Mandie Collection, The: 8 (39 page)

“Maybe we could speak to Senator Morton and ask him not to let your grandmother know we were out late at night,” Celia suggested. “After all, these are his friends who are coming to the party, I suppose. That boy did say they had to come because Senator Morton is a senator, didn’t he?”

“Yes, I wouldn’t go to someone’s party just because they are wealthy or important. I think that’s a silly attitude,” Mandie replied. “I just don’t know whether to tell Senator Morton or not.”

“He is sweet on your grandmother, Mandie, and probably wouldn’t like someone talking about her or us that way,” Celia reminded her.

“I know, but what could he do about it?” Mandie asked. “He couldn’t say anything to them because he is a politician and he needs everyone’s vote to stay in office.”

“He might put this above getting a vote,” Celia said. “In fact, I believe I remember hearing him say last summer on the ship that he would probably retire after this term. Do you remember something like that?”

“No, not that I can remember,” Mandie replied. “I suppose he is getting old and probably worn out from traveling back and forth to Washington all the time.”

“Do you think he might marry your grandmother someday? Then he would be your step-grandfather, Mandie,” Celia said with a grin.

Mandie shrugged and said, “That would be fine with me. Then maybe Grandmother would have someone else to take along on all her journeys instead of me. However, I am not sure my grandmother would ever agree to marry him. And I believe the secret reason is that she dearly loved my grandfather.”

Celia cleared her throat and asked with another grin, “Mandie, will you ever marry Joe?”

Mandie blew out her breath, got up to walk around the room, and then turned to look at her friend. “If anyone else had ever asked me that, I’d say go mind your own business.” She paused and returned to her chair. “But since you asked the question, I’ll tell you the truth. I just don’t know. That would be a long time in the future, and lots of things can happen before I’d ever make a decision about getting married to anyone.” Straightening up in her chair, she asked with a big smile, “How about you? Do you plan on marrying Robert someday?”

Celia blushed, and she didn’t look directly at Mandie when she replied, “Oh, Mandie, Robert is just a good friend. I don’t believe I’ve met my future husband yet. I’m only fourteen.”

“I know that, but you started this,” Mandie agreed. “Therefore, you must have had something on your mind. And, by the way, you know my mother was only sixteen when she ran away and married my father.”

“So I’ve heard,” Celia said. “According to Senator Morton, there will be several young people our age at the party tonight, so who knows what might happen? There may be someone who is not a snob.”

“I’m not sure we’ll be able to tell the good ones from the bad ones, so to speak,” Mandie said. “I can’t imagine putting on a false front like that to make people think you are friendly when you’re not really.”

“Well, are we going to tell the senator or your grandmother, both, or neither one?” Celia asked.

“I’ll have to think about it,” Mandie said. “The decision might be spontaneous when I see those two snobs face-to-face.”

“You don’t mean you would confront them right here in the senator’s house at his party, do you?” Celia asked in horror. “That would be terrible, Mandie.”

“I know,” Mandie agreed. “Uncle Ned is always telling me to think first and then act, but sometimes I don’t exactly remember. I wish he were going to be here.” Then smiling at her friend, she added, “That
would be a blow to those social snobs, wouldn’t it? To find themselves at a party with a Cherokee Indian?”

“Everybody loves Uncle Ned, Mandie,” Celia replied. “Even President McKinley invited him with us to the White House for his second inauguration.”

“Yes, if people don’t like Uncle Ned, I’d say there’s something wrong with them,” Mandie agreed. “And speaking of the President of the United States, remember that strange woman, Miss Lucretia Wham, was really working for him when she was following us and Jonathan around all over Europe. Do you suppose she is here in St. Augustine on business for the president?”

“I don’t know, Mandie,” Celia replied. “But since President McKinley died and President Roosevelt took over, things might have changed.”

“I wish we could catch up with her,” Mandie said.

“Maybe she’ll be at the party tonight. Senator Morton acted like he knew something about her when you told him you thought we had seen her,” Celia suggested.

“But he didn’t seem to know much about where she was, so how could he have invited her to the party?” Mandie asked.

“Mandie, you know Miss Wham. She goes anywhere she pleases without being exactly invited,” Celia reminded her.

“But she always darts in and out of crowds and places and never stays anywhere very long,” Mandie replied. “Maybe she has been in contact with Senator Morton, and he could have invited her to the party then. I hope she does show up. I’d like to talk to her about some things.”

“Like what?” Celia asked.

“Like, is Juan really deaf and mute? Are there people in the park making like ghosts to scare outsiders like us away?” Mandie said.

“Well, I don’t know how she would answer all those questions when she probably doesn’t know anything about the people or this town,” Celia said.

“Now, Celia, don’t ever say that. Miss Wham knew everything about everybody and everything that was going on when she followed us around,” Mandie reminded her friend.

A sharp rap on the door startled the girls, and they both jumped up and started in that direction. Mandie got there first and opened the
door. Lolly was standing outside in the hallway and was holding the girls’ dresses that had been pressed for the party.

“Come on in. I’ll take mine,” Mandie offered as she reached for the dress and stepped back, allowing the maid to enter the room.

Celia took her dress, and both girls started for the wardrobe to hang them up on the hooks on the outside of the doors.

“My dress looks nice. Thank you, Lolly,” Mandie told her as she fluffed out the lacy frills on the blue silk dress that matched her blue eyes.

“So does mine, thank you,” Celia added, surveying the bright green taffeta dress on the hanger she held.

As the two girls hung up the dresses outside the wardrobe, Lolly followed them across the room without speaking. Mandie turned around to look at her.

“Is there something else, Lolly?” Mandie asked, going back toward the chair she had been sitting in.

Lolly looked from Mandie to Celia and back again without saying a word. Celia returned to her chair and was about to sit down when the maid finally spoke.

“Just want to let you know, the ghosts from the park will be at the party tonight,” Lolly said with a serious look on her face as she tossed back her long black hair.

“What are you talking about?” Mandie asked, still standing.

“I say, the ghosts in the park will be at the party at this house tonight,” the girl repeated.

“Real ghosts, Lolly?” Celia asked.

“Yes, real, big ghost with beard and others,” Lolly said.

“Lolly, there are no real ghosts,” Mandie told her as the three of them stood there in the middle of the room.

“Yes, real, but you no see so you not know,” Lolly argued with a big frown as she stomped her foot.

“Will I be able to see them tonight?” Celia asked.

“And how are we supposed to know who is a ghost and who is not?” Mandie asked impatiently.

“You will know,” Lolly replied, starting toward the door.

Mandie hurried to get between the girl and the door. “Lolly, there are no real ghosts,” she argued.

“Is too,” the girl answered, stomping her foot. “You see real ghosts in park last night.”

“In the park last night? How did you know we were in the park last night?” Mandie asked, surprised at this.

“Just know,” Lolly said.

“Were you following us last night? What were you doing in the park last night? And that big fellow with the beard, he is not a ghost, he is a real man,” Mandie told her quickly.

“No, you will see!” Lolly almost shouted at Mandie as she raced for the door, ran out, and disappeared down the hallway.

Mandie slowly closed the door, sighed loudly, and looked at Celia, who was standing by her chair. “Sounds like someone was following us last night,” she said. “And if it was Lolly, I’m pretty sure she was not alone in that dark park at that time of night.” She flopped down in her chair.

Celia sat down, too. “I wonder why anyone would follow us,” she said.

At that moment Snowball, who had been peacefully sleeping in the middle of the bed, jumped down and came running to Mandie. She picked him up. “I suppose we woke you up, Snowball,” she said, cuddling him in her arms. The white cat began purring loudly.

There was another knock at the door. It opened, and Mrs. Taft entered the room, carrying a large bag.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry girls, but this party tonight seems to be a masquerade ball. I didn’t quite understand when the senator told me about it,” Mrs. Taft said, walking over to the bed and upending the bag’s contents onto the counterpane.

Mandie and Celia quickly followed.

“We are supposed to wear masks, Grandmother?” Mandie asked as she looked at the pile on the bed.

“Yes, the guests will be masked, and this is the best I could get for you girls here at almost the last minute. Do y’all think it’s possible to fix up some getup from all this?” Mrs. Taft asked as she looked at them.

Mandie instantly thought of the girl and boy in the park the night before. They would be wearing masks, but she hoped she would be able to spot them from their voices. “Oh yes, ma’am, Grandmother, we’ll use some of this stuff,” she replied.

“This will be fun,” Celia said, poking through the masks, ribbons,
and scarves on the bed, and picking up a green and black mask. “This will match my dress.”

“If you can’t coordinate enough things with the dresses you all had pressed, just select other dresses that will suit,” Mrs. Taft said. “Now I must hurry back and see to mine.”

As Mrs. Taft started for the door, Mandie asked, “Grandmother, what will you be wearing?”

Mrs. Taft turned back to smile at her as she said, “Why, I’m going to wear my black taffeta with a little white hat to make me a Pilgrim.”

“A Pilgrim?” Mandie asked.

“Yes, a Pilgrim. Remember, we are descended from the Pilgrims,” Mrs. Taft said as she went out the door.

“Mandie, how are we going to recognize anyone if everyone is wearing a mask?” Celia asked.

“That’s going to be fun, because we will be wearing masks, too. So it will take everyone a while to figure out who we are,” Mandie said.

“As long as we don’t talk,” Celia cautioned her. “Otherwise, they will know we do not have the familiar voices of their friends.”

“You’re right,” Mandie agreed. She stood in the middle of the floor thinking for a moment, and then she said, “I think I’ll wear something other than that blue dress. Then even Lolly won’t know for sure who I am.”

“Good idea!” Celia agreed.

Both girls went to the wardrobe and looked through their clothes.

“I have this white dress I haven’t worn here,” Mandie said, taking it down from the hanger.

“I have a black one with me,” Celia said, reaching for hers. “Why don’t we dress like ghosts, you in white for a good ghost and me in black for a bad ghost.”

Mandie looked at her and laughed. “Are there supposed to be such things, Celia?”

“I don’t know. I just made that up,” Celia replied, shaking out the skirt of her black dress. “With all the talk around this town about ghosts, I thought we might as well make use of it.”

“Maybe we can get Lolly to believe in us,” Mandie said, laughing as she hung the white dress on a hook outside the wardrobe.

“We may scare Lolly.” Celia giggled.

“I wonder where Grandmother got all that stuff she brought us,” Mandie said, going back to look through the pile.

“Maybe Senator Morton keeps a stock of such things on hand for the parties he gives,” Celia suggested, laughing as she joined Mandie.

The girls planned and sorted out the adornments. Snowball jumped up on the bed and tried to help.

“Mandie, why don’t you take Snowball to the party? You could keep him on the leash,” Celia suggested. “He’s white, and you’ll have on a white dress. You could decorate him to match your things.”

Mandie thought about that for a moment and finally said, “I suppose I could. And if he gets out of control, I can always bring him back up here and shut him in our room.” Then she smiled as she thought about it and added, “That might be a good idea. Maybe everyone will think he is a ghost cat.”

“I doubt that,” Celia replied with a grin.

“I’m really getting interested in this party now. Everyone will be wondering who everybody else is,” Mandie said. “But I believe I will be able to identify the girl and boy in the park by their voices, no matter how much decoration they put on themselves.”

“I could, too,” Celia agreed.

“I might even do something mean while I’m undercover, and before they find out who I am, like acting as though I’m a royal princess or something. That will put an end to that girl’s definition of me as a mountaineer who doesn’t even know how to use silverware,” Mandie declared, twirling around the room with a white silk scarf.

Mandie decided this party was going to be fun after all. She loved mysteries, and all the guests, including her and Celia, would be wearing mysterious outfits. And how nice it was going to be when she finally let the boy and girl know who she was. That would be a great satisfaction.

CHAPTER SEVEN

A-PARTYING

Mandie and Celia experimented the rest of the afternoon with the costume accessories Mrs. Taft had brought them. Finally they were dressed and ready five minutes before it was time to go downstairs for the party.

Mandie stood before the full-length mirror in the corner of their room to check her appearance. She carefully adjusted the white scarf she had tied around her head to hide her hair and then smoothed the rouge she had put on her cheeks and lips. She had tied more scarves around her waist to make her skirt fluffier.