The Mandie Collection by Lois Gladys Leppard Page A

back.”
    â€œWhen he comes back from where, Grandmother? Where has he gone?” Mandie quickly asked.
    â€œWhy, your uncle John sent him to Asheville early this morning with information about the conference at the courthouse yesterday for John’s lawyer, Ed Wilson, dear,” Mrs. Taft replied. “And I told you I telegraphed my lawyer, too. We may need both of them before this thing is resolved.”
    Mandie realized that was possible and also that her grandmother wanted to finish writing her letters. “I’ll see you downstairs when we eat,” she said, going out the door and joining Joe in the hallway.
    â€œSnowball needs some fresh air,” Mandie told Joe. “I’ll get him and meet you on the front porch.” She went on down the hallway toward her room.
    â€œAll right,” Joe called back as he went in the opposite direction to go down the stairs.
    Mandie rushed to her room, picked up Snowball, got his leash from the bureau, and carried him down to the front porch where Joe was waiting in the swing. Sitting down beside Joe, she fastened the leash to Snowball’s collar and set him down.
    â€œWhy are you putting his leash on? He always runs free when he’s home,” Joe said.
    â€œWell, I just don’t want him running off somewhere, because I would have to go find him, and I might miss Uncle John and Uncle Ned when they come back,” Mandie said as she held on to the end of the leash.
    Snowball didn’t like the leash at all and tried to pull away from her. Now and then he looked up at her. And when Mandie gave the swing a slight push to get it moving, he began growling.
    â€œAll right, you win, Snowball,” Mandie told him as she bent down and removed his leash. “But you’d better not run off.”
    Snowball looked at her, and his ears moved as he shook his head and rushed out into the front yard. As Mandie and Joe watched, he disappeared around the corner of the house.
    Joe laughed and said, “He probably went to the back door because he could smell dinner cooking.”
    â€œYes, and Aunt Lou spoils him. I caught her feeding him while she was cooking one day. She said he didn’t have to wait and eat scraps after we finished,” Mandie said with a smile.
    Mandie and Joe sat in the swing and discussed the mystery surrounding the missing will. She was anxious to finish searching the house. Joe was only going along with her and was not in a hurry.
    â€œWe need to get finished before your father comes for you,” Mandie reminded him.
    â€œWe don’t know exactly what day he’ll be here,” Joe reminded her. “But, on the other hand, we might as well go ahead and search the rest of the house.”
    â€œWe really should have gone downtown and looked for Etta and Zack Hughes,” Mandie said as she pushed the swing. “We didn’t even get to tell Uncle John about seeing them, because he was already gone by the time we looked for him.”
    â€œIf, or I should say when, you get your father’s house, what do you plan on doing with it?” Joe asked.
    â€œDo with it?” Mandie asked in astonishment. “Keep it, of course.”
    â€œBut you can’t live in it out there by yourself,” Joe reminded her.
    â€œI’ll just keep it locked up and visit there once in a while,” Mandie said.
    â€œOh, Mandie, you are not being realistic. The yard and the land will need taking care of,” Joe told her.
    â€œI realize that,” Mandie replied. “I’ll find someone to do that for me.”
    â€œDon’t look at me. I’m not going to be responsible for the place,” Joe quickly told her.
    Mandie frowned as she looked at him and said, “Yes, and I know why. You can’t get used to the idea that I don’t have to wait until I grow up and marry you to get my father’s house back.”
    Joe quickly reached for Mandie’s hand and held it