“I don’t know of any plans my mother had,” Celia replied. “Maybe the sheriff up there is having trouble getting the sheriff here. You know they say the telephone lines are not always working properly.”
“Grandmother promised to send Ben over here as soon as she received a message,” Mandie reminded her.
When the clock struck nine-thirty, Mandie stood up and said, “You know we have to go to our room now and get ready for bed before the ten-o’clock bell rings.”
Celia stood up with a sigh and said, “Yes, I know.”
When the girls stepped out into the hallway, they met up with Miss Prudence. She stopped to ask, “Have you received any word from your mother yet, Celia?”
“No, ma’am,” Celia replied. “We’re going up to our room now. Maybe in the morning we’ll hear something.”
“If Mrs. Taft sends Ben over with a message, I’ll let you know immediately,” Miss Prudence replied.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Celia said.
They went up to their room and got ready for bed. Instead of actually getting in bed they got comfortable in the two big chairs and covered up with blankets.
“No use going to bed. I just won’t sleep,” Mandie remarked as she pulled the blanket over her in the chair.
“Neither will I,” Celia said, curling up in the other chair. “Mandie, I’m sorry this is causing so much trouble. It would probably be easier if you would just agree to go to the University of Virginia with me.”
“No, I don’t want to go to the University of Virginia. I want to go to the College of Charleston, and I want you to go with me,” Mandie said emphatically.
“I hope your grandmother and my mother can work things out,” Celia said, yawning. “I’m plumb worn out.”
“I am, too,” Mandie said, also yawning. She began to doze.
Suddenly the bell was ringing and Mandie instantly sat up and looked around. The light was still on and she glanced at the clock, six o’clock. It was morning. She had slept the whole night in the chair, and so had Celia, who was also stretching and sitting up.
Mandie stood up. “Oh, Celia, we didn’t even go to bed last night,” she said, as she headed toward the chifforobe to find clothes to put on.
Celia followed as she said, “And we didn’t get a message.”
“No, but we probably will today,” Mandie said. “Let’s get dressed and go downstairs. Maybe we’ll see Miss Prudence. She might have received a message too late to tell us.”
When they got downstairs, there was no sign of Miss Prudence or Miss Hope. And only two other girls were in the parlor. It was too early.
Finally the bell rang for breakfast and all the girls began lining up. Miss Hope was always in charge of breakfast. She came down the hallway and into the dining room as she smiled at the girls.
“Miss Hope probably wouldn’t know anything,” Mandie told Celia.
“And Miss Prudence is hardly ever seen before breakfast,” Celia added.
“So we just have to wait,” Mandie said, blowing out her breath as they joined the line.
After breakfast was finished, they had to go to a class.
“I wish we could see Miss Prudence,” Celia said, as they got their books from their room and came back downstairs to their classroom.
“I’m sure she’ll let us know when she does hear something,” Mandie replied. “I don’t dare go looking for her because it would cause us to be late for our class. So we’ll just have to wait.” She sighed loudly as they entered the classroom.
The girls had three classes that morning, one right after the other, so they did not have a chance to go looking for Miss Prudence. Then when they left the last one immediately before the noontime meal, they ran into Miss Prudence in the hallway.
“I’m sorry, young ladies, but I have not received a word from Mrs. Taft. Therefore I assume she has not been contacted by Sheriff Jones,” Miss Prudence told them as they stopped in the hall.
“We don’t have any classes this afternoon, Miss Prudence,” Mandie said. “Do you think it would be possible for us to go over to my grandmother’s house for the afternoon?”
“Of course, if you would like to do that I’ll have Uncle Cal drive you over,” Miss Prudence replied.
“Thank you, Miss Prudence,” both girls replied.
When they arrived at Mrs. Taft’s a little while later they found Ben getting ready to come to the school to get them. He had just pulled the rig up by Mrs. Taft’s front door.
Uncle Cal stopped the rig by Mrs. Taft’s in the driveway.
“Y’all done saved me a trip, dat you have,” Ben declared. “Miz Taft she want to see y’all right away.”
Mandie and Celia hurriedly jumped down from the school rig.
“Thank you, Uncle Cal,” Mandie told him as she hurried over to ask Ben some questions.
Celia thanked the old man, also, and as he went on down the circular driveway back to the road, she joined Mandie.
“Where is Grandmother?” Mandie asked Ben.
“She be awaitin’ in de parlor for me to bring y’all from de school,” Ben replied.
“Thank you, Ben,” Mandie said, leading the way in the front door and on down the hall to the parlor.
“Well, you certainly got here fast,” Mrs. Taft said as the girls came in and sat down.
“Ben didn’t come and get us. We had Uncle Cal bring us over here just as Ben was leaving. We wanted to see if you had heard anything, Grandmother,” Mandie replied.
“Yes, ma’am, have you?” Celia anxiously asked.
“Yes, I have,” Mrs. Taft replied. “Sheriff Jones came over a little while ago with a message from your mother, Celia. She says she is very sorry about the situation and would like to know our ideas as to what to do about this. She will be staying over at a friend’s house in Richmond, Mrs. Willis, who has a telephone and whom we can go down to Sheriff Jones’ office and call.”
“I’m so glad you got in touch with my mother,” Celia said.
“Have you decided what we can do?” Mandie asked.
“I need to find out from Celia’s mother exactly when she mailed the registration form to the College of Charleston, first of all, to figure out whether yours was actually late, Celia,” Mrs. Taft explained. “And if it was mailed in time to meet the deadline then we need to do something about it.”
“Like telling them they have to honor it?” Celia asked.
“Yes, they will have to honor it if it was mailed in plenty of time to get there before the cutoff date.”
“And what if it was not mailed in time, Grandmother?” Mandie asked.
“Then we need to find out if they were filled up on the deadline date,” Mrs. Taft said. “And if they weren’t, how did they go about selecting which application would be accepted.”
“It sounds complicated, but I know you will know how to handle this, Mrs. Taft,” Celia said.
“I won’t be dealing with the college myself. It will have to be done by your mother, unless she asks me to take over and untangle this mess,” Mrs. Taft said. She stood up and added, “Now let me get my hat and we will go to see Sheriff Jones.”
When they arrived at the sheriff’s office, Sheriff Jones immediately got the call through to Jane’s mother. “Here is Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Taft,” he said, handing the receiver to Mrs. Taft.
The girls listened as Mrs. Taft asked questions and discussed the matter with Mrs. Hamilton. Then she turned and held out the receiver to Celia and said, “Celia, your mother would like to say hello to you.”
“But I don’t know anything about talking on telephones,” Celia stammered, reluctantly taking the receiver.
Mandie watched and listened as Celia said a few words to her mother and then nervously handed the receiver back to Mrs. Taft.
“That’s the first time I ever talked to my mother on a telephone,” Celia said, nervously clearing her throat. “It was unreal. She’s all the way up in Virginia and we’re down here in North Carolina, and it sounded
as though she were right here in the room with us.”
Mrs. Taft finished her conversation and hung up the receiver. She smiled at Celia and said, “I see that Miss Prudence is lacking in some of her education program. She needs to get a telephone in the school and teach you young ladies how to use it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie agreed with a big smile.
“I guess so,” Celia mumbled, still nervous from her use of the sheriff’s telephone.
“Thank you, Sheriff Jones,” Mrs. Taft told him. “We will go home and discuss this matter and will be back in touch with you in order to contact Mrs. Hamilton again. Thank you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the sheriff said, opening the door for her to leave the office. “Anything I can do for you, just let me know, ma’am.”
As soon as they returned to Mrs. Taft’s house, they sat in the parlor and discussed the situation regarding the College of Charleston.
“Your mother did mail your registration papers in time to meet the deadline date the college had given her. However, it seems the college made an error in the written date they gave her. She has asked me to handle this for her since we are so much closer to the college and may have to make a visit down there, and also, Celia, they are having some very bad winter weather at your home right now.”
“Yes, ma’am, we do have lots of snow and bad weather in the winter back home,” Celia replied.
“I will write a letter tonight and get it mailed tomorrow to the college protesting their decision and explaining why. Then we’ll see what to do next. It will all depend upon their response,” Mrs. Taft told Celia.
“Oh, thank you, Mrs. Taft,” Celia said, smiling at her.
“I knew you could get everything straightened out, Grandmother,” Mandie said with a big grin.
“Now I think you girls should go on back to school in time for supper,” Mrs. Taft said. “I don’t want you staying away from school too much, Amanda.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie agreed, smiling at Celia.
“We have some studying to do tonight anyway,” Celia reminded Mandie.
Ben drove them back to school in Mrs. Taft’s rig, and they immediately went to look for Miss Prudence and found her in her office.
“Sit down, young ladies, and tell me what is happening now concerning your college,” Miss Prudence told them.
After the girls explained what they had been doing and what was going to be done, Miss Prudence frowned and said, “I’m sure whoever is running that college was not educated here in my school. I can’t imagine making such an important mistake.”
The girls smiled at each other and agreed. “Yes, ma’am.”
“We have to go study now, Miss Prudence, before suppertime,” Mandie told her as she rose from the chair.
“You don’t have much time left before suppertime, so you’d better hurry,” Miss Prudence told them.
As the girls started out the door, Mandie turned back to say, “And, oh, Miss Prudence, my grandmother thinks you should have a telephone installed here in the school.”
Miss Prudence threw up her hands and said, “Heaven forbid! That’s all the young ladies would be doing, talking on that telephone.” And then with a smile she said, “Thank you for warning me, Amanda.”
The girls immediately went to their room to study.
Mandie went over to the bureau to brush back her long blond hair. She glanced at the comb and brush and said, “Celia, we forgot to keep watch on our things to see if anyone was coming in here. My hairbrush has not been moved that I can tell.”
Celia rushed over to look at hers and said, “Mine hasn’t, either.”
“Maybe whoever was in here before is not coming back,” Mandie said. “However, I intend keeping watch on my possessions, that is, every time I can remember to do it.”
“Yes,” Celia agreed.
Mandie picked up her history book with a loud sigh and settled into one of the big chairs. She was sure her grandmother would pursue the situation until the college did accept Celia. Mrs. Taft always got whatever she went after.
CHAPTER NINE
PROBLEMS SOLVED
During the next few weeks there was a lot of correspondence between Mrs. Taft and the College of Charleston. It seemed that no one down there knew what the other one was doing. Different people replied to Mrs. Taft’s letters every time she wrote. Then she began making telephone calls and kept getting different people on the line.
One weekend when Mandie and Celia were staying with her, Mrs. Taft told them, “It seems hopeless. I may have to go down there in person to get any results. The people who answer the telephone don’t seem to know what each other is doing, or what should be done to straighten out this affair for Celia.”
“Grandmother, may we go with you? Please?” Mandie quickly asked.
“No, that is out of the question, Amanda,” Mrs. Taft replied firmly. “You cannot miss any of your classes for the rest of this school year. Remember you will be graduating in May and need to put in every hour of study that you can.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie replied with a big sigh.
“If I don’t get any results by the end of next week, I will go down there and confront these people,” Mrs. Taft told the girls.
When the end of the next week came, Mrs. Taft had not received anything and made plans to go to Charleston.
Mandie and Celia were allowed to see her off on the train. Mrs. Manning, her friend and neighbor, went with her.
“If I need to speak to anyone up here while I’m there I will call Sheriff Jones’ office and ask him to give my message,” Mrs. Taft explained to the girls as she stood on the platform with Mrs. Manning.
“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie said. “We’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
The train sat there huffing and puffing and the two ladies walked to the door of the car.
Mrs. Taft waved back at the girls and said, “And when I return we shall get a telephone in my house and also in the school.” She smiled and stepped inside the train car. Mrs. Manning followed her.
“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie said, excitedly thinking of the prospect of a telephone that she could use sometime.
As the train pulled out of the station Celia said, “Oh, Mandie, I hope we don’t get the telephone at the school before we graduate. I’m not sure I like telephones.”
“Come on,” Mandie told her as they hurried off the platform to Mrs. Taft’s rig, where Ben was waiting to drive them back to the school. “Think of all the time that could be saved by using telephones.”
“Yes, but think of all the wonderful letters people write now that just won’t be written in the future when they can simply talk into one of those telephones,” Celia replied.
When they got back to the school they met up with Miss Prudence in the front hallway.
“Did Mrs. Taft get off all right?” the lady asked. “Was the train on time?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Mandie replied. “And when she comes back we are going to get a telephone here in the school.” Mandie grinned at her.
Miss Prudence gave a big sigh, frowned, and said, “I suppose we will get a telephone if Mrs. Taft wants one here, since she owns the school now. Oh, dear, Miss Hope went off and got married and will be taken care of. Would that I were that independent. I could retire.”
“You could do the same thing, Miss Prudence,” Mandie said with a big smile. Then she worried about the effect of that remark.
“What? Oh, Amanda, I’m too old for that,” Miss Prudence said. She straightened her shoulders and said, “Now you young ladies get back to your schoolwork.”
“Yes, ma’am,” both girls replied as Miss Prudence headed down the hall toward her office.
Walking toward the main staircase, Mandie stopped and said, “I wonder if Sheriff Jones is married. He’s a nice-looking old man, you know. And I know the preacher’s wife died a long time ago. You know, Celia, we ought to look for a nice husband for Miss Prudence.” She grinned.
“Oh, Mandie
, now you are talking about trouble. I certainly don’t want to get on the bad side of Miss Prudence,” Celia replied.
“We’ll see,” Mandie replied with a secretive grin.
As they continued up the staircase Celia said, “Talking about older people getting married, I would think your grandmother would marry again, either Jonathan’s father or Senator Morton.”
“I’m not sure my grandmother would like being tied down to a husband,” Mandie replied. “She likes being the boss of everything, you know.”
In their room the girls settled down to do assignments they had been given because they had missed the morning classes by going to the depot.
When the bell in the backyard rang for the noonday meal, both girls rushed to the bureau to brush their hair. And both noticed their combs and brushes had been moved.
“Someone has been in here,” Mandie said, standing back to look at her things on the bureau.
“Yes, they have,” Celia agreed.
They quickly looked around the room but couldn’t find anything else that had been disturbed.
“I wonder why whoever it is just picks the bureau to snoop in.” Mandie said with a big sigh.
“I don’t know, but Mandie, come on. We’ll be late for the line to the dining room,” Celia urged her as she hurried to the door.
Mandie quickly put her things on top of the bureau back in the order she kept them and then rushed to join Celia. “I fixed everything back so I’ll know if someone comes in again,” she said.
Downstairs they found the twins last in line and followed behind them into the dining room. Although they were not supposed to talk in line, Mandie whispered to the girls, “What college are you all going to after you graduate here?”
The twins looked at each other, smiled, and said, “The one in Charleston, that is in the state of South Carolina.”
Mandie’s eyes grew wide as she looked at Celia. “We are going to the same college,” she whispered to the twins.
Both girls smiled and nodded as the line moved on.
When they finally got to their chairs at the table, Mandie whispered to Celia, “I wonder when they applied. It had to be before they came here because of the deadline.”
The Mandie Collection Page 21