The Mandie Collection (61 page)

Joe took the hoe from her. “Here. I can do that faster than you can,” he said.

Joe dug away at the crack until gradually the stone hearth fell apart. There seemed to be nothing but dirt under it. Then the hoe hit something that made a clinking sound.

“There's something there!” Mandie cried.

“Don't get too close. I might accidentally hit you while I'm swinging this thing,” Joe warned the girls.

He quickly dug the dirt out of the spot until something metal showed through. As he pushed the dirt aside, the girls squealed with joy at the sight of a small metal box.

“At last!” Joe exclaimed.

Mandie jumped up and down. “This has got to be the diamonds!” she said excitedly.

“It's got to be!” Celia echoed.

Joe pulled the box out of the dirt and set it on the remaining piece of hearth. He tried to open it, but the lid was wedged tightly shut.

“Get back,” he cautioned. “I'm going to beat it open with the hoe.”

After a few blows the lid flew open, revealing a candy box similar to the one in which they had found the letters. The girls crowded around as Joe opened the candy box. Inside, on a bed of black velvet, lay a set of wedding rings. sparkling with diamonds in the sunlight.

Joe gasped. “Wedding rings!”

The three plopped down on the ground and laughed till their sides hurt.

“Why, of course!” Mandie said when she could catch her breath. “Why didn't we figure that out? They hid the wedding rings here.”

“Wedding rings,” Joe murmured. “And here I thought I was hunting for diamonds.”

“But these are diamonds,” Celia told him, pointing to one of the rings. “Look. There must be a dozen diamonds in that one ring alone.”

“Now that we've found them, we know this is the cabin in the woods that the man wrote about in the letters,” Mandie said.

“Yes, and now that we've found them, would you please tell me what you're going to do with them?” Joe asked.

“We'll take them back to our room until we can decide what to do next,” Mandie replied.

Celia kept staring at the beautiful rings. “We still need to figure out who they belong to,” she said.

“I have an idea those rings have been here for many, many years. Those letters must be old as the hills,” Joe said.

“How are we going to get them to our room without anyone seeing us?” Celia asked.

Mandie thought for a moment. “When we get to the edge of the woods I'll take my bonnet off and cover the box with it,” she suggested.

“You'd better be careful,” Joe warned her. “That will look suspicious, carrying your bonnet to hide something.”

He started pushing the pieces of the hearth back into place as much as he could and the girls helped.

Then Mandie suggested a plan. “Uncle Cal is going to take you back to Grandmother's, Joe,” she said. “So if you and Celia can get the tools back under his house, I'll rush up to our room with the rings,” Mandie planned. “Will you tell Uncle Cal to take the tools back to Grandmother's when he takes you?”

“Sure,” Joe agreed.

Everything worked out according to plan, and Mandie took the box of rings up to their room. When Celia came upstairs the two girls pulled the bureau out and added the box to the contents of the pillowcase on the back.

Mandie started out the door. “I guess we'd better both run for the bathroom to get cleaned up,” she said.

“I know the bell's going to ring any minute for supper,” Celia agreed, following her friend down the hallway to the bathroom.

Mandie hastily washed up. “I sure hope we can find out who wrote those letters,” she said.

“Me, too,” Celia replied, washing her face and hands. “I'd like to know who those diamonds belonged to. It's really sad when you think about finding those old letters and then finding the diamond rings and the handkerchief with the picture. They must have really been in love, and for some reason they never got married.”

Mandie dusted off her shoes. “I'm going to have to change if we have time,” she said. “My dress is dirty around the hem from digging in the dirt all afternoon.”

Celia inspected her own dress. “Maybe we should,” she advised. Hurriedly opening the door of the bathroom, they came face to
face with April Snow who was sitting on the window seat across the hallway from the door.

Mandie paused a second in surprise and then rushed down the hallway to their room. Celia quickly followed.

“Why was she sitting there of all places,” Mandie wondered aloud. Grabbing a clean dress from the chifferobe, she moved out of the way for Celia to get one. They quickly unbuttoned the backs of their dirty dresses and took them off, slipping the clean dresses over their heads.

“I don't know why she was there,” Celia answered, fastening her dress, “but I hope she didn't hear what we were saying in the bathroom.”

“I'll just bet she was listening at the door, and when she heard us start to leave, she probably rushed over to the window seat,” Mandie looked at Celia with concern.

“Well, let her listen. She can't figure out what we were talking about because everything is well hidden now,” Celia said.

The bell rang for supper, and the girls looked in the tall floor-length mirror in the corner. They rushed out into the hallway, unaware of the pair of eyes that watched them from behind the window draperies in the hall.

Later, as the girls left the dining room, Uncle Cal met them in the hallway. The girls stopped to talk.

“Hello, Uncle Cal,” Mandie said.

Celia smiled broadly. “I keep forgetting to tell you that I met your mother and your brother the other day when I went out to the school's farm,” she said.

“You did?” The old Negro laughed. “Phoebe, she got to go out theah tomorrow,” he said.

“Your mother seemed awfully old to be working so hard,” Celia said.

“Yessum, Missy. She be ol'. She done be workin' fo' Miz Prudence and Miz Hope for nigh onto forty-six years now,” he said.

“Forty-six years!” exclaimed Mandie as something nudged her memory. “Uncle Cal, did she work here at the school?”

“Yessum, Missy. She wuz workin' heah befo' Miz Prudence and Miz Hope gets dis house. She work heah till me and Phoebe come. Den she go to de farm,” the old man explained.

“She did!” Mandie's eyes grew wide. “And Aunt Phoebe is going to see her tomorrow. May we go, too, Uncle Cal?” Mandie asked excitedly.

Celia, realizing the impact of all this information, joined in. “We sure would like to go,” she said.

“Y'all hafta aks Miz Prudence or Miz Hope,” Uncle Cal said. “Phoebe, she ain't got to go till late tomorrow. Maybe suppuhtime.”

“Please tell Aunt Phoebe that we'll ask for permission to go with her,” Mandie instructed.

“I'll sho' do dat, Missy,” Uncle Cal said, continuing his way down the hallway.

“What a break!” Mandie whispered to her friend.

“Yes, if we're allowed to go,” Celia replied. “Joe is coming back tomorrow afternoon, remember?”

“We'll send him back to Grandmother's if he comes before Aunt Phoebe leaves,” Mandie suggested. “Otherwise we'll send word for him not to come. He'll understand.”

Mandie and Celia waited until they were sure those at the second sitting were finished with supper, then they went downstairs to look for Miss Hope in her office.

As they came to her opened door, they froze in shock. Miss Hope was sitting at her desk, opening the candy box with the rings in it!

They remained motionless in the dim hallway.

“Celia!” Mandie gasped.

“Miss Hope has the rings!” Celia whispered, huddling close to her friend to avoid being seen.

Miss Hope took the rings out of the box and sat there staring at them. “What in the world?” she said to herself, turning the rings over and over in her hand. She carefully examined the candy box, then looked up and saw Mandie and Celia standing in the hallway.
Quickly dropping the rings back into the box, she closed it as she rose.

“Did you girls want something?” she asked.

Mandie and Celia slowly approached her, trying to pretend they hadn't seen anything.

“Miss Hope, may we have permission to go to the farm with Aunt Phoebe tomorrow?” Mandie asked.

“To the farm? With Aunt Phoebe?” Miss Hope questioned. “Aunt Phoebe isn't leaving until late in the afternoon, and it will probably be dark by the time she gets back. I'm sure she will be gone during suppertime.”

“That's all right, Miss Hope,” Mandie replied. “We'd just like to go with her. I haven't seen the farm yet, you know.”

“I suppose you two could eat supper at the farm with Aunt Phoebe. Neither one of you has classes at that time of day. But what about your friend, Joe? Isn't he coming here tomorrow for your afternoon free period?” Miss Hope asked.

“Oh, that's all right. We'll just tell Joe we're going away for the afternoon and won't be here,” Mandie said. “He won't mind.”

“You may go if you girls promise to be on your best behavior,” Miss Hope instructed. “I know Aunt Phoebe is awfully lenient with you two.”

“Thank you, Miss Hope. You can trust us to behave like young ladies should in every way,” Mandie promised.

“Yes, Miss Hope, we will,” Celia added.

Miss Hope looked at them a little skeptically. “I'll let her know y'all are going with her,” she said.

The girls excused themselves and practically ran to their room to check on the letters and other articles in the pillowcase. Everything was as they had left it except for the missing rings.

“We might as well take all this and put it somewhere else. Obviously, someone has found it and taken the rings,” Mandie said.

The girls laid everything on their bed and slid the bureau back in place.

“I'm worried about those rings,” Mandie continued. “How in the world did Miss Hope get them?”

“I don't know, but I'd say there's no way for us to get them back,” Celia said. “Why don't we put the letters and everything else in your trunk or mine and lock it up?”

“Good idea,” Mandie agreed.

Each of the girls had a small trunk sitting in the corner of their room.

Mandie took the pillowcase full of clues over to her trunk and put everything inside. Locking it up she pinned the key inside her apron pocket. “That's got to be safe now,” she said.

“But someone has probably read the letters already,” Celia reminded her.

“And someone found our hiding place. I don't understand how Miss Hope could have the rings, but at least we know where they are. We'll just have to find out how they got there,” Mandie concluded.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

AUNT PANSY TELLS IT ALL

The next afternoon, Mandie and Celia were waiting for Joe on the veranda when he arrived in Mrs. Taft's buggy.

“Joe! Tell Ben to wait a minute,” Mandie called as Joe alighted from the buggy.

Joe did as she said and then quickly ran up the steps. “What's the matter?” he asked.

“Wait till you hear our news!” Mandie began.

“Sit down a minute,” Celia said, motioning toward the porch swing.

Mandie tried to choose her words carefully. “Joe, would you mind going back with Ben? We're going away this afternoon,” Mandie said.

Joe looked puzzled. “Where?” he asked.

“We're going to the school farm with Aunt Phoebe in a little while,” Mandie explained. “Let me tell you what's going on.”

The three sat in the swing while Mandie related the events of the day before. She told him about the rings turning up on Miss Prudence's desk, and the fact that Uncle Cal's mother had worked for the Scotts.

Joe listened intently. “Couldn't I go to the farm with you?” he asked.

“No, I'm sure they wouldn't allow that,” Mandie replied. “We told Miss Hope we didn't think you'd mind going back to Grandmother's.
I wish you could go with us, but if you can come back tomorrow afternoon, we'll let you know everything we find out.”

Joe pretended to be hurt. “This isn't fair!” he teased. “I'm working on this mystery, too.” He laughed and flipped Mandie's long blonde hair.

“I know, Joe. But if we start asking for too many favors, Miss Hope might decide we can't go,” Mandie explained.

Just then, Aunt Phoebe came out the door and put her hands on her hips. “Come on, Missies, we'se ready to go,” she told the girls.

Mandie and Celia quickly rose and followed her into the house.

“We'll see you tomorrow afternoon, Joe,” Mandie called back. “I'm sorry you can't go.”

“So am I,” Joe said, looking a little dejected as he walked down the steps to join Ben in the buggy again.

The girls followed Aunt Phoebe out the back door where the rig was waiting, and soon they were on their way to the farm.

Aunt Phoebe shook her head. “I don't know why y'all wants to miss dat suppuh at de school to go to de country and eat beans and cornbread,” she said as she urged the horse down the country road.

“Beans and cornbread? That's the best food I know of,” Mandie said excitedly. “I haven't had that kind of a supper since I lived with my father in Swain County.”

Celia frowned. “Is that all we'll have, Aunt Phoebe?” she asked.

“Well, reckon we mought have buttermilk and some sweet cake,” the old woman told her.

“That sounds better.” Celia smiled.

Mandie's head was full of questions. “What's Uncle Cal's mother's name?” she asked.

“Huh name be Pansy—Aunt Pansy Jones,” Phoebe replied.

“Pansy? That's a beautiful name. Is Jones your last name, too?” Mandie asked.

“It sho' be. It be Jones evuh since I got hitched up with Cal,” the Negro woman said. “And dat be a long time ago.”