Free Leppard, Lois Gladys - [Mandie 04] by Mandie, the Forbidden Attic (v1.0) [html]

furniture in here,” she whispered. “I don’t see a thing that could have been making the noise.”
    Celia stayed close to her friend. “Let’s go, Mandie,” she begged. “There’s nothing here.”
    Mandie stumbled over something. The glass chimney on the lamp crashed to the floor. Mandie blew out the light. She couldn’t let the flame burn unprotected.
    Then, in the darkness, from the other side of the attic, came the clanging metal and the squeaking board noises. The girls turned and ran, stumbling down the dark stairs as fast as they could go. When they reached the last step, they saw a light coming toward them. Before they could find a place to hide, Miss Prudence appeared in her long trailing nightgown at the bottom of the stairway.
    She held her lamp up to see the girls’ faces. “Aha! So you two
do
prowl around after ten o’clock,” she accused. “What have you been doing up in the attic?” Glancing down, she noticed the lamp base in Mandie’s hand. “And where is the shade to that lamp?”
    Mandie bit her lip. “I’m sorry, Miss Prudence. I broke it. I tripped and it fell off,” she explained. “I’ll pay for it.”
    “Yes, you’ll pay for it. And you’ll also pay for being out of your room. You two will be confined there for ten days except for church, and classes, and meals. And if you don’t abide by the rules, it will be much more serious than that. Do you both understand?”
    Mandie hung her head. “Yes, ma’am, Miss Prudence,” she replied.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Celia echoed.
    “Now, what were you two doing up in that attic at thistime of night?” the schoolmistress demanded.
    “We’ve been hearing noises in the attic,” Mandie answered. “And tonight the noises seemed to be louder, so we went to investigate.”
    “Noises? What kind of noises?”
    “It sounds like metal banging, and we could hear boards squeaking like someone walking around up there,” Mandie told her.
    “Metal banging and someone walking in the attic? How far-fetched can you get?” She turned the girls around and ushered them down the hallway toward their room.
    “But, Miss Prudence, we’re serious,” Mandie protested. “We’ve been hearing noises like that ever since we came to school.”
    “We have, Miss Prudence, several times,” Celia added.
    The woman stopped and looked doubtfully at the two girls. “All right,” she conceded. “I’ll get Uncle Cal to look in the attic tomorrow. He’ll have to go up there anyway to clean up the broken glass. Now, not another word out of either of you.” She pointed the girls to their door. “Get in that room and don’t come out until breakfast time tomorrow.”
    The girls quickly obeyed and closed the door behind them. They listened for Miss Prudence to go down the hallway, then began whispering in the darkness of their room.
    “What a bad break!” Mandie exclaimed. “If I hadn’t broken that lamp shade, we might have found something up there.”
    “Well, I guess the fun is over.” Celia sighed and crawled into bed.
    “Oh, no, it isn’t.” Mandie slipped under the covers on her side. “I still plan to see what’s up there.”
    “Mandie, you don’t dare!”
    “Oh, yes, I do! And don’t tell me you’re afraid to go with me.”
    “But, Mandie, there’s no telling what will happen to us if we’re caught again.”
    “We won’t be caught again.”
    “But you always say that,” Celia complained.
    “Next time we’ll be more careful,” Mandie promised. “But, Celia, you don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to.”
    “No, I don’t have to. But I suppose I will,” Celia replied. “I just wish I could understand why you’re so determined to go up there.”
    “I can’t explain it,” Mandie answered, “but something tells me I should keep looking.”
    “Well, I sure hope it’s worth getting into trouble for,” Celia said.

Chapter 8 - Caught!
    Even though all the girls were required to attend Sunday school and services,