Mandie Collection, The: 4 (25 page)

“Well, I really wanted to see if the Bagatelles are in there, and we could also look into some of the other rooms,” Mandie said.

“I hope we don’t run into Helga, not after she told us not to go into that part of the house again,” Celia said.

“I think we can avoid her,” Mandie said, opening the door and leading them down the narrow steps.

They didn’t encounter anyone along the way. Once inside the servants’ room, they closed the door.

“I just can’t figure out what the Bagatelles were looking at when we saw them in here. They were standing by the window,” Mandie said, going to look down into the yard. “And I just don’t see anything worth staring at down there.”

“I see one of the servants’ cottages over there in the trees,” Celia remarked, pointing down. “I believe it’s the one Eckart said was unoccupied, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so,” Mandie said, following her gaze. “But why would they be staring at a vacant cottage? Remember they were saying something about they thought it could be done? What could be done, I wonder?”

“If we watch them long enough, we might find out,” Jonathan said. “Let’s go find them and see what they’re doing.”

The girls agreed, and as the three quietly left the room, they heard someone coming down the hallway around the corner. They quickly darted into a nearby room and watched through a crack in the door.

It was Helga! As they watched, she went into the empty room they had been in and closed the door.

“Quick! Let’s get out of here!” Jonathan told the girls.

Mandie held Snowball tightly as they scurried down the hallway and through the dividing doors. They paused at the top of the main staircase.

“Should we check the strangers’ suite to see if they’re in there?” Mandie asked.

“Sure,” Jonathan agreed.

“But let’s be quiet,” Celia said.

As they moved silently down the hallway near the Bagatelles’ suite, they could hear the couple speaking in French. The young people slowed down and crept closer. They found the door standing open, so they peeked in. Through the doorway, they could see the man and woman doing something with a tall stand of some kind.

“What are they doing?” Mandie whispered in Jonathan’s ear.

Jonathan motioned for them to back up so they could talk. They retreated down the hallway a short distance and Mandie asked, “What was that contraption the man was standing up?”

“That contraption was a tripod for a camera,” Jonathan explained. “He was evidently setting up a camera.”

Mandie was puzzled. “That’s strange. What would he be doing with a camera like that?”

“Maybe they were going outside to take pictures,” Celia suggested.

“Maybe, but why set up the stand inside the house?” Mandie wondered.

Suddenly they heard the Bagatelles leave their suite. The three looked down the hallway and saw the strangers start toward them. The man was carrying the tripod and the woman had a large black bag in her hand.

The young people slipped into an empty room nearby to avoid being seen.

“I don’t think they saw us,” Mandie whispered to her friends as they peeked around the slightly opened door.

“There they go,” Jonathan said.

“Let’s follow them,” Mandie said.

They waited until the couple was far enough ahead, then the young people followed.

The Bagatelles went outside and around to the back of the chalet.

There, as the young people watched from the bushes, the man set up the tripod and took a camera out of the bag his wife was carrying. “We’re too close,” he said.

They picked up everything and moved away from the house. He finally found a proper place and set up the camera aimed at the center part of the house.

“The tower! They’re going to take a picture of the tower!” Mandie exclaimed.

Mandie was right. As the young people watched from behind the bushes, the strangers took a picture of the tower. Then they carefully returned the camera to the bag, picked up the tripod, and headed back around the house and through the front door. Mandie and her friends followed.

The three stopped in the yard as the Bagatelles went through the front door.

“Those people certainly do puzzle me,” Mandie said, holding on to Snowball’s leash as she let him down.

“Evidently they are interested in the tower, but why take one picture of it and then go back inside?” Jonathan said.

“I wonder what they are going to do next,” Celia said.

“Well, I certainly hope they don’t get in our way tonight when we go out on the roof,” Mandie said, looking down the pathway at two approaching figures. “Here come Grandmother and Senator Morton. It must be time to eat.”

“Did you definitely agree to try our plan tonight?” Jonathan asked quickly, before the adults drew too near.

“I suppose so,” Mandie said. “Unless we find another way to get into the tower before tonight.”

“We may not have time,” Celia said. “Remember, Uncle Ned will be back sooner or later and he’ll probably want to stay around us.”

“We’ll see,” Mandie said.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE VILLAGERS’ TALES

During the noon meal the young people were relieved that Mrs. Taft had nothing planned for them during the afternoon except for tea. Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton planned to take the pony cart out for a ride and asked the three young people to go, but Mandie and her friends declined. The adults cautioned them to behave while they were gone.

“We are going into the little village near here to look for a church,” Mrs. Taft explained as they rose from their seats around the table. “Tomorrow is Sunday and we need to go to a service somewhere. According to Mrs. Hedgewick, the Thalers attend one of the village churches.”

Mandie quickly looked at her friends. If they went to the village with the adults, they might have a chance to talk to someone about the “haunted” tower. There was a silent understanding among the three.

“We didn’t know you were going into the village, Grandmother,” Mandie told her. “I think I would like to see what’s there.”

“So would I,” Jonathan added.

“And I think it would be interesting to meet some of the local people,” Celia said.

“All right, that’s fine,” Mrs. Taft told them. “Y’all have about fifteen minutes to get freshened up while the senator has the cart brought around. And, girls, you will of course wear your bonnets. The sun
is strong enough today to put some freckles on that fair skin. Hurry now.”

The girls rushed upstairs for their bonnets and Jonathan went with the senator to get the cart.

“This might give us a chance to ask someone about the tower,” Mandie said, running up the stairs with Celia to their suite.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking, too,” Celia said.

“But we shouldn’t let Grandmother or the senator hear what we’re asking if we find anyone to talk to,” Mandie said.

They rushed into their suite and found Snowball curled up sound asleep in the middle of Mandie’s bed. He sleepily opened one eye to peer at his mistress and closed it again as he rolled up tighter.

“Are you taking Snowball?” Celia asked. She ran into her bedroom, fetched her bonnet, and returned to Mandie’s room.

“I don’t know,” Mandie said, thoughtfully looking at the kitten. “He’s asleep and he might be a lot of trouble if I take him. However, the fresh air would do him good.”

The girls stood before the mirror on the dresser and hastily put on their bonnets.

“I’ll help you take care of him if you want to take him, Mandie,” Celia offered.

“All right. Thanks,” Mandie replied. She bent across the bed and scooped up the white kitten.

Snowball yawned, stretched in her arms, and looked up at his mistress. Celia took his leash from a nearby table and hooked it to his harness while Mandie held him.

“Let’s go,” Mandie said, putting Snowball up on her shoulder as they hurried back downstairs.

They were soon on their way to the village along a hard, packed dirt road that led in a different direction from the road they had ridden on from the town that first night.

“If y’all have never been to visit the Thalers before, how do you know the way to the village?” Mandie asked Senator Morton, who was driving.

He smiled at her and said, “The housekeeper and Eckart explained that there is only one road into the village, and this is it.”

“Oh, I see,” Mandie replied, holding tight to Snowball as they bounced along.

“How far away is this village?” Jonathan asked from the back seat.

“Twenty or thirty minutes’ drive is the way Eckart explained it,” Senator Morton replied. He held on to the reins and said, “This is where they go for supplies. There’s a doctor in the village and a few shops.”

“The village is quite old,” Mrs. Taft told them. “Some of the buildings were probably built over a hundred—or maybe two hundred—years ago.”

“It sounds interesting,” Mandie said, becoming excited about the prospect of seeing the local architecture. She was always fascinated by the age of everything in Europe. Most of the houses had been built before the United States became a country.

They soon came to small, old houses scattered along the way. As the settlement grew thicker, they saw people walking along the road and children playing. Some of the buildings were large structures of old stones. Some were well-kept and some in a sad disrepair. Steeples of churches rose above the mass of shops and dwellings, and the young people began counting the churches.

“I see at least six steeples,” Mandie remarked as they bumped over the cobblestones of the main village street. “Why are there so many churches in such a small village?”

“Switzerland has several different nationalities and several different religions. Most people here are Protestant or Catholic, but there are many other religious groups,” Senator Morton explained. He drew the cart up in front of a small stone church and continued, “Every different denomination must have its own place to worship. You’ll understand as we look around.”

They alighted from the cart and began their tour of the village. The local people secretly stared at them, but tried to give the impression that they were ignoring the Americans. Mandie noticed this right away and drew her friends’ attention to it.

“Everyone is curious about us, but they don’t want us to see them staring,” Mandie whispered to Celia and Jonathan as she walked along between them. She had to hold Snowball tightly in her arms because he struggled to get down.

“So I noticed,” Celia said, softly.

“We don’t have to whisper,” Jonathan said. “I’m pretty sure no one can hear us because they’re keeping so far away from us.”

Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton stopped ahead of them. Mrs. Taft turned back to say, “Y’all come on. We’re going into this church.” She pointed to a small stone building in front of them.

The young people hurried on and followed the adults through the arched doorway of the building. The interior was dark except for sunlight coming through a few narrow slits of windows. Several stone benches sat in front of a tiny altar, which was covered by a brightly colored embroidered cloth. There was a small door in a far corner. The floor was made of stone, but was spotless.

Mandie shivered as she looked around. “Whew! It feels cold in here!”

“Yes, and imagine having to sit on one of those cold stone benches through a long sermon,” Celia replied.

Mrs. Taft walked around the room with the senator and then remarked, “I don’t believe there is anyone about.”

“Maybe the minister lives in the cottage next door,” Senator Morton suggested.

“We’ll go find out,” Mandie quickly told her grandmother.

Mrs. Taft looked at her granddaughter and said, “We should all go.”

“We could have a moment of silent prayer here while the young people go ask about the minister,” the senator told her.

Mrs. Taft smiled at him and said, “You’re right.” She turned back to Mandie. “You may go next door now, nowhere else. And you are to come back immediately. This is a strange place to us and I don’t want anyone to get lost.” Then she added, “And, Amanda, whatever you do, don’t let that cat get loose. We’d never find him.”

“Yes, ma’am,” chorused the three young people as they rushed out the church door.

Without discussing the matter among themselves, they immediately ran to the small stone cottage next to the church. The front door was standing open and they could see inside. The furnishings were old and meager, and it seemed to have only one room. An old woman with a book in her lap dozed in a chair.

Mandie knocked on the door frame and called, “Excuse me, ma’am, but we are looking for the minister of the church next door.”

The old woman woke with a startled gasp as she saw the three standing in the doorway. She blinked her eyes and pushed herself to her feet using the arms of the chair. Toddling toward them, she stared at Snowball in Mandie’s arms.

The young people smiled at her, but she stood silently before them, staring.

“Does the minister of the church next door live here?” Jonathan asked.

The woman looked at him, but still didn’t reply.

Jonathan quickly repeated what he said, this time in French, and the woman’s face brightened in understanding. She responded in French. Mandie and Celia squirmed as they listened to the conversation, unable to understand a word that was being said.

Finally Jonathan turned back to the girls and said, “She says he does live here, but he is out visiting some sick parishioners. Today is Saturday, and that is the day he makes his rounds in the country.”

“Quick, Jonathan,” Mandie said breathlessly, “ask her if she knows anything about the tower in the Thalers’ house. Quick!”

Jonathan spoke again in French to the woman and she frowned. She replied in a slower, more emphatic voice. Mandie and Celia watched and tried to decipher some of the French.

When the woman paused, Jonathan told the girls, “She says everyone knows about the tower. Many, many years ago, before anyone living now was ever born, a beautiful young maiden lived with her parents in the chalet. The girl fell in love with a young man who was beneath her family’s station in life and they forbid the marriage—”