The Mandie Collection (70 page)

Jonathan smiled. “I do hope I will be permitted to stay with all of you while you're in Europe. It would be such fun to show you around,” he told the girls.

“I hope you can, too,” Mandie replied as Celia added, “I do, too.”

Once in the carriage again, they settled down for the rest of the trip to Paris. As they drove off, Mandie noticed another carriage pull in and stop in front of the hotel. Glancing back, she saw the same three dark-haired girls emerge from the vehicle, along with the man and woman who accompanied them everywhere.

Mandie sighed. “There they are again.”

“I just wish we could turn around and follow them,” Celia commented.

“Now that would be fun,” Jonathan added. “Maybe they'll catch up and pass us somewhere.”

But they didn't see the girls again that day. The sun gradually slipped down in the west and dimmed the day into darkness. All they could see was the faint lamplight in the cottages they passed.

Mandie looked into the darkness. “Oh, shucks! I wish we could have gotten to Paris before dark.”

“You'll have all day tomorrow to see it, dear,” Mrs. Taft told her. “We plan to find Jonathan's aunt and uncle in the morning, and then spend the rest of the day sightseeing.”

“And don't forget how many countries we're going to visit,” Senator Morton reminded them. “We'll be in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, if our plans work out.”

“I'm just breathless with excitement!” Celia enthused.

“We'll really have something to tell those girls back at school!” Mandie exclaimed. Then a thought crossed her mind about school. “Celia! Do you know what's going to happen?”

“No. What?” Celia asked.

“Miss Prudence will probably ask us to write a report on our journey!” Mandie groaned.

“But that won't be hard to do if you girls keep up with your journals,” Jonathan said.

“Yes, I'm going to start a habit of writing in my journal the last thing every night before I go to bed,” Mandie decided. “That way I'll be able to cover the whole day's activities.” She shifted Snowball onto the seat next to her, and he curled up in a ball to continue his nap.

“Then all we'll have to do is copy out of our journals for the report,” Celia enthused.

Suddenly the whole sky seemed to light up before them. Mandie and Celia leaned on the open window to see ahead.

“Is something on fire?” Mandie asked.

Jonathan stood and bent over the girls' heads to see out.

“No,” he said. “It's
la ville de la lumière
.”

“The what?” Mandie asked, looking at him.

“The city of lights,” he explained. “Paris has so many electric lights the French call it
la ville de la lumière
.”

“That glow is from electric lights? There must be a million of them!” Mandie exclaimed. She turned back to watch the road ahead.

Mrs. Taft paused in her conversation with Senator Morton. “There just may be a million of them, dear,” she told her granddaughter. “They have electric lights in most of the theatres, stores, the railway station, and even on the national monuments—not to mention the street lights.”

As they approached the city, Mandie and Celia eagerly clung to the open window, in order not to miss a thing.

“A river!” Celia exclaimed as they neared water.

The carriage turned and they drove alongside it. “That's the River Seine,” Jonathan told them.

The lights illuminated the crowds of people, the many, many shops, sidewalk cafes, parks, and impressive buildings. The girls were so excited they couldn't think of anything else to say. They could only breathe “oh” and “ah” as the city unfolded before them.

Mrs. Taft, sitting on the opposite side of the carriage, drew their attention to the view from her window, “Look, girls, what do you suppose that tall structure is over there?” she asked with a teasing smile.

The girls jumped to the other side of the carriage and gazed outside.

“The Eiffel Tower!” Mandie and Celia exclaimed together. They squeezed each other's hand. “Wow!” Mandie added. “It's bigger than I thought it would be.”

“Look at all the lights on it!” Celia cried.

“Do you girls know the story of the Tower?” Senator Morton asked.

The girls pulled their heads back inside. “Not really,” Mandie said. “I do know it's the tallest metal structure in the world.”

Celia nodded. “And it was built for France's 1889 World's Fair,” she said. “Mandie and I are one year older than it is.”

“You are both correct,” the senator agreed. “It was designed by the same man who engineered the structural framework of our Statue of Liberty. You know, of course, that the statue was given to us by France. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel is still living, by the way. He's about sixtyeight years old, I believe.”

Jonathan's black eyes sparkled. “You can see the Eiffel Tower from all over Paris,” he added. “And they say there are so many visitors from other countries that you can hear almost every language in the world spoken there.”

“Thank goodness we're almost to our hotel,” Mrs. Taft said, changing the subject. “We seem to be moving at a snail's pace.”

Snowball stretched and yawned, and then began his usual ritual of washing himself after a nap.

Mandie patted her kitten's head. “We'll soon be out of this bumpy, pokey carriage, Snowball,” she said. “Where are we staying, Grandmother?”

“The Hotel Rochambeau,” Mrs. Taft replied. “It's in the center of practically everything we want to see. And it's a clean, well-maintained place.”

The carriage began to move a little faster. “Are we going to the hotel now for the night?” Mandie asked. “Are we not going to look around first?”

“It's late, Amanda,” Mrs. Taft said. “You don't realize it because the French people eat late in the evening and stay up all hours of the night. And we're used to doing things earlier.”

Mandie peered out the window of the carriage again. “But it's still light, Grandmother,” she said.

“The electric lights make it seem that way. Once you leave the main streets it is dark.”

“But we're on vacation,” Mandie persisted. “Couldn't we take a little walk after we check into the hotel? Please?”

Mrs. Taft glanced at the senator. “We older people like to relax awhile in the evening before we retire,” she said.

“Oh,” said Senator Morton, “I believe my legs could use a good stretching after all this riding.” He winked at Mandie. “If you don't mind, I'd be happy to escort these youngsters around the block.”

The three looked at each other, waiting for Mrs. Taft's reply.

“Well now, Senator, I didn't want to impose on you, but if you feel up to a turn around the square, then we'll all go,” Mrs. Taft said, smiling.

“Thanks,” Mandie said excitedly, turning back to the window.

Approaching the hotel, they fell into line with several other vehicles waiting to get to the front door. People and baggage were being discharged ahead of them, and there were loud conversations all around them on the streets.

“Oh, shucks, I can't understand a thing anyone is saying,” Mandie remarked.

The others laughed.

“Of course not,” Jonathan told her. “They're speaking French. You've just got to learn the language, Mandie.”

Ignoring Jonathan's comment, Mandie continued to listen to the buzz of conversation outside. Suddenly she said, “I hear someone speaking English.”

“Where?” Celia asked.

“Over there,” Mandie said, pointing out the window. “No, that way I think.” She shook her head. “Now I don't hear it at all.”

“Was it British-style English or American English?” Celia asked.

“I suppose it was British, probably someone who came over from London like we did,” Mandie said.

“Like those people?” Jonathan asked, quickly drawing the girls' attention to the carriage second in line in front of them.

Mandie and Celia gasped.

“It's the three girls!” Mandie exclaimed. “Now how did they get ahead of us?”

“They could have passed us without our noticing them in all that crazy traffic,” Celia remarked.

The three dark-haired girls left the carriage and disappeared inside the doorway of the hotel. The couple with them seemed to give
instructions to the carriage driver and then followed the girls inside. When the carriage pulled away, the next one took its place in front of the hotel.

“We're next,” Celia said.

“Maybe we can still catch up with those people,” Mandie commented.

Mrs. Taft spoke up. “Amanda,” she began in a warning tone, “judging from the way that woman spoke to you in the inn, I would say that those people are not very well bred. Therefore, I forbid you to have any communication with them. Do you understand?”

Mandie looked at her grandmother in surprise. ‘Yes, ma'am,” she answered. “But I am curious as to who they really are and why we keep seeing them.”

“That can be easily explained. They must be traveling, as we are, and happen to be going our way at the same time,” Mrs. Taft said. “Let's just forget about those people and enjoy our visit here.”

“Yes, Grandmother,” Mandie said. “I can't wait to get outside.”

Even though there had been a line to get into the hotel, the lobby was not crowded. Mandie and Celia and Jonathan waited nearby while the adults checked in at the desk.

Mandie watched the man behind the counter bow to her grandmother as he took her hand and kissed it. Then he summoned a bellhop. Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton beckoned for the young people to follow as they headed down the long marble-floored corridor.

“Celia,” Mandie whispered, “my grandmother didn't sign in, and neither did the senator! Do you think—”

“That the man knew your grandmother?” Celia asked.

Jonathan added, “Or that your grandmother owns the place, like the ship we were on?”

“Both,” Mandie replied.

As they neared the elevators, Celia moaned. “Oh, Mandie, I don't want to ride in one of those lifts again. Let's find the stairway, quick!”

They stopped to look around, and then they saw the bellhop opening a door down the long hallway and motioning for Mrs. Taft to enter.

“Never mind,” Mandie said. “It looks like we're staying on this floor.”

When they caught up with the adults, they found that Mandie was right. Mrs. Taft ushered them into a suite similar to the one they had occupied in London, and the senator and Jonathan were shown into the suite next door to them.

The girls looked curiously around the bedroom before freshening up. “No messages, no flowers. Good!” Mandie said.

“Right!” Celia agreed.

Soon everyone was ready for a walk, and Mandie couldn't decide whether to take Snowball with her or leave him in their suite. Her grandmother made the decision for her. “I think you'd better take him with you, dear,” she said. “The maid might come in and let him out accidentally. We don't want to have to look all over Paris for a lost kitten.”

So the three agreed to take turns holding him as they followed Mrs. Taft and the senator through the hotel lobby and outside to the wide sidewalk. People were milling about everywhere, in no particular hurry it seemed. There was loud talking and laughing as if it were the middle of the day.

As they left the vicinity of the hotel, Mandie saw vendors at the street curbs, selling everything imaginable. “Whew!” she sighed. “This town makes me plumb dizzy. I've never seen so many people.”

Jonathan was holding Snowball when everyone heard a loud roar and a horn blowing nearby. Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton stopped suddenly, and the young people almost bumped into them as a strange machine came chugging past. Jonathan had to struggle to keep Snowball from escaping.

Mandie's blue eyes grew wide in wonder as she stared at the selfpropelled vehicle which had come to a stop in the street ahead. ‘What is
that
?” she exclaimed.

Jonathan laughed. “Why that's a motor car. Haven't you ever seen one?”

“No!” Mandie and Celia squeaked.

“Well, let's go take a look,” the senator suggested.

Mandie's legs were trembling as she forced them to move forward.
A motor car
! She had heard vaguely of such a thing but had never expected to see one.

Celia clung to Mandie's hand, and Jonathan held tightly to the squirming kitten. As they approached the vehicle, Mandie asked Jonathan, “Why is there no horse to pull it?”

“It has a motor inside and you put gasoline, or petrol as they call it in England, in the motor and that makes it go,” Jonathan explained. “My father is planning to buy a motor car in New York.”

“They probably cost a fortune,” Mandie remarked.

“But Jonathan's father has a lot more than a fortune, remember?” Celia reminded her.

When they got close enough to see the people in the motor car, Mandie took a deep breath. “Oh, no! It's those three girls and that man and woman with them.”

“You're right,” Jonathan agreed.

At that moment the motor car made a terrible screeching noise, and the man drove off. Vendors nearby applauded enthusiastically.

“I can't believe it was those people again. . . .” Mandie said to her grandmother.

“Well, at least you got to see a real motor car,” Mrs. Taft said.

Snowball chose that moment to escape from Jonathan. He jumped down to the cobblestoned sidewalk and immediately leaped on top of one of the vendor's carts nearby. The man caught the kitten and laughed good-naturedly.

Mandie rushed after him. “Oh, I'm sorry,” she said to the vendor, taking Snowball from him. The man didn't seem to understand her and said something in French.