Read Online The Mandie Collection by Lois Gladys Leppard - Free Book Online Page B

“She’s like I am—a little too old to go running up and down three flights of steps.”
    Again Mr. Bond took charge. “We should look in every room, behind all the doors, under the beds and any other place large enough to hide under,” he told the young people.
    Mandie knew this would be no small task. The three-story house also had an attic that would need to be checked. Each floor had a centerhallway plus a cross hallway, and so many rooms that Mandie didn’t even know how many there were.
    The search party began in the parlor and then split up, with Mandie and Liza going one direction, while Joe and Mr. Bond went another.
    Many of the rooms had not been occupied in years. As the doors were opened, the hinges creaked, and a musty odor filled the air.
    In one of the rooms, Mandie batted at a large cobweb in disgust. “What this house needs is a good cleaning,” she told Liza.
    â€œMr. Shaw say don’t bother de rooms that ain’t used ’cept when extra comp’ny comes,” Liza defended herself. “And it take whole lot of comp’ny to fill up dis house, maybe a hunnerd people.”
    â€œI suppose so,” Mandie said, looking under a high four-poster bed in an unoccupied room. “It’d take twenty maids to keep this place clean all the time. I don’t see why my great-grandfather built such a big house.”
    â€œBut Aunt Lou say dere used to be lots of Shaws,” Liza replied. “Now de only Shaw living is Mr. John Shaw, ’cept you. And when you git married to dat doctuh boy, your name won’t be Shaw no more.”
    Mandie blushed in spite of herself and turned to pull the door shut as she and Liza left the room. “Liza, you know I’m nowhere near old enough to talk about getting married,” Mandie said. “Now keep your mind on what we’re doing.”
    Liza grinned. “When de time come, you gwine to marry dat doctor boy. Jes’ you wait and see.”
    Mandie led the way to the next room. “You must think you’re a fortuneteller or something,” she grumbled. “Come on. We’ve got to hurry and find Hilda and Snowball. If we can’t find them in here, we’ll have to look outside. And if they’re out there, they might freeze to death. Every second counts.”
    Joe and Mr. Bond arrived at the stairs to the attic just before the girls. Walking ahead, they opened the attic door. Mandie and Liza were right behind them. Suddenly something white and furry swept past their legs from inside the attic. Everyone was startled.
    Mandie whirled around. “Snowball!” she exclaimed. There at the bottom of the steps stood the white kitten, looking at them. Mandie turned back to the others. “Hilda must have brought him up here,” she said. “Maybe she’s here, too.”
    As they entered the attic, Mandie squinted in the dim light. The small windows gave little light since it was snowing outside.
    â€œI’ll get the lamp from the hall table downstairs,” Joe volunteered. He ran down to get it and quickly returned.
    Mr. Bond took a box of matches from his pocket and lit the lamp. As he held the lamp high, the others followed him around the attic between discarded furniture, old trunks, boxes, and odds and ends that had accumulated over the years.
    â€œNobody here,” Jason Bond announced as they arrived back at the doorway.
    Joe scratched his head. “But how did Snowball get in here?” he asked. “Liza, do you know if anybody has been up here today for any reason?”
    â€œNo, no, no!” Liza exclaimed. “Ain’t nobody ever come up heah. Too spooky.”
    Mr. Bond headed downstairs. “I suppose Hilda has gone outside,” he said, “so we might as well get our coats back on.”
    Blowing out the lamp, he set it on the table where it belonged. Mandie picked up Snowball, and they all made their way back to the front