Free The Mandie Collection by Lois Gladys Leppard

a while.
    Mandie caught herself nodding as her book slipped out of her hands. She straightened up, yawned, and said, “I think I’ll go to bed.”
    â€œMe too,” Celia agreed, closing her book and glancing at the clock on the mantel. “It’s twenty minutes to ten anyway.”
    â€œYes, let’s hit the hay,” Mandie said with a laugh. She put out the oil lamp nearby as Celia pulled the string to turn off the light bulb dangling from the ceiling.
    They jumped into the big bed, and both girls were soon fast asleep.
    In Mandie’s dream someone was knocking on their door. Then she suddenly came awake and sat up. She wasn’t dreaming. Someone was tapping on their window. How could that be? They were on the third floor.
    Celia asked sleepily, “What is that noise, Mandie?” She rubbed her eyes and raised up to look around.
    â€œThere’s someone outside our window,” Mandie whispered. She pushed back the covers and got out of bed. She cautiously crept across the dark room toward the window.
    â€œHow could someone be outside our window, Mandie? We’re on the third floor,” Celia whispered back, right behind her.
    â€œExactly what I was thinking,” Mandie said softly. She approached the window from the side, hoping whoever was out there could not see her until she discovered who it was. Celia peered over Mandie’s shoulder.
    Suddenly there was a much louder tapping at the window, andMandie was afraid the window glass was going to break. This made her angry, and she called out, “Who is that? Who’s out there?”
    The tapping continued, but no one answered. Mandie slowly leaned forward enough to see outside. The moon was shining, but clouds were drifting over it. Their window was set into the sloping roof with a two-foot ledge outside the sill. She caught a glimpse of someone on the limb of the huge magnolia tree outside their window. Whoever it was leaned forward now and then to tap their window with a long branch.
    â€œSomeone hanging on a limb of the tree,” Mandie whispered to Celia.
    When the tapping began again, Mandie quickly raised the window and called out, “Go away, whoever you are, or I’ll get someone to make you get out of that tree. You hear?”
    The answer came quickly with a laugh. “Ah, now you be awake. Now, you just wait. I’m coming inside. Don’t you be closing that window,” a voice said.
    â€œMollie! What are you doing in that tree?” Mandie asked as she recognized the voice. She leaned out. Sure enough, it was Mollie. And Mollie was hastily crawling along the big limb toward the window. “Mollie, don’t do that. You’ll fall!”
    â€œIf I be falling, Hilda will catch me below. She promised,” Mollie called back as she continued moving along the limb.
    â€œHilda too!” Celia exclaimed over Mandie’s shoulder.
    The two girls looked down but couldn’t see directly beneath the window. “I’ll come down there, Mollie,” Mandie told her. “You go back down the tree to Hilda and wait for me.”
    â€œNo, Mandie, I be coming to your room, that I am,” Mollie argued.
    â€œOh no, what are we going to do? That limb doesn’t reach all the way to the window. She’ll fall!” Mandie said to Celia.
    â€œWe could call someone to help,” Celia suggested.
    â€œNot enough time,” Mandie replied, watching every move Mollie made.
    Mollie reached the end of the limb and immediately climbed onto the next one above, which was longer and closer to the window. It was also stronger, and she managed to get to the end of it.
    â€œCatch me, Mandie! I be jumping in your window!” Mollie called out.
    â€œNo, no, no! Mollie, you can’t do that! Stop!” Mandie called to her.
    Mollie ignored the warning and made a jump at the window. She missed but managed to grab hold of the previous branch. She was dangling in the air