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

this time,” Mandie reasoned.
    “No,” Celia replied.
    “Are we going to see what it is or not?”
    “That depends.”
    “Depends on what?”
    “On what you decide,” Celia answered. “I always go along with you.”
    “All right. Let’s go.” Mandie led the way to the door, and they stopped to listen. “I can’t hear anybody in the hall,” Mandie whispered. Slowly, she opened the door.
    “Quick! Let’s get out of this hall!” Celia told her.
    They quietly ran for the attic staircase and hurried up the steps. The window let in plenty of light this time, so they could see that the door at the top was closed.
    “The door!” Mandie whispered. “I didn’t close it last night.”
    Celia thought for a moment.
    “But Miss Prudence was going to send Uncle Cal to clean up the glass, remember? He probably closed it.”
    “Right,” Mandie agreed. She put her finger to her lips, then slowly turned the doorknob and swung the door inward.
    The two girls stood at the doorway and looked around. There was enough light to distinguish most of the discarded objects of furniture around the attic: tables, chairs, chests, trunks, and boxes.
    “There’s nothing here,” Celia whispered.
    “No, I guess not,” Mandie answered. Still looking around, she moved her foot. Crunch. She looked down. The glass chimney she had broken had not been cleaned up. She pointed to it, motioning to Celia.
    “Uncle Cal didn’t come up here. Who closed the door?” she whispered.
    At that moment a huge rat ran across Celia’s foot. She screamed. “Let’s go!” she cried. Running out of the room, she stumbled down the stairs with Mandie following.
    But just as they turned the corner to go to their room, they saw Miss Prudence.
    The woman put her hands on her hips and advancedtoward them with a stern expression on her face. “This is it!” she exclaimed. “You have broken my orders to stay in your room. You are both suspended from school for ten days. Celia, I will contact your mother immediately, and Mandie, I will send word for your grandmother to come and get you, since she lives here in town.”
    Terrible thoughts revolved in Mandie’s head. Going to her grandmother’s house would be more dreadful than being suspended.
    “My grandmother?” she protested. “But, Miss Prudence, I don’t really know my grandmother. I don’t think she’d want me to come to her house. I’ve never been there. I’ve only seen her once in my whole life.”
    Miss Prudence looked at her in surprise. “And what is wrong between you and your grandmother?” the schoolmistress asked.
    “She didn’t like my father,” Mandie replied, “because he was half Cherokee. She didn’t want him to marry her daughter.”
    “I know all about that,” Miss Prudence said with impatience. “But she is your grandmother whether she likes it or not, and she shall hear from me.”
    Celia hung her head. “My mother is ill, Miss Prudence, because of my father’s death. Do I have to go home? It would worry her so much.”
    Mandie spoke up quickly. “My grandmother’s house is huge, so I know she has plenty of room. Couldn’t Celia go with me to my grandmother’s house?”
    “Oh, yes, please, Miss Prudence,” Celia begged.
    The schoolmistress relaxed her stern expression. “I suppose it doesn’t matter where you go, as long as I know you are in responsible hands. But the decision will remain with Mandie’s grandmother, of course,” she said. “I suppose you girls were in the attic?”
    Mandie nodded. “We heard the noise again.”
    “It certainly is strange that no one else has ever heard these noises,” said Miss Prudence.
    Mandie swallowed and looked her straight in the eye. “We’re not lying about it, Miss Prudence. We really have been hearing noises up there.”
    “Probably rats. Now get your things together, and do not—I repeat—do not leave that room again tonight. I will send a message to your grandmother as soon as I can find Uncle