New Horizons (15 page)

“Of course, I always spend the holidays at your house, Mandie,” Celia said with a sigh, then added, “But I am expecting everyone to come to my house for at least part of the summer vacation.”

“I'd like to come to your house for a while this summer, Celia,” Mandie told her. “However, you understand that I have to spend some time with my new little sister and brother.”

“Since I've always lived in the city, I would enjoy visiting your farm, Celia, and seeing all the horses,” Mary Lou said.

Celia looked at Mandie and said, “Well then, as soon as we can arrange the times with our other friends, we can make plans for the summer holidays.”

Later, after leaving the boardinghouse, the conversation continued between the girls' bedrooms through the connecting door until way into the morning.

When the early morning sunshine woke Mandie, she stretched and poked Celia to wake her.

“We have the whole day off today. What are we going to do?” Mandie asked as Celia sat up and looked around the room.

Celia yawned and replied, “Let's just be lazy and do nothing.”

“Maybe Mary Lou has some plans,” Mandie said as she sat up and propped against her pillow.

Mary Lou came to the doorway in her nightgown and asked, “Did I hear my name?”

“Yes, what are your plans for today?” Mandie asked, flipping around to sit on the side of the bed.

“I don't really have any, but since today is Saturday, we could check on the sewing group and see if they are working on the children's clothes today,” Mary Lou replied. “That is, if y'all want something to do.”

“Oh yes, let's do that,” Celia said, sliding to the edge of the bed and stretching.

“Well, we can have Mr. Ryland bring us to the sewing group this morning,” Mandie suggested. “Maybe we'll see Grace Wilson working there today.”

By the time everyone had finished the hearty breakfast Mrs. Dunnigan put on the table, Mr. Ryland had the carriage parked in front of the house and was waiting for them.

When they arrived at Mrs. Wilkes's house, quite a large assortment of people had already assembled and were busy sewing.

Mandie quickly looked around the large room as she and her friends walked over to the table to select something to work
on. She didn't see Grace. As she and Celia and Mary Lou stood at the table, she mentioned it to them, then said, “In fact, I don't see anyone I recognize.”

“Neither do I,” Celia said.

“Let's do some work for a while and maybe someone we know will come later,” Mary Lou suggested.

Although they worked for several hours, no one else came.

When Mr. Ryland came back to get them, Mary Lou said, “Why don't we drive by the college? We won't be able to stop, though, because my mother will be waiting for us to come home and eat.”

“All right. We might happen to see someone we know,” Mandie agreed.

When they got to the college, Mr. Ryland brought the carriage to a halt in the parking space and asked, “Will you be going inside, misses?”

“No, Mr. Ryland, we won't have time to do that. We were just thinking we might see someone we know,” Mandie replied.

“Look, isn't that George Stuart in the carriage parked down the driveway?” Celia asked.

Mandie glanced at the carriage, then quickly looked away. “Yes, it is. I'd really like to find out if he was here during the holidays, but I don't dare walk up to him and ask him,” she said. Then, smiling, she added, “Remember, we haven't been properly introduced.”

“His friend is with him, too—the one we always see,” Celia said.

“And I do believe that is his sister coming out of the dormitory. She's walking toward his carriage,” Mary Lou said.

At that moment George Stuart, his friend, and his sister all looked their way.

The girls quickly turned their attention to others moving about the campus.

“Why don't we go, Mandie? I feel strange just sitting here and looking at everybody,” Celia said.

“You're right. We need to get back to Mary Lou's house, anyway,” Mandie agreed as she leaned forward and spoke to Mr. Ryland. “We'll go back to the Dunnigans' now, please, Mr. Ryland.”

“Yes, miss,” the driver replied.

When they arrived at the Dunnigans' house, they found Mrs. Dunnigan in the parlor. “Mrs. Thomason has been doing a little investigative work,” she told them. “You all may be interested to know that George Stuart and his friends from England, including his sister, did not leave Charleston during the holidays, but were seen all around town.”

“Then they could have played a trick on Sadie,” Mandie said as she sat on the settee.

“How could they do that with Mrs. Thomason in the house? She always keeps the doors locked, day and night,” Celia reminded her.

“Maybe they saw Sadie outside somewhere and teased her about a ghost,” Mary Lou suggested.

Mandie had a sudden idea. “What if they have a key?” she
asked excitedly, looking at everyone.

“That may be possible, but how did they get it?” Mrs. Dunnigan asked. “I'm sure she wouldn't have left the key around for someone to steal.”

“But the school would have had a key. And remember all those tales about people being seen in the house when it was empty?” Mandie reminded them. “Anyone could have made a duplicate.”

“Yes, it looks like it is very possible that someone could have broken into the house,” Mrs. Dunnigan said. “I wonder if Mrs. Thomason has thought about changing the locks.”

Mary Lou frowned and said, “Didn't everyone say that when the house was empty, someone kept breaking a window to get into the house?”

“We need to discuss this further with Mrs. Thomason,” Mrs. Dunnigan said. “In the meantime, our meal is ready, if you young ladies would like to freshen up.”

The three girls went to the bathroom on the first floor to wash up and comb their hair and discuss the suggestions that had been made.

Mandie decided they had to get to the bottom of this mystery.

chapter 11

Mandie and her friends did not get a chance to talk with Mrs. Thomason over the weekend because she was busy with new tenants checking into her boardinghouse.

Monday morning the girls had to return to classes at the college. As Mr. Ryland brought their carriage to a stop in front of the school, Mandie saw George Stuart and his friend driving away.

“I do declare, I believe that fellow hangs around here an awful lot,” Mandie commented.

“He evidently drives his sister around, so he would be coming here a lot,” Mary Lou said.

As the three stepped down from the carriage, Celia added, “His sister must need to be where we always are.”

Even though the three were early entering the chapel, several other girls were already there. As Mandie, Celia, and Mary Lou sat down near the front, Mandie noticed George Stuart's sister and another girl sitting across the aisle. The two girls saw Mandie
sit down, then immediately bent their heads close together and began talking behind their hands, looking up now and then to smile and giggle.

“I suppose we must be the topic of their conversation,” Mandie said under her breath to Celia and Mary Lou as they tried to avoid eye contact with the giggling girls.

“They are acting very unladylike right here in chapel. I wonder if anyone will notice and take points off for their deportment,” Celia said.

“That's a very good question. We just need to ignore such behavior,” Mary Lou said.

“That's right. Let's just pretend they don't exist right now,” Mandie said. “I'm more interested in getting an opportunity to ask Mrs. Thomason about the keys to her house.”

At that moment Mandie saw Polly Cornwallis and April Snow come into the room together, go directly to George Stuart's sister, and sit down near her. The girl stopped talking to her friend to say something to Polly. April and Polly turned slightly to look at Mandie, then turned away when they saw they were seen.

“So the two troublemakers are friends of George Stuart's sister,” Mandie said to Mary Lou and Celia. “That might explain a lot of things.”

“Yes,” Celia agreed.

“I remember you said those two like to stir up trouble,” Mary Lou whispered.

“And they know how to do it,” Mandie said.

There was a soft tap on the pulpit at the front of the room.
Reverend Coggins cleared his throat and greeted the audience. “Good morning, young ladies.”

About half of the audience replied, “Good morning.”

Mandie's mind wandered over the problem at the boardinghouse, and before she realized it, Reverend Coggins was dismissing them. She had not heard a word he had said. She was ashamed of herself and resolved to pay close attention next time.

As soon as classes were over for the day, the three girls hurried to the carriage. They would have to eat at the Dunnigans' first and then go see Mrs. Thomason.

Luckily the meal was over in a hurry, because Mr. Dunnigan had to return to his office to finish some work. Mrs. Dunnigan had visitors coming for afternoon tea, and she declined the invitation to go with the girls to the boardinghouse.

“Supper will be promptly at six o'clock,” Mrs. Dunnigan reminded the girls.

“Yes, ma'am,” they replied in unison.

The girls walked around the block to the boardinghouse, and Mandie used her key to let them in. They found Mrs. Thomason in the office with Miss Flora doing paper work.

As the girls stood at the doorway of the office, Mandie said, “We apologize for interrupting. We'll just sit out here in the hall until you are free. We wanted to ask you some questions, Mrs. Thomason, if you don't mind.”

“I should be free in about fifteen minutes,” she told the girls. “There is fresh coffee out there on the buffet. Help yourselves, and I'll join you shortly.

The girls took cups of coffee and sat in the parlor. It wasn't long until Mrs. Thomason entered the room with her own cup of coffee and sat down.

Mandie was so eager to ask questions that she spoke immediately. “Mrs. Thomason, we've been wondering if you had the locks on the house changed when you rented it from the college.”

“Why yes, dear, I did. That was my first priority when I leased the house,” Mrs. Thomason replied. “I had no idea as to how many people had keys at that time.”

“So if someone used a key to get in here, it would have to be a key you had given them,” Mandie figured.

“Why yes, and I only gave keys to people who were living here,” Mrs. Thomason explained. “I wanted to be sure that I knew exactly who had keys to my house.”

“On the other hand, if someone had lived here and moved out, even though they would have returned the keys to you, they could have had a duplicate made, couldn't they?” Mary Lou asked.

“Well, yes, I suppose so, but why would anyone want to keep a key they no longer had any use for?” Mrs. Thomason asked, puzzled with this question, and then she dismissed it. “Well, I've only been here a short while, and there haven't been that many people who have lived here while I've run this place, so I haven't given out many keys.”

“But you have had people rent rooms for just a short time, haven't you?” Celia asked.

“I try to rent to long-term boarders, so we don't have a
turnover too often, but there have been a few who stayed only a few nights,” Mrs. Thomason replied. “I see what you girls are thinking. You believe someone must have a key and came back to scare Sadie. Is that right?” She looked at the three girls.

“I think someone has a key that you don't know about. How else would they be able to get into the house?” Mandie asked. “And I don't think anyone living here would dare play tricks like that.”

“No, I would hope not,” Mrs. Thomason said thoughtfully. “Your reasoning could be the solution to this mystery. I suppose I should try to track down anyone who has ever lived here. But I am sure every ex-tenant has returned the keys when they left. That is our first request when anyone checks out.”

“But if they had a duplicate key made, they could still get in,” Mandie said. “And I suppose there's no way to check that out.”

“We could go see all the key makers and ask if anyone who lived here had keys made,” Celia suggested.

“But there must be lots of key makers here in this town,” Mary Lou said. “I don't know where any are located, but in a town the size of Charleston, there must be quite a few.”

“No,” Mrs. Thomason stated as she shook her head. “When I leased the house, I had to look for one to change the locks, and I found only one anywhere near here who could do the old-fashioned locks and give me new keys.”

“Then they would have a record of your new locks and would know whether any more keys have been made, wouldn't they?” Mandie asked excitedly.

“If they keep records. They are a very small place, and I paid them cash. I know they didn't give me a receipt,” Mrs. Thomason explained.

“We could at least talk to them, though, couldn't we?” Mandie asked.

“Yes, I suppose so, but I would have to go with you. They wouldn't know you, and I doubt they would give any such information to a stranger,” Mrs. Thomason explained.

“Would you be able to go with us to see these people tomorrow afternoon?” Mandie asked.

“I suppose I could arrange to leave the house that long. I don't go out very often these days because of Sadie. I'm afraid she might just leave again if I don't keep watch on her,” Mrs. Thomason replied.

“I'll ask Mr. Ryland to come back after our noon meal tomorrow, and then we'll come around and get you,” Mandie promised.

“Fine,” Mrs. Thomason said, rising from her chair. “Now, I do have some office work that needs to get done.”

“Yes, ma'am,” all the girls said, also rising.

When Mandie and her friends got back to the Dunnigans', Mary Lou took them in through a side door.