Mandie Collection : Volume 6 , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Gladys Leppard Lois

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281 pages

English

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Perfect for lifelong Mandie fans and readers just getting to know her, Volume Six of the MANDIE COLLECTION takes readers on one exciting ride after another. Everywhere Mandie goes, mystery and adventure find her. Volume Six features Mandie and the Invisible Troublemaker, Mandie and Her Missing Kin, and Mandie and the Schoolhouse's Secret.

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Children's

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 février 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441260178
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0288€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

The Mandie Collection: Volume Six Copyright © 1994, 1995, 1996 Lois Gladys Leppard
MANDIE® and SNOWBALL® are registered trademarks of Lois Gladys Leppard
Cover design by Dan Pitts Cover illustration by Chris Wold Dyrud
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-6017-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

CONTENTS
MANDIE AND THE INVISIBLE TROUBLEMAKER
Chapter 1 Home Again
Chapter 2 Trouble Begins
Chapter 3 Where Is Grandmother Taft?
Chapter 4 More Trouble
Chapter 5 A Terrible Possibility
Chapter 6 Help From Tommy
Chapter 7 Visitors
Chapter 8 Teatime
Chapter 9 Sad News
Chapter 10 Joe Arrives
Chapter 11 Nighttime Visit
Chapter 12 The Troublemaker
“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
(Psalm 27:14)
CHAPTER ONE
HOME AGAIN
Mandie Shaw grabbed her bag and Snowball, her cat, and jumped down from the wagon as Uncle Ned brought it to a stop in the driveway. It had been a long journey through the North Carolina mountains from his house in Deep Creek, because travel in 1901 was slow.
“I really enjoyed my visit at your house, Uncle Ned,” she told him.
The old Indian smiled down at her from the wagon seat and said, “Papoose come see again. Now I go.”
“Don’t forget to come back to see my mother and Uncle John,” Mandie said.
“Soon.” He began turning the wagon and said, “Papoose be good and think.”
“I will,” Mandie yelled back at him as she grasped Snowball while she swung her bag in the air and raced toward the front door, dragging Snowball along on his leash.
Dropping her bag and leaving Snowball in the front hall, she hurried to find her mother, Elizabeth, and Uncle John, who had married her mother after her father died. They were sitting in the parlor. Mandie was overcome with joy when she saw that her mother’s cheeks were rosy and her eyes clear. Signs of the fever were finally gone!
“Amanda, darling, I’m so glad you’re home,” Elizabeth said as Mandie rushed to embrace her.
“I am, too, Mother. I love you. And, Uncle John, I love you, too,” Mandie said as she turned to give him a big hug.
“And you know I love my little Blue Eyes,” Uncle John said, patting her shoulder. “But where is Uncle Ned? He brought you home, didn’t he?”
“Oh yes, he asked me to tell y’all he had other places to go and he’d see y’all later,” Mandie explained.
“Just like Uncle Ned,” Uncle John said, looking at Elizabeth. “He knew this would be a special time for just us, having Amanda back home.”
Mandie plopped down on the footstool in front of her mother and asked, “Now that I’m back home, couldn’t I just stay home, Mother? Grandmother sent me a letter with Uncle Ned when he went to Asheville on business. She said my school may be sold. So couldn’t I just stay home now?”
“No, I’m sorry, dear, but you must return to school,” Elizabeth answered. “The Heathwoods haven’t even found a prospective buyer for the school yet and they may never find one. So back to the Misses Heathwood’s School for you.”
“I hope they won’t ever be able to sell the school,” Mandie said with a slight smile.
Elizabeth looked at her and asked, “Do you mean you’re hoping the school won’t change hands? And last year, you didn’t want to go there.”
Mandie frowned as she replied, “Well, you see, Celia and I might not end up together in another school if we have to leave that one. Besides, the new owners might just fire Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Cal because they’re getting old.”
Elizabeth reached to smooth Mandie’s blond hair as Mandie removed her bonnet and dangled it by the strings. “I’m sure Celia’s mother and I could agree on a school for you two if you have to leave the Heathwoods’. And I don’t imagine that school could run without Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Cal. Why, they’ve been there so long, they’re permanent fixtures,” her mother said.
“I hope you’re right,” Mandie said.
At that moment, Liza, the young Negro maid, appeared in the doorway. She became excited when she saw Mandie. “Lawsy mercy, Missy ’Manda, I sho’ is glad you’s back,” she said. “Been too quiet heah wid you gone.”
Mandie ran to embrace the girl and said, “I’m glad to be back, Liza. But you know I have to get ready to go back to school in Asheville in a few days.”
“I knows, Missy ’Manda. So do Aunt Lou. You gotta see whut Aunt Lou done. She been sewin’ night and day since you went to visit dat Injun man. She made all kinda fancy dresses fo’ you to take to dat school,” Liza said, dancing happily around as she talked.
Mandie gasped and said, “She made me new dresses? But I’ve got so many clothes now that I’ll never be able to wear them out.”
“Dear,” said Elizabeth from across the room, “of course you’ll never be able to wear out all your clothes for the simple reason that you are outgrowing them. But there are plenty of girls we can find who need them.”
Mandie looked at her mother, then back at Liza. “Am I outgrowing my clothes? But, Mother, I haven’t grown a fraction of an inch in the last year.”
Elizabeth laughed and replied, “You’ll be surprised when you put on some of the dresses that were made for you a year ago to take to school.”
Mandie glanced down at the blue gingham dress she was wearing. She flipped her skirt around. “I don’t believe this one is any smaller on me.” Then looking at Liza, she asked, “Where is Aunt Lou? I’ve just got to see how big she’s making these new clothes.”
“She be in de sewin’ room upstairs, Missy ’Manda. And she know you home. Dat white cat, Snowball, he done been round lettin’ ev’ybody know you’s back,” Liza said.
Mandie glanced at her mother. Now that she was home, she didn’t want to leave her mother for a single moment. She had almost lost her when the fever struck.
“Go ahead, dear. Aunt Lou may need to do some fitting,” Elizabeth told her.
“I won’t be gone long,” Mandie promised. She followed Liza out into the hallway and picked up her bag.
Mandie found Aunt Lou laying out material on a worktable in the sewing room and rushed to embrace the old Negro woman. “I love you, Aunt Lou. I’ve missed you,” Mandie told her as she threw her arms around the woman’s large waist.
“I’ve missed you, too, my chile,” Aunt Lou replied, squeezing Mandie against her, then holding her back to look down into Mandie’s face. “But we got work to do. We’se gwine make you de bes’ dressed young lady at dat school in Asheville.” She pointed around the room at several dresses, hanging from whatever their hangers would catch on.
“Oh, Aunt Lou! They’re all so beautiful!” Mandie cried, rushing from one to another. She stopped suddenly to ask, “But, Aunt Lou, how did you know what size to make these dresses when I wasn’t here to try them on?”
Aunt Lou reached for Mandie’s hand and pulled her up beside her. “Heah,” the old woman said as she marked Mandie’s height against her own shoulder. “You done growed. Last time I made dresses you could walk under my arm. Now you reach my shoulder. You see?”
Mandie gasped in surprise. “Why, I didn’t realize I had grown any at all. Mother said I had, but I didn’t really believe her.” She smiled and looked up. “Pretty soon I’ll be as tall as you are, Aunt Lou.”
“Now I doubts dat, my chile. You done turned thirteen year old, and most times when people reach dat age they done growed all they gwine grow.” Aunt Lou turned back to the table where she had been cutting out a dress and said, “Now git along wid you. I got one mo’ dress heah to make ’fo’ you goes back to school and dat ain’t long off.”
Mandie ran her hand across the smooth, pink silk material as Aunt Lou laid a pattern on it. “Oh, Aunt Lou, it’s so soft and silky. Thank you for making me such beautiful clothes,” she said. She picked up her bag, which she had left by the doorway, and added, “I have to take this to my room and then I’ll go back downstairs. See you later.” She threw the old woman a kiss as she left the room.
After Mandie had left the bag in her room, she raced down the stairs, almost colliding with Jason Bond, Uncle John’s caretaker, at the foot of the steps.
“Slow down there!” the gray-haired man told her with a big smile as he caught her by the arm to keep her from falling. “I want to take you back to school in one piece,” he laughed.
Mandie looked up at him, smiled, and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Jason. Are you going to take me back to school?”
“That’s what Mr. Shaw said. He doesn’t want to let your mother out of his sight, and she’s not well enough to travel,” Mr. Bond explained.
“I’m glad Uncle John is taking such good care of my mother,” Mandie said. “And I’m glad you’re going to Asheville with me.” She paused and sniffed the air. “M-m-m-m! I smell something good cooking. I’ll just slip into the kitchen and see what Jenny’s doing.”
Mr. Bond smiled at her and continued on down the corridor. Mandie softly pushed open the door to the kitchen and looked inside. Jenny, the Negro cook, was bending over the oven door of the big iron cookstove.
“A cake!” Mandie cried.
“Sh-h-h-h! Don’t shake de floor or it won’t be no cake. It’ll fall,” Jenny told her.
Mandie caught her breath and stood perfectly still. “I’m sorry, Jenny,” she said. “I know it’ll make the cake go flat if I shake the floor. It smelled so good I had to see what you were doing.”
Jenny pulled the broomstraw out of one of the layers of cake in the oven and stood up to look at the straw. “It be done anyhow,” she said.