The Mandie Collection (34 page)

“Oh, Aunt Lou, it’s all so confusing,” Mandie told her. “Mollie needs a teacher, and I think you’d be better at that than I am. She just doesn’t understand anything that I try to explain. Please say you’ll help.”

“Liza done told me whut was said in de parlor a while ago,” the old woman replied. “I’ll see whut I kin do. Aftuh while, dat is. Right now we’se got to git supper done.” She patted Mollie on the top of her head and said to her, “Now I’ll be yo’ aunt, but you’s got to go back to de parlor so I kin git dis heah food cooked, you heah?”

Mollie looked up at the woman and asked as she pulled on her apron, “If I be goin’ back to the parlor, ye won’t go ’way some place, will ye? Will ye, I say?”

“No, no, I won’t be goin’ no place,” Aunt Lou promised as she pulled her apron out of Mollie’s hand. “I stays right heah in dis kitchen till I gits de supper on de table so you kin eat. Ain’t you hungry now?” She moved toward the stove.

“I may be a little hungry,” Mollie agreed. “What do ye be wantin’ me to do to pay fer it?” She still looked at the woman.

“I be wantin’ you to go back to de parlor now,” Aunt Lou told her.

“Aunt Lou, she hasn’t met everyone else,” Mandie said, and taking Mollie by the hand she led her over to Jenny and Abraham, who had been listening to the conversation. “Mollie, this is Jenny and her husband, Abraham. And you already know Liza over there.”

Mollie stopped to look Jenny and Abraham over.

“Howdy, little missy,” Abraham said with a big grin.

“And you come all de way ’cross dat big ocean from Ireland,” Jenny said.

“No, I come from Virginny with Celia and her mither,” Mollie informed her. “Before that I be in Ireland.”

“Ireland, where dey has leprechauns,” Abraham said, still grinning.

Mandie took a quick breath and said, “Abraham, please don’t mention the word.”

“Leprechauns, ye say,” Mollie replied, her blue eyes opening wide. Then she leaned toward the old man and whispered, “Do ye be havin’ leprechauns here, I say?”

Mandie rolled her eyes at Abraham and shook her head behind Mollie’s back.

Abraham quickly said to Mollie, “Ain’t no sech thing as leprechauns in dis heah place. Only find dem in Ireland.”

“Oh no,” Mandie groaned under her breath.

“Will ye go to Ireland with me and hunt for leprechauns then?” Mollie whispered as she moved closer to the man.

“One o’ dese days we’ll jes’ do dat. Right now I has to git de wood fo’ de stove,” Abraham said as he looked at Mandie, quickly walked toward the back door, and went outside.

“One day soon we be goin’ to Ireland then,” Mollie called to him.

Snowball, who had been sleeping under the cookstove, stood up, stretched, yawned, and ran toward Mollie. The little girl quickly picked him up.

“Come on, Mollie, we have to go back to the parlor so all these people can get supper done,” Mandie told her.

Mollie held on to Snowball and followed Mandie and Celia out the door. The three walked down the hallway toward the parlor.

“I can see that we’re going to have some interesting holidays,” Celia remarked.

“I’m hoping Aunt Lou can make her understand what the holidays are all about,” Mandie said with a big sigh.

After supper was over that night, Mollie insisted on going to the kitchen to visit with Aunt Lou, whom she now claimed for her own aunt.

When everyone rose from the table in the dining room, Elizabeth asked, “Would anyone be interested in a short walk? I feel the need to stretch my legs.”

“Certainly,” Jane Hamilton agreed. “Count me in.”

“And of course I will go along with you ladies,” John Shaw said, smiling at his wife, Elizabeth. Turning to the girls, he asked, “Are y’all coming along?”

“I be goin’ to see me aunt Lou,” Mollie quickly insisted. She hurried to Aunt Lou, who came into the dining room at that moment. The little girl grabbed the woman’s big white apron to get her attention. “Kin I come to see ye now? Kin I, I say?”

The big woman looked down at her and said, “Soon as we finish wid de supper work. Den we sit down in de kitchen and talk, you and me.”

“Mollie, come with us until Aunt Lou is finished,” Jane Hamilton called across the room. The adults were going into the hallway.

“I will help me aunt so we kin hurry,” Mollie told her, still holding on to the corner of Aunt Lou’s apron as the woman moved about the room.

“No, Mollie, we want you to come with us,” Mandie told her. She stepped across the room toward her.

Mollie tried to hide behind Aunt Lou as she said, “I be wantin’ to talk to me aunt, that I do.”

“Leave huh be, my chile,” the woman said to Mandie with a big smile. “I’ll take huh to de kitchen wid me whilst y’all gone.”

“Well, all right, Aunt Lou,” Mandie said. “Please be sure she doesn’t run off somewhere.” She went back across the room to join Celia.

“Don’t worry now. I’ll keep huh right under my sight,” the old woman replied.

As Mandie and Celia went out into the hallway to catch up with the adults, Mandie heard Mollie say, “They don’t be wantin’ to look for leprechauns.”

“Now dat’s something we’se got to talk about,” Mandie heard Aunt Lou reply.

“I sure hope Aunt Lou can make Mollie understand that we don’t have leprechauns,” Mandie said with a deep sigh.

“So do I. She has been about to drive us all crazy back home with this talk about leprechauns,” Celia agreed.

The two girls quickly got their wraps from the hall tree and followed the adults out into the chilly evening air.

Jason Bond, John Shaw’s caretaker, was turning into the driveway on his horse as they walked toward the road. John Shaw hurried to meet him, and Mr. Bond stepped down from his horse. They stood and talked.

“Well, I just now realized Mr. Jason was not at the supper table with us,” Mandie said. “With Mollie entertaining everyone, I didn’t miss him.”

Elizabeth and Jane had walked on ahead, and the girls hurried to catch up with them. Mandie glanced at her uncle and Mr. Bond as she passed near them. They were deep in a conversation, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. “I wonder what they are talking about. They act as though it’s confidential,” she said to her friend.

Celia looked at the men and said to Mandie, “Probably some business matter or other.”

“But I’d like to know what about,” Mandie replied, grinning at her friend.

“Oh, Mandie, you’re always trying to keep up with every little thing that’s going on,” Celia said with a laugh.

“But it might be something interesting,” Mandie said, looking at her with a big smile as they walked.

John Shaw quickly caught up with the girls on his way to join Elizabeth and Jane. “Come on, you two slowpokes,” he said, laughing as he went ahead.

“Race you to the corner!” Mandie yelled at him. She picked up her long skirts and rushed toward the gate, where Elizabeth and Jane had stopped to wait. “Come on, Celia!” she called back to her friend.

Celia quickly followed and John Shaw broke into a run behind Mandie. Jane and Elizabeth watched in surprise.

Since Mandie had a head start and the corner was not far away, she got there first and Celia was close behind her. As John Shaw caught up, Mandie laughed and asked, “Now who is the slowpoke?”

“You didn’t give me a fair chance. I was not expecting that,” John Shaw said, pretending to fuss.

Mandie straightened her long skirts and grinned at him. “You should always be prepared. That’s what they are teaching us at school,” she said.

John Shaw looked down at her and replied, “I’ll remember that.”

Elizabeth and Jane had hurried to catch up with them, and Elizabeth asked, “What’s wrong?”

“You had us worried for a minute,” Jane Hamilton said.

“Uncle John called us slowpokes, and we just wanted to prove to him that we’re not,” Mandie said with a big grin.

“Well, please don’t do that again,” Elizabeth said as she and Jane walked on.

“That was too much excitement,” Jane added.

John Shaw started to catch up with the two women and Mandie touched his hand to stop him. “Mr. Jason didn’t have supper with us,” she said, hoping her uncle would volunteer some information.

“No, because I sent him on an errand. Now I must catch up with the ladies,” John Shaw said, grinning down at her and hurrying on.

“Oh, shucks!” Mandie said. “An errand? Must have been an awfully important errand for Mr. Jason to miss supper.” She still stood there.

“Come on, Mandie, let’s walk,” Celia urged her.

Mandie looked back toward the house. “Maybe Mr. Jason would tell me where he’s been,” she said as she slowly followed Celia.

“Mandie, don’t count on it,” Celia said. “It’s probably some of your uncle’s business matters that don’t concern anyone else.”

“I’d still like to know where he went,” Mandie said.

The girls followed the adults to the square downtown. They strolled around the courthouse yard, Elizabeth and John greeting friends here and there who were also out for exercise. Shortly thereafter they all returned to the house.

Mandie looked in the parlor for Mr. Bond, then in the dining room and the kitchen, but he was nowhere to be found. However, Mollie was in the kitchen. She was sitting in Aunt Lou’s lap as the old woman was evidently reading the Bible to her when Mandie and Celia opened the door. Snowball was asleep at Aunt Lou’s feet.

Mollie sat up straight when she saw the girls and said, “Me aunt is readin’ a good book to me. It be all about these people called angels. They be like leprechauns. Not everybody kin see them.” She seemed interested.

Aunt Lou shook her head where Mollie couldn’t see her and gave Mandie a disappointed look as she closed the Bible.

Mandie nodded back and then said to Mollie, “Let’s go in the parlor where everyone is and let Aunt Lou get some rest now.”

Mollie quickly slid down to stand up, barely missing Snowball, who immediately rose and moved out of her way.

As Mandie and Celia walked toward the parlor, Mollie kept up a steady stream of talk about what Aunt Lou had told her. Snowball followed.

“The angel people are all white, me aunt thinks,” Mollie said, looking up at Mandie. “And sometime they do good things, but there be one bad one that God didn’t like, and He threw him all the way down to where the Devil be. And he can’t iver come back to live with the good angel people because he’s been bad. But me aunt Lou thinks God won’t throw us down there for being bad if we be sorry. So when I be bad, all I have to do is be sorry, and I always do be sorry when I be bad. Do ye be sorry when ye be bad, Mandie? Do ye?” She tugged on Mandie’s hand.

Mandie smiled down at the little girl and said, “Yes, I’m always sorry for being bad, but I try real hard not to be bad. And I always ask God to forgive me.”

“Me aunt Lou said she would show me how to talk to God tomorrow when she reads me more of that book, because I don’t be knowin’ how to ask God to forgive me when I’ve been bad, and I need to know real soon just in case I be bad agin,” Mollie said.

“Oh, Mollie, I’m sure Aunt Lou will be able to teach you about God,” Celia said.

They came to the doorway of the parlor. The adults were already there, but Mandie noticed Jason Bond was not with them. He seemed to have completely disappeared after they saw him in the driveway. Mandie and Celia sat down at the far end of the room away from the adults, and Mandie watched to see what Mollie would do or say. The little girl frowned as she stared at Elizabeth and then at John while she stood in the middle of the floor. Then she quickly ran to join the girls on the settee, scrambling up between them. Snowball sat down at Mandie’s feet and looked at Mollie.

Suddenly Mollie turned to Mandie and asked, “Do ye be thinkin’ Snowball might be a angel cat? He do be white.”

Mandie and Celia both smiled at her as Mandie said, “No, Mollie, he’s just a real live white cat.”

“Why don’t we take Mollie around the house and show her all the rooms and everything? By that time it will be bedtime,” Celia suggested under her breath.

Mandie stood up and said, “That’s a good idea. Only we won’t go in the secret tunnel. That would be s-c-a-r-y at night, I think.” She spelled out the word but Mollie had heard the words “secret tunnel.”

“Do ye be havin’ a secret tunnel in this house, do ye, Mandie?” Mollie asked as she and Celia also rose.

“Well, that’s a long story, and it will have to wait until tomorrow,” Mandie told her.

“But tomorrow be a long way off, Mandie,” Mollie protested. “Tell me now, please, I say.”

“Mollie, we don’t have time right now for that,” Mandie told her firmly. “Come on. We’ll show you the rest of the house.”

“Then tomorrow ye will tell me about the secret tunnel, be ye not forgittin’ that,” Mollie said.

“If I forget, you just remind me tomorrow,” Mandie said with a sigh of exasperation as she looked at Celia.

Celia leaned forward to whisper in Mandie’s ear. “This isn’t the worst. Just you wait until we put her to bed,” she said.

“Oh no!” Mandie exclaimed.

———

And when bedtime came, Mollie insisted on sleeping in a room by herself. The girls were in Mandie’s room later that night.

“Don’t you want to sleep in here with me, Mollie?” Mandie asked as the three got ready for bed.

“No, that I not be wantin’ to do,” Mollie replied as she pulled her nightgown over her head. “I be wantin’ a big bed all by meself like I be havin’ at Celia’s house.”

“You could sleep with me in the next room,” Celia suggested, pushing open the door to the adjoining bedroom.

Mollie looked through the doorway and started into the room. “I will be sleepin’ in this big bed by meself,” she said as she walked over to the bed in that room and climbed up on top of it.

“Well, if you insist, wait until I turn down the covers,” Mandie said. She hurried to remove the counterpane as Mollie slid back down to the floor. She quickly threw back the quilt and sheet and said, “All right, Mollie, it’s all ready for you. Please don’t fall out during the night.”

Mollie climbed back up on the bed and scooted down beneath the covers as Mandie turned them back up. “Good night, Mandie, and ye, too, Celia,” the little girl said as she curled up and closed her eyes.

“Good night, Mollie, I hope you have a good night’s sleep,” Mandie said, starting back toward her own room.

“Good night, Mollie. If you change your mind about sleeping alone, you can come and get in the bed with Mandie and me,” Celia told her.

Mollie muttered, “Mmmm.”

Mandie left the door between the rooms slightly open, and she and Celia got in her bed. Snowball curled up at their feet.

“Uncle John must have sent Mr. Jason off somewhere again. I never did see him after he got back this afternoon,” Mandie remarked.

“Yes, or maybe he was tired and just went on to his room for the night,” Celia replied.

“Maybe if I get up real early I can catch him, and maybe, just maybe, he will tell me what the errand was that Uncle John sent him on,” Mandie said, snuggling down under the covers. “I know he’s always the first one up in the mornings, so I’ll hurry and go to sleep so I will wake up early. If you wake up first, Celia, will you please wake me?”

“All right. Good night, Mandie,” Celia agreed as she turned over on her side of the bed and then added, “Mollie will probably wake us both up. She gets up before daylight sometimes.”

“Then I hope she does in the morning,” Mandie said as she tried to relax and go to sleep.

The girls drifted off to sleep. Later Mandie was suddenly awakened by a heavy weight dropping on top of her feet. She quickly sat up, and in the dim light from the window, she saw that it was Snowball who had evidently been off the bed and had returned with a jump on the covers. She moved her feet out from under him as he circled around.

“Snowball, please lie down and be still,” she whispered to the cat. She glanced through the open doorway to the other bedroom and said to herself, “I might as well see if Mollie is all right since I’m awake.”

Mandie threw back the covers on her side of the bed, careful not to wake Celia, and she slid off the high bed to her feet. Going over to the doorway, she squinted her eyes to look into the darkness of the other bedroom. The draperies were open, allowing the moonlight to stream across the room, clearly showing that Mollie was not in the bed.

“Mollie!” Mandie called softly as she stepped inside the room and looked around. There was no one there. She walked over to the mantelpiece to look at the clock in the dim light. “Three o’clock!” she exclaimed. “Where is Mollie? It’s too early to get up.”

Mandie went to the open hall door and looked up and down the hallway. There was no sign of the girl. She would have to get her shoes and robe before going farther.

Celia was still asleep when Mandie reached for her robe on a chair in her room, but as she bent to put on her shoes, she accidentally dropped one and the small thud it made on the carpet woke Celia.

“Mandie, is it time to get up?” Celia asked, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes.

“No, Celia, it’s only three o’clock, but Mollie is not in her bed and I’ll have to go find her,” Mandie said with an exasperated sigh as she got her shoes on.

Celia quickly jumped out of bed, grabbed her robe and shoes, and said, “I’ll help you find her. She is bad about doing this.”

“Where does she go? What does she do when she gets up so early?” Mandie asked as she started toward the door and Celia followed. Snowball silently trailed along behind them.