Leppard, Lois Gladys - [Mandie 04] Read Online Free PDF Page B

by the window. She tore open the envelope and excitedly shared her letters with her friend. Everyone was well, and everyone hoped Mandie was enjoying the school. They all said they missed her and hoped she’d soon come home, at least for a visit.
    But April wasn’t through with Mandie.

Chapter 4 - Young Gentlemen Callers
    The next morning, Mandie’s shawl was missing. She had hung it across the back of a chair while she read her letters, but now it wasn’t there! Both girls looked all around the room, but they couldn’t find it anywhere.
    “Thank goodness I put my letters under my pillow!” Mandie exclaimed. “Otherwise they might have disappeared, too.”
    “Do you think April took your shawl?” Celia asked.
    “I don’t know. I can’t imagine why she would do a thing like that. I sure wish Miss Prudence hadn’t made us give her our key.”
    “Are you going to tell Miss Prudence about the shawl?”
    “Not yet. Maybe whoever took it will bring it back,” Mandie replied.
    After making their bed, the girls laid their nightgowns across the foot of the bed, according to the school rule, and went downstairs.
    Later, the girls didn’t have time to think about the shawl. The students from Mr. Chadwick’s School for Boys came across town to call on all the new girls for afternoon tea.
    Miss Prudence told them it would be an opportunity for them to practice their social graces. “You will be graded on how you conduct yourselves,” she reminded them.
    Mandie wore her pale blue voile dress with white sprigsof baby’s breath scattered among its folds. Around her neck, she clasped the strand of tiny pearls Uncle John had given her as a going away present. She let her blonde curls hang free around her shoulders.
    Celia sat beside her friend in the parlor, dressed in a bright green muslin dress with a matching hair ribbon. She twisted her handkerchief and blushed at even the thought of a boy speaking to her. She wanted to hide in a corner by herself.
    “You stay right here with me, Celia,” Mandie told her. “We need each other’s support. This is just something we have to do.”
    “But Miss Prudence said each boy had drawn one of our names. There’s no telling what kind of boys we’ll end up with,” Celia protested.
    “If we don’t like them, we just won’t talk,” Mandie said.
    The girls heard the sound of horses outside, and in a few minutes Miss Prudence entered the parlor with a tall, thin man wearing spectacles.
    “Young ladies, this is Mr. Chadwick,” she told the girls. “His young men have arrived. Now, when they appear at the doorway and call your name, please rise and go outside. We will serve tea on the veranda as soon as all names have been called. Now, Mr. Chadwick, I believe we’re ready.”
    “Thank you, Miss Heathwood,” the man answered. “Excuse me, ladies.” Stepping back to the doorway, he beckoned to the first boy in line in the hall.
    The boy stood in the doorway, introduced himself as William Massey, and called, “Miss Etrulia Batson.”
    Etrulia, shy and quiet, stood up shakily. “I’m Etrulia Batson,” she said.
    William stepped forward, offered her his arm, and escorted her out of the parlor.
    The line continued. Mandie and Celia clutched each other’s hands as the tension mounted.
    A boy of medium height, with a shy smile and unruly brown curls, stepped to the doorway. “I’m Robert Rogers, and I’m looking for Miss Celia Hamilton,” he announced.
    Mandie nudged her friend, but Celia froze. “Get up,” Mandie whispered. “He called your name. Isn’t he cute?”
    Celia managed to get to her feet. She nervously smoothed the folds of her long skirt and took a deep breath. In a soft voice she replied, “I’m Celia Hamilton.”
    Robert strode forward, smiling. “I was afraid of what I’d get, and here I got the prettiest girl in the school,” he told her.
    Celia blushed. As they left the room, she saw Mandie smile at her.
    With the line dwindling, Mandie began