother,” Mandie said, remembering the dishes in the attic as she started to pick up one of the baskets. “I just found the most beautiful dishes in a box in the attic—a whole set, white with tiny little rosebuds around the rims. Why don't we use them?”

Elizabeth frowned and then said, “I should have prevented you from seeing them. It's too late now.”

Mandie looked at her mother in surprise and asked, “Prevented me from seeing them? Why?”

Elizabeth suddenly sat down in a chair by the table, took a deep breath, and said, “They are yours. I wanted—”

Mandie excitedly interrupted, “They are mine?”

“Yes, dear,” her mother replied, looking at her with sad eyes.

Mandie felt something was wrong, and she stood there silently waiting for her mother to explain.

“They are to be a wedding gift to you when you grow up and get married,” Elizabeth said. “So I'm sorry you found them.”

“A wedding gift? Mother, I may never marry,” Mandie said in a rush. “Why have you got something like that for me before I even grow up anyway?”

Elizabeth reached for Mandie's hand as she stood by the table. Looking up into her face, Elizabeth said, “They were my wedding gift from your father.”

Mandie suddenly began trembling as she tried to answer, “My father bought those dishes?”

“Yes, dear,” Elizabeth told her. “But we never had the chance to use them because of what happened between us.”

Mandie was silent as she thought about the dishes her father had bought. And she thought about the unhappy outcome of her parents' marriage. If things had been different, she would have probably grown up eating out of that set of dishes. Now they sat in a box, out of sight.

Joe cleared his throat as silence filled the room. Elizabeth quickly rose from her chair and said, “Now don't y'all stay too long at the Burnses' house or I'll be worried about you.”

“We won't, Mother,” Mandie said, tiptoeing to kiss her mother on the cheek. Elizabeth kissed her back.

Mandie picked up one basket, and Joe took the other one, and they hurried out of the room and out of the house. Neither one spoke as they walked down the pathway and through the woods.

Jake and Ludie Burns lived in an old farmhouse on John Shaw's property and worked for him on various jobs at various times. Jake's father had worked for John's father in the ruby mine near their house.

As Mandie and Joe got to the edge of the woods near the road, they were suddenly aware of loud, angry talking ahead. They looked at each other and slowed their steps.

“Do you hear that? Someone is arguing,” Mandie said in a whisper, shifting the basket to her other hand.

“It's a man and a woman on the road,” Joe said in a low voice. They cautiously ducked behind bushes to observe the people as they moved closer.

Mandie could see a woman sitting in a buggy and a man standing on the road talking to her.

“You left me in there so long I could have been caught,” the man was saying. “Ain't you got no sense atall?”

“Don't you talk to me like that. You'll be getting as much good out of this as I will,” the woman replied. “Now git in. Let's go.”

Mandie gasped as she recognized the people. She grabbed Joe's hand to draw his attention. “It's Zack Hughes,” she whispered. “And that's Etta in the buggy!”

“I wonder what they are doing in this part of the country,” Joe replied. “Shall we stop them before they drive off?”

Mandie shook her head as she said quickly, “No, no! We won't be able to spy on them if they know we saw them.”

Zack had gotten in the buggy as Mandie looked back at the road and Etta was driving it down the road.

“They're leaving!” Joe said quickly.

“We'll catch up with them later somehow or somewhere while they're in town,” Mandie said. “We can't follow them right now because we have to deliver this food. I wonder where it was that Etta left Zack that he was complaining about.”

“He said something about he could have been caught, so it must have been someplace he shouldn't have been,” Joe said as they left the bushes and walked on.