The Mandie Collection by Lois Gladys Leppard Read Free Book Online

of that chocolate cake I saw Mrs. Miller making,” Joe said to Mandie.
    â€œChocolate cake!” Mandie exclaimed. “Me too.” Then she turned to Dr. Woodard and said, “You know, Dr. Woodard, I really need Joe to help me finish searching the attic, and we haven’t even started on the cellar.”
    Dr. Woodard smiled at her and said, “We’ll see.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    AT THE COURTHOUSE
    Mandie woke with the sound of the chickens the next morning, and when she looked over in the other bed, she was surprised to see her grandmother had evidently gotten up, made up the bed, and gone downstairs. Snowball stood up on her bed, stretched, and yawned.
    â€œWell, well!” Mandie said to herself as she tumbled out of the huge bed and reached for her clothes. On the previous evening she had laid out everything she planned to wear. “I wonder if everybody else is up.”
    She hurriedly dressed while her white cat watched, and then she scooped him off the bed and put him on the floor. “Come on, Snowball,” she told him as she opened the door. “Time to eat.” She looked back, and Snowball raced past her legs and down the hallway.
    As she followed her cat, Mandie smelled bacon frying and coffee perking. Suddenly she was starving. She rushed down the stairs. Snowball had already disappeared. Upon reaching the downstairs hallway, she could hear voices in the parlor.
    â€œShucks!” she said to herself. “Must not be time to eat yet.” She walked to the parlor door and looked in. Everyone was there, even Uncle Ned, who had not returned when she went to bed the night before.
    Joe spotted her and called as he went over to the doorway, “Well,come on in, sleepyhead. It’s about time you got up.” He grinned at her. “You’re holding up breakfast.”
    â€œHolding up breakfast?” Mandie asked as she stepped into the room. Uncle Ned, Uncle John, Mrs. Taft, and Dr. Woodard seemed to be in a deep conversation and did not look up when she came in.
    Mrs. Woodard had heard Joe’s remark and rose from her chair as she said, “Don’t let Joe tease you, dear. You are not holding up breakfast. I was just fixing to go check with Mrs. Miller and see about it. I’ll be right back.”
    As Mrs. Woodard left the room, Mandie went to sit on a stool near the adults. Joe followed and sat on the carpet.
    Mrs. Taft saw her and said, “I didn’t want to wake you until the last minute, dear. You needed to get some rest after that long journey yesterday.”
    â€œI’m not tired now, Grandmother, but I am hungry,” Mandie said with a smile.
    Uncle Ned looked at her as the men paused in their conversation and said, “Braves gone to Tennessee now.”
    â€œThank you, Uncle Ned. I don’t know what I’d ever do without you to help me out,” Mandie said, smiling up into his old face.
    Uncle John got up and moved to a chair closer to Mandie. He looked serious and thoughtful, and Mandie wondered what was going on. He reached to hold her hand and said in a low voice, “Are you ready to go through this hearing, Amanda? You probably haven’t stopped to think about it, but your stepmother will be there. You won’t let her presence upset you, will you?”
    Mandie’s heart cut capers as she remembered how mean the woman had been to her and to her father. And all the time, Mandie had thought she was her mother until her father died and Uncle Ned helped her find the way to Uncle John’s house. She wasn’t sure how she would feel to face the woman again.
    â€œWill you?” Uncle John repeated.
    Mandie suddenly felt tears fill her eyes and couldn’t speak. Uncle John reached to put an arm around her shoulders as he pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to her.
    â€œJust remember she doesn’t have any hold over you anymore,” John Shaw said as Mandie wiped her eyes. “There is nothing