Mandie Collection, The: 4 (40 page)

“No, Celia, we can’t ask him. We won’t even go out there until after everyone is in bed,” Mandie said. “Besides, he doesn’t believe the tree really moves. Remember what he said about Olga telling tales?”

Jonathan came rushing up behind them just then.

“You girls sure did get ready fast,” he said. “I thought I’d beat you downstairs.”

Mandie told him about their plans to watch the tree after everyone had retired for the night. He sounded interested.

“Sure I’ll go,” he said. “In fact, you girls had better not go without me.” He smiled mischievously.

Mandie heard someone behind them, and glanced back in time to see Rupert right at their heels. Evidently he had been following quietly, so as not to be detected.

Mandie boldly turned around and asked, “Are you on the way downstairs to dinner, Rupert?”

“Of course I am. Where do you think I would be going?” he asked sullenly as he brushed past them and hurried ahead.

When they arrived at the drawing room, everyone was ready to go in to dinner.

Mandie found herself seated next to Rupert, and was frustrated because she couldn’t talk to her friends without him hearing everything.

The baroness spoke rapidly in German to her grandson and Rupert replied. Frau Jahn stood by listening and frowning. Mandie also noticed her shake her head in silence, and her lips tighten in apparent anger. But the baroness seemed to be in a good mood and happy with everyone.

Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton spoke to each other, and Mandie saw them look at the baroness and then at Rupert. Uncle Ned was seated on the other side of Rupert.

The baroness suddenly stood up and made a remark to the housekeeper. Frau Jahn said, smiling, “The baroness wishes to inform you
that Fraulein Elsa Wagner will be arriving tonight to stay a few days. She is the fiancee of the baroness’s grandson, here present.”

Everyone turned and smiled at the baroness.

He’s engaged to be married!
Mandie thought, swiftly remembering the flirtatious way Rupert conducted himself around other girls.
Well, it is a good idea for that Elsa Wagner to come and check up on him!

As soon as the meal was over, everyone returned to the drawing room. The adults carried on a conversation with the assistance of Frau Jahn. The young people sat together almost in silence, because Rupert chose a seat near them.

When Mandie suggested they walk outside for some fresh air, he suddenly decided to accompany them.

Once outside, Rupert quickly disappeared into the woods without any explanation.

As they watched him go, Mandie suggested, “We might as well go look at that tree while we’re out here.”

The tree did not appear to have moved.

“I don’t believe that tree has ever moved. How could it?” Jonathan declared.

“Well, we’ll just come back out here later and watch for a while,” Mandie said. “I’d like to find out where the rumor started anyway. Let’s go find Olga and talk to her.”

They went back inside the castle, but when they finally located Olga, she wouldn’t say anything more about the tree, except that it had been seen to jump up and down.

“And you didn’t see it yourself?” Mandie asked in an upstairs hallway.

“No, miss, never, but other people have,” the maid insisted.

“What other people?” Mandie asked. “Tell us who these other people are.”

“Well, I shouldn’t, but I will tell you. One person who saw it was the new maid, the French one named Yvette,” Olga explained.

“With the long black hair?” Jonathan asked.

“And does Yvette live in a cottage in the woods?” Mandie asked before Olga could answer Jonathan.

“A cottage in the woods?” Olga suddenly withdrew, frowning. “No, miss, she has a room upstairs.”

Olga left them abruptly. The three young people looked at each other in puzzlement.

“Maybe the woman doesn’t live in the cottage. Maybe she was just out there for some reason,” Celia suggested.

“The one we saw may not be the girl named Yvette,” Jonathan said.

“I just feel that it is the same girl,” Mandie said. “Let’s see if we can find her. We don’t have to let her know that Olga told us she was the one who had seen the tree jump.”

So they began a search through the castle for the maid named Yvette.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE SECRET IN THE WELL

The three young people looked for Yvette, but the inside of the castle was growing dark as night came. In some places the corridors were so dimly lit that it was hard for them to see their way around. Once in a while they saw a servant hurrying about on chores.

Then suddenly they came upon double doors in a hallway, and as Jonathan pushed them open they found themselves in complete blackness.

“Oh, let’s go back!” Celia exclaimed as she stopped short.

Mandie stood still, trying to see ahead. “We sure need some kind of light,” she said.

“I don’t think Yvette would be in this part of the castle anyway, because it seems to be all dark from here on,” Jonathan told the girls.

“We’ll just have to come back here in the daytime when there’s enough light to see,” Mandie decided as she turned to go back.

“How are we going to find it again?” Celia asked as the three started down the corridor the way they had come.

“I have lost all sense of direction,” Jonathan said.

“We could stop and look out a window from one of the rooms in this hallway and see what’s outside. Then when we do come back up here, we would have some idea as to what part of the castle we’re in,” Mandie reasoned.

As she spoke, Mandie led the way into a room nearby and the three hurried over to a window, guided by the faint light from the hallway. They pulled back the curtain. It appeared they were above the front doorway.

“Look at all the lights outside!” Mandie exclaimed. “I don’t remember seeing that many last night when Senator Morton and I got here.”

“But there is someone special coming tonight, remember, Mandie? Rupert’s fiancee,” Celia reminded her.

“I wonder what time she is expected?” Jonathan remarked as they looked down into the yard.

“No one spoke of a time,” Mandie replied. “I listened at the table. Frau Jahn just said the baroness told her Elsa Wagner would be here tonight.”

“Do you suppose she is already here?” Celia asked.

“She could have arrived while we’ve been going through the castle,” Jonathan said. “I think we ought to find our way back downstairs.”

“Yes. Let’s go find out,” Mandie decided.

The three hadn’t gone very far down the corridor when they spied Olga rushing down a cross hall.

“Olga!” Mandie called to her as she hurried to catch up with the maid.

Olga stopped and looked in their direction. “Yes, miss?” she said.

“Do you know if Rupert’s fiancee has arrived yet?” Mandie asked as the three reached the cross hall.

“No, miss, but she is due anytime now. So I must hurry,” Olga replied as she quickly disappeared down another intersecting corridor.

“Why don’t we go camp out somewhere near the front door and watch for her?” Mandie suggested.

“Yes, I’d like to see what she looks like,” Celia agreed.

“It might be interesting to see what kind of girl would marry that Rupert,” Jonathan said with a smile.

They rushed down one corridor after another until they finally found themselves in the section where their rooms were located.

“Now we know where we are,” Mandie remarked. “The stairs are in that direction.” She pointed ahead.

“Right,” Jonathan agreed.

After getting down to the first floor they finally located the front door, or the door through which they had come when they arrived. To Mandie it seemed to be in the back of the castle, but then this wasn’t an ordinary house.

“We could sit on that bench over there and watch for a while,” Mandie said, leading the way to a long bench by a table at one side of the huge doorway.

They didn’t have long to wait before they heard a carriage pulling up outside. Then suddenly servants seemed to come from everywhere as they all rushed toward the door. The tall, slender butler hurried to throw open the front door, Frau Jahn standing by his side.

No one seemed to notice the young people, and now they stood up and moved a little closer to the door. Two different female voices could be heard outside.

“Hurry now, Elsa,” a woman was saying in English.

“Oh, Aunt Wilhelmina, I am so tired and crumpled,” a younger female voice replied.

The butler moved forward as the two women approached the doorway. “Guten Abend, Gnadige Frau Schiller, Fraulein Wagner,” he greeted them. “We await your presence.”

“Good evening,” the older woman replied as she stepped through the doorway, followed by the younger woman.

Frau Jahn gave a courteous nod and said, “Gnadige Frau Schiller, Fraulein Wagner, I will show you to your suite where you may refresh yourselves, and then the Baroness Geissler will be waiting for you in the drawing room.”

“Ja, danke,” the older woman replied.

The three young people shrank back into the shadows of the hallway as the housekeeper led the two women down the hallway. Both of the new guests were enveloped in full dark cloaks, and it was impossible to see their faces from where Mandie and her friends stood watching.

The servants hurriedly followed the ladies with their many pieces of luggage from the carriage. And suddenly the hallway was empty except for the three young people.

“Well, what were they saying, Jonathan? Could you understand those German words?” Mandie asked.

“Simple. The butler merely greeted them with ‘Good evening,

Madam Schiller, Miss Wagner.’ Then the older woman said, ‘Yes, thank you.’ That was all,” the boy explained.

“The woman must be the girl’s aunt, since she called her Aunt Wilhelmina. I wonder why her mother didn’t come with her,” Celia remarked.

“Maybe her mother is deceased—or something,” Mandie said, and then quickly added, “We should have watched to see where their rooms are. Let’s go!”

She led the way down the corridor and up the stairs, her friends close behind. At the top they paused to look around and listen. There was no one in sight, and not a sound to be heard.

“Maybe they went in the opposite direction,” Jonathan suggested as they stood there. “Our rooms are that way.” He pointed to the left. “And they could have gone that way.” He pointed right.

“Right,” Mandie agreed as she quickly led them in the opposite direction.

Although they went up and down corridors and listened at doorways, they couldn’t locate the new guests.

“If we go back to the top of the stairs and wait, they will probably come back down that way to meet the baroness in the drawing room,” Mandie told her friends.

“Mandie, there are several sets of stairs in this castle. You know that,” Jonathan reminded.

“I know, but the stairs we use seem to be the ones everyone else goes up and down,” Mandie replied.

“Mandie, your grandmother is probably wondering where we are, and when the new guests go to the drawing room we should be there to be introduced,” Celia told her.

“Oh, yes, you’re right,” Mandie agreed with a sigh. “We’d better go back to the drawing room.”

The young people walked three abreast down the hallway toward the stairs. As Mandie led them through double dividing doors to a connecting corridor, a young girl was coming from the other hallway and they collided.

“
Pardon!
” the girl exclaimed in French as she glanced at Mandie.

“Please excuse me,” Mandie replied. “I believe it was my fault.” She looked at the young lady, dressed in a dark, ruffled dress. Her
thick dark hair was piled high on her head, and her dark eyes looked curiously at Mandie and her friends.

“So be it,” the girl replied, and turned to go on.

“My name is Amanda Shaw, Mandie for short, and these are my friends, Celia Hamilton and Jonathan Guyer,” Mandie quickly said.

The other girl didn’t even turn to look at her again, but hurried on down the corridor.

Mandie murmured to her friends, “Rupert’s fiancee certainly doesn’t have any manners.”

“We’d better go on down to the drawing room, Mandie,” Jonathan said.

“Yes, and then she’ll have to stand still long enough to be introduced to us,” Mandie agreed.

The night had grown chilly and a fire was roaring in the huge fireplace in the drawing room. Evidently Elsa’s aunt had gone on down ahead of the girl, because she was already seated, and Baroness Geissler was introducing Elsa Wagner to Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton, with Frau Jahn’s help. Elsa was standing before them as the young people paused in the doorway.

Mrs. Taft spoke to the girl, “I am pleased to meet you, dear.”

Elsa merely nodded her head and took a seat nearby as Senator Morton said, “It is indeed a pleasure to meet you, Miss Wagner.”

The young people walked on into the room and Mrs. Taft saw them.

“Oh, Amanda, please come over here,” Mrs. Taft said to her granddaughter.

“You must meet Rupert’s fiancee.” She beckoned to the young people. “And you, too, Celia and Jonathan.”

When Mandie and her friends approached Mrs. Taft, Mandie glanced at Elsa. The girl was not even looking at them.

“Miss Wagner, this is my granddaughter, Amanda Shaw, and her friends Celia Hamilton and Jonathan Guyer,” Mrs. Taft said, looking at the young girl.

Elsa Wagner turned to glance at the three and merely nodded her head, then immediately spoke rapidly in German to Baroness Geissler. Whatever she said, the older woman laughed and then replied something else they could not understand.

Mrs. Taft looked slightly upset as she caught Senator Morton’s look and raised her eyebrows. Elsa’s aunt sat silently watching.

Mandie looked at her friends and frowned. Celia quickly went to sit on a settee near the senator, and Mandie and Jonathan followed. The three sat there gazing at Elsa, not understanding a word she was saying to the baroness.

Frau Jahn evidently had noticed the exchange among the American guests. She smiled at Mrs. Taft and said softly, as Elsa continued to talk to the baroness, “She is tired. Long journey she has had today.”