Free The Mandie Collection by Lois Gladys Leppard Page A

replied.
    â€œI’ll go with you back to the kitchen and see if anyone knows where he is,” Mandie told her.
    As soon as they entered the kitchen, Aunt Lou asked, “Well, did you find anything up dere? Any more noises?” They were still sitting and drinking coffee.
    â€œWell, yes, we did hear something scratching like, but I think it was in the attic,” she said, and then asked, “It couldn’t have been Snowball, could it? Do you know where he is?”
    â€œDat white cat he be in yo’ room waitin’ fo’ you,” Aunt Lou said. “I knows ’cause I put him in dere myself after he had his late suppuh tonight.”
    â€œOh, thank you, Aunt Lou,” Mandie said. “Good night, y’all. I’ll go on up to bed then. See y’all in the morning.”
    â€œNight now,” the servants called to her as she left the kitchen.
    Mandie hurried up the steps, and when she opened the door to her room she found Snowball curled up asleep in the middle of her bed. He didn’t even move when she came in, so she hurried and undressed and then woke him so she could take off the spread. He complained with a loud meow, moved over to the other side, and curled back up.
    Mandie blew out the lamp on the table and jumped into the bed. Her head was whirling with the events of the day. When she closed her eyes, she could see Etta Hughes sitting across the aisle in the courtroom and completely ignoring Mandie and the others. Etta had always been loud-mouthed and a busybody, so Mandie didn’t understand why the woman didn’t make some smart remark to her and the others. Maybeshe was actually afraid of the judge. But Etta had never been afraid of anyone who Mandie could remember. So maybe she was just putting on a good show trying to impress the judge with her honesty. The woman just hadn’t acted normal.
    â€œOh, well, we’ll see what she does about bringing in witnesses for the will she has,” Mandie said. She turned over to go to sleep, and then she remembered her letter. She had left it in the pocket of her skirt. Quickly jumping out of bed in the light of the moon coming in through the window, she got the letter and placed it on the table by her bed.
    â€œSo I’ll know where it is,” she said to herself as she once more got into bed.
    She thought about the love shown by that letter, and she drifted off to sleep with the happy thought that her father’s house would really be hers.

CHAPTER SIX
    SECRETS
    Early the next morning Mandie and Joe returned to the attic to finish their search there. Liza could not be persuaded to join them. However, Snowball decided to go along.
    â€œSnowball, you have to behave if you’re going to stay up here, and I mean it,” Mandie said as she stooped to shake a finger at the white cat.
    â€œMandie, that cat doesn’t understand you,” Joe said as he opened the shutters on the windows.
    Snowball meowed with a loud growl and jumped up on a big trunk and from there to the top of a chifferobe. He sat down on the edge and watched his mistress.
    â€œDon’t tell me he doesn’t know what I said. Look at him. He’s behaving,” Mandie said with a little laugh as she pointed to Snowball.
    â€œHe won’t stay there,” Joe said as he opened a trunk by the window. “We shouldn’t be here very long anyway. If I remember correctly, we only have the stuff along this wall to search.”
    â€œYou’re right. Let’s see, I stopped with this chest,” Mandie said, going over to the piece of furniture. “So it looks like this huge wooden box is next.” She raised the lid and began pulling out the contents. The box seemed to be full of dishes. She removed the wrappings and founda white dinner plate with tiny rosebuds around the fluted edge. “Oh, how beautiful!” she exclaimed. “I wonder what the story is on these dishes.” She carefully pulled