The Mandie Collection Read Online Free

there.”
    â€œThank you for inviting us, Miss Heathwood.” Mr. Chadwick returned the greeting amidst the murmured thanks from his students.
    Mandie’s heart beat faster.
    Celia leaned over to her. “My hands are all wet,” she whispered.
    Tommy Patton and Robert Rogers were among the first to enter the parlor. Together, they spotted Mandie and Celia right away.
    â€œHello, Miss Amanda. How are you?” Tommy greeted Mandie with a smile. Then under his breath he added, “We have been admonished to mind our manners.”
    Mandie grinned mischievously, going along with him. “Fine, thank you,” she said quite properly. “And how are you, Mr. Thomas?”
    â€œSorry, Miss Celia,” Robert began, “but you heard Mr. Thomas. We have to keep this thing formal today per instructions from our headmaster, Mr. Chadwick. So I am supposed to ask how you are. And how are you, Miss Celia?”
    Celia laughed nervously. “I am fine, Mr. Robert,” she replied. “And I hope you are the same. Please have a seat.”
    â€œYes, do,” Mandie said. She and Celia moved closer together to give the boys room to sit on the long settee with them.
    Their conversation continued on, stilted and unnatural, because Mr. Chadwick and Miss Prudence were keeping close watch on their students. Mandie and Tommy talked about Tommy’s home in Charleston, South Carolina, which Mandie and her parents had visited. Mandie had seen the ocean for the first time then. Celia and Robert joined in with a question or comment here and there, but the other two did most of the talking.
    Millie, the dining room maid, and the extra maids hired for this get-together came in with tea trays and began serving.
    Mandie accepted the dainty cup of hot tea and frowned. “I don’t see why we can’t have cocoa or something other than tea,” she protested to her friends.
    Celia laughed. “But then it wouldn’t be afternoon tea,” she said. “It would be afternoon hot cocoa.”
    They all laughed and the cups wobbled in the two girls’ hands.
    â€œI agree with Mandie,” Robert said. “Not everyone likes hot tea.”
    â€œI suppose we’re stuck with hot tea, though, until we grow up and can serve what we want in our own homes,” Tommy remarked.
    At that moment Celia screamed and spilled her tea. Teacups all around the room clattered, and other girls screamed. An uninvited visitor had startled everyone.
    Snowball walked nonchalantly up to Mandie with a live mouse in his mouth and sat down.
    â€œSnowball!” Mandie cried, lifting her feet. “Snowball, go away!”
    â€œGet, Snowball!” Celia scolded the white kitten. “Get away from here!”
    Snowball looked up at his mistress as if not understanding her reaction to his bringing her the treasure he had caught.
    Mandie gave him a little shove with her toe. Snowball quickly let go of the mouse, and it ran under the Christmas tree. Snowball disappeared through the doorway.
    All the other students hurried out of the parlor and gathered in the hallway.
    â€œLet me see if I can find that mouse,” Tommy volunteered. He stooped under the tree and shook various ornaments, hoping to scare the mouse from its hiding place. But nothing happened.
    Miss Prudence walked up to Mandie. “How did that cat get out of your room?” she demanded. “I told you he would not be allowed anywhere else.”
    â€œI-I’m sorry, Miss Prudence,” Mandie told her. “We were certain we shut the door when we left our room.”
    â€œSnowball was down here in the parlor last night, too,” Celia said. “And I know we closed the door then. Evidently, somebody is letting him out.”
    â€œApril Snow is the only one not present here,” Miss Prudence said. “April Snow.” She tapped her foot impatiently. “Let me check on her.”
    As Miss Prudence left the room,