The Mandie Collection (39 page)

When they arrived at the place on the riverbank where Snowball had disappeared, Mandie explained again what had happened. “He jumped out of the boat when it hit that old limb out there. And he ran straight into the bushes. We know he didn't get lost in the river.”

“We walk,” Uncle Ned told the girls as they all dismounted. He tied the animals to a nearby tree. “We call. We look,” he said. “We stay together. Do not get out of sight.”

Mandie stooped low to peer into the bushes as she went. “Snowball! Snowball!” she called. “Here, kitty, kitty.”

“Pretty kitty,” Sallie joined in.

“Where are you, Snowball?” Celia called.

Uncle Ned walked along, tapping the bushes with a long stick to shoo the kitten out if he was hiding.

Sallie looked carefully for paw prints along the water's edge.

Mandie called to her. “You're wasting your time, Sallie. He didn't walk along the bank. He landed on that old dead limb out there in the water, and he leaped from the limb onto dry land.”

“Then I will look on dry land,” Sallie said, coming back inland to continue looking.

“Kittens don't make tracks in dry dirt, do they?” Celia asked.

“Yes, sometimes there is an impression in loose, dry soil,” Sallie replied.

After what seemed like hours of backbreaking bending and stooping, Uncle Ned called an end to the search. “Snowball not here,” he told the girls. “We go back.”

Tears filled Mandie's blue eyes as she realized the impact of those words.

“But, Uncle Ned, he was here,” Mandie argued.

“Gone somewhere else,” Uncle Ned declared. “Come.” He started toward his horse, and the girls followed.

Mandie slowly brought up the rear. “Uncle Ned, can't I stay here awhile? He might come back,” she begged.

“John Shaw say no one out of my sight.” Uncle Ned turned to look at Mandie. Seeing the tears streaming down her cheeks, he bent to put his arm around her. “Do not cry, Papoose,” he said. “I will ask Cherokees to find lost kitten.”

Mandie brightened. “Oh, will you, Uncle Ned? I know the Cherokees can find him.”

“We see. Now we go,” the old Indian said, helping the girls onto their ponies.

When they arrived back at John Shaw's house, the other men and the boys were already there, and it was time for the noon meal.

Everyone was in the parlor except John. They all looked at Mandie when she and the girls entered the room. They knew without a word that the search for the kitten had been unsuccessful.

Joe stepped forward and took Mandie's hand. “Don't give up. We'll look again,” he promised her.

“He'll starve to death if we don't find him soon,” Mandie said with a catch in her voice.

Just then Mandie heard someone hurrying down the stairs outside the doorway. Uncle John stopped at the door of the parlor and frowned. “Where in the world did all those dolls come from?” he asked. “They're all over the steps from the third floor going up to the attic.”

The girls looked at each other in surprise.

“All over the steps, Uncle John?” Mandie inquired.

“Yes, there must be dozens of them. Whom do they belong to?” he asked.

Sallie looked again at Mandie. “Where's Hilda?”

“Why, I thought Hilda was with you girls,” said Elizabeth from the settee. “I hope to goodness she's not wandered off somewhere again.”

Elizabeth got up and started toward the stairs, but Mandie stopped her. “Never mind, Mother,” she said. “We'll go find her. She's upstairs somewhere.”

Celia gasped. “Hilda put all those dolls on the steps because you took that one away from her!”

Uncle Ned looked upset as he listened to the conversation. “Dolls must go back,” he stated, looking at John.

“Go back where? Uncle Ned, what do you know about those dolls?” John asked.

“I promise long ago,” Uncle Ned replied. “Must keep promise.”

“Promised what?” John asked.

“I promise keep dolls safe,” the old Indian finally answered.

“Then you do know something about these dolls. Where did they come from?” Uncle John asked.

The old Indian hesitated, looking around. “We talk. Private,” he said, turning to lead the way out of the room.

Mandie rushed over to him, placing a restraining hand on his arm. “Uncle Ned, may I go, too? Please,” she begged.

Uncle Ned thought for a moment. “Yes, you and John Shaw,” he replied.

Mandie and John followed the old Indian into the sunroom down the hallway. Sitting down, they waited for Uncle Ned to speak.

“Long ago, father of John Shaw marry Talitha Pindar in this house,”

Uncle Ned began, not seeming to know how to start. “Much love.”

Mandie and her uncle silently waited.

“Have papooses, John and Jim,” the Indian continued.

“We know all this, Uncle Ned,” John reminded him.

“But John Shaw not know they have girl papoose,” Uncle Ned replied.

“A girl?” John asked quickly.

“My father had a sister?” Mandie could hardly believe it.

“Name Ruby, for rubies in mine,” Uncle Ned continued. “Born 1840, eight years before John come.”

“Where is she? What happened to her? Why didn't anyone ever tell me about her?” John was full of questions.

“Big God come down and take her home. Accident when Ruby ten years old. John Shaw two years old, not remember her,” Uncle Ned explained.

John drew a deep breath. “I don't understand why no one ever told me about her.”

“Father and mother of John Shaw broken hearts. Not talk about Ruby,” Uncle Ned explained.

“So no one else talked about it, either,” John said. “What kind of an accident was it, Uncle Ned? How did she die?”

“Bad accident,” the old Indian replied. “Fall off pony. Break neck.”

Mandie flinched. “Then all the dolls in the wardrobe belonged to Ruby, didn't they?”

“Yes, I promise mother and father of John Shaw I take care of dolls always,” the old Indian said sadly.

Mandie explained to Uncle John how they had found the dolls in the wardrobe in the attic that morning. “And it was probably Hilda who put them all over the stairs,” she added.

“Must be.” Uncle Ned nodded his head.

“Where is Ruby buried, Uncle Ned?” John asked. “I don't remember ever seeing a grave with that name on it in the family cemetery across the street.”

“Ruby there. Stone damaged by Yankee soldiers in war,” Uncle Ned explained. “I show John Shaw where.”

“After we eat, let's walk over there for a minute, Uncle Ned, and you show me where the grave is,” John said.

“May I come, too?” Mandie asked.

“Why, yes, Amanda, but I'd say we shouldn't discuss this in front of the others until after we go over there,” Uncle John said. “Now run and see if you can find Hilda so we can eat.”

Mandie found Hilda in the attic, sitting on the floor, surrounded by dolls, and carefully examining each one.

“Come on, Hilda. It's time to eat,” Mandie told the girl.

Hilda shied away from Mandie, clutching a doll in her arms and holding her other hand over her apron pocket. “No!” the girl refused.

Mandie reached for her hand. “Yes!” she insisted. “It's all right. You can hold that doll, but we have to put all the others back as soon as we eat. Now we'll go by my room, and you can put that doll on the bed so it can sleep until we come back.”

Hilda just sat there silently.

“You don't have to keep holding your pocket. I'm not going to take whatever you found at the mine,” Mandie assured her. “Now come on. Let's go.”

Hilda reluctantly agreed, bringing the bride doll with her.

As they stopped by Mandie's room, she coaxed Hilda to leave the doll on the bed. Hilda carefully covered it with a shawl, humming to it.

At the noon meal, the conversation centered around Jake and Ludie Burns, They looked extremely happy, as if they couldn't believe everything that was happening to them.

“We went through the furniture in the attic this morning, Mrs. Burns,” said Mandie. “As soon as Uncle John looks it over, we'll start taking it over to your house.”

“The paint won't be dry enough until tomorrow,” Dr. Woodard reminded her.

“Besides, we're going mining this afternoon, remember?” Celia remarked.

Elizabeth looked at Mandie sternly. “Not unless an adult goes along and stays with you all every minute,” she said.

“That's a good idea,” Mrs. Woodard said.

Mandie glanced around the table. “Well, who is going with us?”

“If you young people are going to the mine, then we men will go finish Jake and Ludie's house,” Uncle John said.

Mandie looked over at Uncle Ned but didn't say anything.

The old Indian smiled at her. “I will go with Papoose. I watch over Papoose and friends.”

“Thank you, Uncle Ned,” Mandie said, smiling back at him.

“Thank you, my grandfather,” Sallie echoed.

“Before y'all rush off to the mine,” John said, rising, “Mandie and I have an errand with Uncle Ned. It won't take more than fifteen minutes. Y'all just stay here at the table and eat. We'll be right back.”

A slight frown creased Elizabeth's forehead. “Where are you going?”

“I'll explain later, dear. It's important,” John told her. He bent to kiss her cheek as he headed outside with Uncle Ned and Mandie.

The three crossed the road in front of the house and entered the walled-in cemetery behind the church. Uncle Ned led the way, walking directly to a monument with an angel on top of it. The inscription was cracked and illegible. There was a huge piece of the stone missing. Mandie and John stooped down to look closer.

“All I can make out is 1850,” John informed them, squinting at the broken marble.

“Ruby die 1850,” Uncle Ned said.

“There!” Mandie exclaimed, pointing to one line. “That says Ruby, but the b is missing.”

John looked closer. “It certainly does, and I believe the next part says Beloved Daughter, although some of those letters are missing, too.”

“Uncle John, there is the name Shaw right beneath the angel,” Mandie told him. “It's all cracked, but I'm sure it is Shaw.”

“I believe you're right, Amanda,” John said, standing up. “Uncle Ned, do you remember which stone mason put this monument up? He might have a copy of the inscription. We could have a new marker made.”

“Words on paper in wardrobe with dolls,” Uncle Ned told him. “Tom Gentry put up stone. Die many years ago.”

“I know where the wardrobe is in the attic, Uncle John,” Mandie said. “Come on. I'll show you.”

The three of them went up to the attic while the others were still waiting in the dining room.

Stepping between the dolls on the stairs, Uncle John said, “Amanda, you'll get these dolls off the steps, won't you? Someone could trip on them.”

“I will, Uncle John,” Mandie said, hurrying ahead. “Here's the wardrobe.” She opened it for her uncle. “Where's the paper, Uncle Ned?”

The Indian stepped forward and pulled out the big drawer across the bottom. It was filled with papers. He picked up a large brown envelope and handed it to John.

John Shaw sat down in an old rocker behind him and pulled out the contents of the envelope. Mandie leaned over his shoulder.

“My goodness, here's my mother and father's marriage license! I've never seen that before!” John exclaimed, holding up a paper with a seal on it for Mandie to see. “And here is Ruby's baptismal certificate. Let's see. Ruby May Shaw, born May 6, 1840, in this house. Parents—John Shaw, Sr., and Talitha Pindar Shaw. Now, let's see what else is here.”

Mandie was reading over his shoulder, itching to get her hands on the papers. “There it is, Uncle John. That paper right there has the name Tom Gentry on it,” Mandie said, pointing.

John opened the half-folded paper and found the inscription as given to Tom Gentry by John's father. He read from it. “ ‘An angel Sent to John and Talitha Shaw on May 6, 1840, and Returned to God on May 1, 1850. Ruby May, Beloved Daughter. We Will Meet You In The Morning,' ” Uncle John's voice quivered a little at the end, and he took a deep breath.

Mandie wiped a tear from her eye. “How sad,” she whispered.

“Yes, and to think no one ever told me I had a sister,” John said. He looked up at Uncle Ned. “Who else was here when this happened besides you and Morning Star? Was Aunt Lou here?”

“No. She come after,” Uncle Ned replied. “Just Morning Star and me. All others dead now.”

Uncle John seemed puzzled. “I'm trying to figure out some dates,” he said. “I was two when she died. Jim wasn't born until I was almost fifteen, and my mother died when Jim was a few months old. But my father didn't die until about five years after that. I don't understand why he never told me about my sister.”

“Broke his heart. Not talk to anybody about Ruby. Not allowed to say her name,” Uncle Ned stated.

John Shaw placed the papers back inside the envelope, stood up, and dropped the envelope inside the open drawer. “Right now we have to get back to the dining room. I'll go through those papers later,” he said.

“Are we going to put up a new monument for Ruby?” Mandie asked.

“I'd much rather recut or repair the original stone because my father put it there, but if that can't be done, then we'll get a new one,” Uncle John decided. “The War Between the States was over three years before he died. I don't see why he didn't replace it or have it repaired. He certainly had the money to do it.”

“Refused to go to cemetery. Never went to look at grave. Not know it broken. He say, ‘My Ruby not dead. She well and happy with Big God,' ” Uncle Ned told them.

“Well, let's go,” Uncle John said, leading the way. “Amanda, can you get the girls to help you put those dolls back in the wardrobe before you go to the mine?”