The Mandie Collection (20 page)

“Papoose must remember. Say no more mean words,” Uncle Ned said. “Papoose growing up big now. Must act more like big person.”

“But what can I do to control my temper, Uncle Ned?”

“Papoose must think before saying mean words,” he said. “God give brain to think. Papoose get angry, must take deep breath, blow it out. Mean words come out with it and go away. Must not hurt other people with mean words.”

“I know that now,” Mandie admitted. “Do you think Joe will forgive me?”

Uncle Ned nodded slowly. “Doctor son say he sorry to hurt Papoose. He forgive. But Papoose must ask doctor son to forgive—ask Big God to forgive. Papoose not let darktime come on anger again.”

Mandie reached for Uncle Ned's hand. “Thank you for always helping me,” she said. Then looking toward the bright blue sky as she always did when she prayed, she said, “Dear God, please forgive me and help me to be more careful what I say. I know You will.”

Uncle Ned also turned his face toward heaven. “Big God,” he prayed, “Papoose truly sorry. Please forgive. Make her better Papoose.”

Mandie smiled at her old friend. “Remember the Bible verse that says, ‘Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath'?”

Uncle Ned nodded.

“I guess I memorized it but didn't really learn it very well, did I?”

The old Indian smiled back at her.

“I'm going to write that down and put it somewhere to remind me to control my temper.” She paused, staring out at the ocean waves rolling into shore. “I feel better now. I can't wait to get home so I can talk to Joe. What a relief that will be!”

“Must go back to house now.” Uncle Ned rose to his feet. “We go to rice fields.”

Mandie jumped up. “Yes, I need to help my mother get things ready,” she said.

Together, they shook the sand off the blanket and folded it. Mandie picked up her parasol and opened it as Uncle Ned threw the blanket over his shoulder. Then taking her small white hand in his old wrinkled one, he led Mandie back to the beach house.

“Thank you again, Uncle Ned. I love you,” she said.

“Love make people do good things.” The old Indian smiled down at her.

When they reached the porch, Mr. Patton was standing there, looking out over the ocean. “It never gets old,” he said with a chuckle. “I still love to watch the waves roll in.”

Uncle Ned stopped to talk with him, but Mandie hurried inside in search of her mother. Elizabeth and John were in their room, packing for the move to the plantation house.

When Mandie entered the room, Elizabeth looked up from her packing. “Hello, dear. Did you have a nice visit with Uncle Ned on the beach?”

“Uncle Ned always helps me sort things out and do what's right,” Mandie answered, not wanting to explain the whole problem again. “Uncle Ned has been a good friend to all of us,” Uncle John said without looking up.

“But I think we'd better get busy here so we will be ready when the Pattons want to leave. Amanda, have you put your things back into your traveling bag?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, ma'am, but I need to find Snowball,” Mandie said, turning toward the door. For a moment she lingered, watching her mother and Uncle John pack their bags.

Elizabeth noticed her standing there. “What is it, Amanda?” she asked.

“I guess I'm just homesick,” Mandie replied. “I love the ocean, and I'm eager to see the rice plantation, but I'll sure be glad when we get back home.”

Elizabeth and John looked at her in amazement.

“Is something wrong?” Uncle John asked.

“No, not really,” Mandie answered. “I'll go find Snowball now,” she said, leaving the room.

Mandie was unusually quiet during the journey to the plantation. First they rode in the rig to the dock. Then they boarded a large boat on the Ashley River.

In the beginning Mandie had trouble standing up in the rocking boat, and Snowball clung to her shoulder in fear. But after a while, she became used to the rocking motion and began to relax a little.

Tommy tried to start a conversation with Mandie as they stood at the boat's railing. But he seemed to sense that her mind was miles away. He gave up and they rode in silence.

Josephine was the one who wouldn't shut up. “You'd better learn how to swim, Mandie,” she teased. “You have to if you're around this much water. You never know what's going to happen.”

Mandie looked at her without a word. So she had seen the incident. “If your Indian friend and Tommy hadn't been with you when you fell into the ocean this morning, you might not be here to tell about it now,” Josephine continued.

Mandie still didn't say anything, and Tommy didn't reprimand his sister as he usually did.

“What's the matter with you? Have you forgotten how to talk?” Josephine asked.

“Josephine!” Tommy finally said, exasperated.

Uncle Ned stood nearby, watching and listening. He smiled.

Taking a deep breath to cool her rising temper, Mandie smiled back at him. She turned to Tommy. “Let's walk around to the other side of the boat,” she suggested.

As they walked away, out of the corner of her eye, Mandie saw Uncle Ned move toward Josephine. She is about to get a lecture, Mandie thought. A gentle one, of course, but maybe he can put some sense into her head.

As Mandie and Tommy strolled across the deck, the fresh ocean air revived Mandie's spirits. Other boats passed up and down the river. Sometimes Tommy recognized someone and waved. Elizabeth and John sat with the Pattons in the small cabin, but they kept a constant eye on the young people through the glass windows.

Tommy and Mandie stopped by the rail on the other side of the boat. Huge cypress trees, draped with Spanish moss, stood in swamps along the way. The motionless black water was dotted with lilies, but the heavy odor from the stagnant swamps became almost unbearable.

Mandie wondered if the plantation house would be situated in an area like this. “What is Mossy Manor like?” she asked Tommy.

“It's a huge old house surrounded by acres and acres of woods and open fields,” he said proudly. “The nearest neighbor is five miles down the road. We have a lot of animals there—cows, pigs, chickens, and horses. And the woods are full of deer and wild turkeys.”

“You have horses?” Mandie exclaimed.

“Do you ride?” Tommy asked.

“I have my own pony at home,” she said, “but I think it's about time to graduate to a full-size horse. After all, I am twelve years old now. I love to ride.”

“Good, then I can show you the place on horseback,” Tommy said. “We have acres and acres to ride over. You know, this house is even older than the one in town,” he continued. “The Pattons built Mossy Manor first when they came to the United States from Holland in the seventeenth century. And there have been Pattons here ever since—some good ones, some bad ones,” he said with a laugh. “Everything from a United States Senator to a pirate.”

Suddenly Josephine came up behind them. “We're almost there,” she said, limping up to Mandie. “Just wait till you see it. I'll bet you don't have such places back up there in the North Carolina mountains.”

“Of course not, Josephine,” Tommy put in. “You couldn't grow rice in that climate.”

“What I meant was that mountain people would never have the money to build such a place,” the girl said.

Just then Uncle Ned joined them, and Mandie sighed with relief. The conversation was starting to get out of hand.

“Uncle Ned, Josephine says we're almost there,” Mandie said.

“I go help with baggage,” the old man said, turning to leave.

Tommy put a hand on Uncle Ned's arm. “No, sir,” he said kindly. “You don't have to help. We pay our servants to do things like that. You are our guest, sir. Stay with us.”

Uncle Ned smiled. “I never see rice fields before. I been to Charleston City, never see rice.”

“It's not such a big thing anymore,” Tommy said. “The War of Northern Aggression spoiled all the big plantations, but it's just as well. Times change and some things for the better.”

“Look!” Josephine cried, pointing ahead as they came around a bend in the river. “There's the dock.”

At a large loading dock ahead, nearly a dozen strong-looking men scurried around, loading and unloading the boats that were tied there. On the shore, a little distance from the dock, stood a cluster of brick buildings.

“Looks like a busy place,” Mandie remarked.

“They're bringing in supplies,” Tommy said. “And they're probably loading merchandise for the markets.”

“Just wait till you see the house!” Josephine told Mandie. “You'll probably get lost in it. We need ten house servants to take care of it when we use the whole house.”

As their boat turned toward the dock, Mandie could see a rig waiting.

“Isn't that your rig from town?” Mandie asked.

“Right,” Tommy replied. “Rouster brought the other servants from town in the rig after he took us to the boat. There's a road from the beach house to the plantation, but Mother thought you'd enjoy the boat ride. We usually come by water anyway. It's not as dusty, and it's smoother riding.”

As their boat docked, they all disembarked and piled into the waiting rig.

“But where is the house?” Mandie looked around, holding Snowball.

“It's up the road apiece,” Tommy answered. “The house is built away from the water in case of flooding.”

After riding through a thickly wooded area, they suddenly came into a clearing. There stood Mossy Manor. Made of handmade brick, it rose three stories high behind big round white columns that supported a two-story porch. Balconies lined the outside of the third floor. Shrubbery grew thick around the house, and Spanish moss dripped from the giant oak trees. Peacocks strutted possessively around the grounds.

Mandie was awestruck. She glanced at Uncle Ned. He, too, looked speechless.

As the rig stopped at the wide front steps, uniformed house servants came to greet them and to unload the baggage.

Josephine jerked on Mandie's hand. “Come on. I'll show you the house.” She jumped down from the rig and Mandie followed reluctantly.

“I'll catch up with you later,” Tommy called as Josephine hurried Mandie into the house ahead of the others.

Inside, Mandie put Snowball down and looked around. The huge entry hall was filled with priceless antiques. The richness had an old, mellow look about it. Josephine hurried her through double doors into another smaller hallway.

“Come on. First, I'll show you where the ghosts stay,” Josephine said.

Mandie tried to pull away, but the girl's grip was firm. “Josephine, please don't start that ghost nonsense again,” she protested.

“You can at least let me show you and listen to what I have to say,” Josephine insisted.

Mandie drew a deep breath and allowed herself to be pulled up a narrow staircase. “All right, but I'm not going to believe a word you say.”

Yet Mandie wondered if there really were such things as ghosts. And why did Josephine talk about them so much?

Mandie had to find some answers.

CHAPTER TWELVE

GHOSTS FROM THE PAST

Josephine led Mandie all the way up the stairs to the third floor. “These are the servants' stairs,” Josephine told her. “But they're nearer to what I want to show you.”

At the top of the stairs, the two girls stepped into a dark, narrow hallway.

“These are the servants' quarters over here,” Josephine explained. “Not all of the rooms are occupied because we don't need as many servants as my ancestors did when they built this house. Come on, down this way,” she said, taking the lead.

As they walked down the hall, they passed rows of open doors revealing neat interiors, some furnished with expensive antiques. Josephine stopped at the doorway of one of the rooms.

“These don't look like servants' rooms,” Mandie remarked. “Look at all the antiques.”

“I know, but the antiques were willed or given to servants down through time. These things have all been passed down to the present owners. You see, we still have descendants of slaves working for us, but they're on a salary now since the war. Some of these people have never even been off the plantation except to go in to Charleston. They are born here, marry someone else here, raise their children here, and
then die here. The slaves' cemetery has a lot more graves in it than the white cemetery does.”

At the end of the hallway was a door. Josephine opened it. “I'll go first, but be careful,” she warned. “It's so dark in here you can't see where you're going.” She stepped inside and Mandie followed, her heart beating faster as she groped in the darkness.

“There are steps here,” Josephine told her. “They're steep, and winding, and narrow. Hold onto the bannister.”

“Where in the world are we going?” Mandie demanded.

“You'll see.” Josephine started to climb the narrow steps.

Still suspicious, Mandie followed, cautiously moving one foot and then the next to the steps above her. She certainly didn't want to fall in this dark place with only Josephine to help her.

When Josephine reached the top, she opened another door. Instantly, light flooded the stairway, and Mandie could see that she was in a round tower room of some kind with stairs that spiraled to the ceiling. Josephine waited for her at the top.

Stepping off the last step, Mandie looked around her. The door opened into a circular hallway with windows all around it.

“This is the watchtower,” Josephine explained. “It has been used to watch for all kinds of things—ships, pirates, whatever.”

A narrow window seat ran almost all the way around the room, and there was still another door at the far side. Josephine unlocked the door, and when she had opened it, Mandie could see an outside walk on the roof similar to the one on the house in Charleston.