The Mandie Collection (71 page)

Mrs. Taft and Jonathan began speaking to the man at the same time in French.

“Excuse me,” Jonathan apologized to Mrs. Taft.

“That's all right. You go ahead and talk to the man,” Mrs. Taft said.

Jonathan explained in French that he was the one responsible for letting the kitten escape. The man smiled and picked up a bright red braided rope with some loops on the end of it and offered it to Mandie, speaking rapidly in his native language.

Mandie looked at Jonathan and took the rope somewhat hesitantly. “What is this? What am I supposed to do with it?” she asked.

“I'll show you,” Jonathan said. Taking the kitten from her and securing him tightly with one hand, he slipped the red rope loops around the
kitten's head and shoulders and pulled up on it. Then he handed the long rope to Mandie. “Put him down now and hold on to this leash. He can't get away from you anymore,” he explained.

Mandie looked doubtfully at Snowball and set him down. The kitten rolled over and over attempting to get out of the harness.

“It won't work,” Mandie said as the kitten became tangled up in the rope. “I tried using a leash with him before, and he didn't like it.”

“I think it will work, Amanda,” Mrs. Taft said. “You just have to be patient and teach him to obey you. When he finds out you're not going to take it off, he'll probably quit trying to get out of it.”

Mandie stooped down and shook her finger at the kitten. “Snowball! Stop that! Get up!” she demanded.

Snowball quit wiggling to gaze at his mistress. After a moment he stood up and looked at Mandie and meowed pitifully.

“It's for your own good, Snowball,” Mandie told him. “If we lost you in this big town, I'd probably never find you again.”

Snowball meowed again.

“See if you can get him to walk along with you,” Celia suggested.

Mrs. Taft took money from her bag and was trying to pay the vendor, but he waved her away. He laughed as Mandie gently pulled on the leash, and Snowball tried his best to follow her without stumbling.

“The French think of everything, don't they?” Jonathan remarked.

“I'm not sure Snowball is going to cooperate with this,” Mandie said.

But the kitten did behave all the way back to the hotel. Then when Mandie released him in their suite, he cut capers all over the bedroom. The girls burst into giggles.

Suddenly Mandie stopped giggling. “Celia! Look!” she pointed to her journal. Its loose papers were strewn all over the rug on the far side of the big bed.

The girls quickly gathered everything up. Mandie tried to straighten out the loose papers and tuck them back inside the notebook.

“Is everything all right?” Celia asked.

“I think so,” Mandie said, closing the notebook and placing it on the nearby table. “It looks like it's all there anyway.”

“Good,” Celia said. “Who do you think was in here?”

“I don't know,” Mandie said. Suddenly she reached for the notebook again and flipped through it. “Wait! I thought everything was here, but there
is
one thing missing!”

“What's that?” cried Celia.

“That dirty scrap of paper with the message that said ‘Be careful in Paris.' ”

“Maybe it's under the bed,” Celia offered. She quickly stooped to look under the big high bed. Mandie joined her.

Then they searched all over the room but couldn't find it.

Mandie sat on the floor as Snowball romped around her. “Now I'm sure that somebody slipped that note into my papers on purpose in London,” she said. “They must have done it when I dropped my notebook. And now they've taken it back. I wonder what's going on.”

“It's scary, Mandie,” Celia said seriously.

“It's aggravating!” Mandie said emphatically as she rose. “Guess we'd better get ready for bed before Grandmother checks on us.” She picked up her nightgown and paused thoughtfully. “I wish Joe could have come with us.

“I do, too,” Celia agreed. “He always knows what to do about things.”

After the girls had dressed for bed, Celia picked up her notebook from the table. “Mandie, don't you think we'd better write something in our journals for the day?”

“You're right, Celia,” Mandie replied, “I almost forgot. I'll talk to Jonathan in the morning about the missing note. Maybe he'll have some ideas.” Plopping down on the bed, she began writing about the day's events while Celia sat across the room doing the same in her journal.

As Mandie wrote, her hand slowed, and her thoughts turned toward home. She wondered what her mother and stepfather (who was also her uncle) were doing, and how the new baby was. And where was her dear old Cherokee friend, Uncle Ned? She missed him already. He always seemed to show up when she needed him. And her life-long friend Joe, who was determined that they were going to marry when they grew up. What was he doing, she wondered.

I'm not going to get homesick
, she told herself.
I'm going to enjoy my visit here in Europe—in spite of all the mysterious goings-on
. First, it was the strange woman on the ship who followed them everywhere, and still turned up now and then, and then the unsigned message in London, and the unaccounted-for flowers in her hotel room. And the three dark-haired sisters, who also kept turning up, and now the mystery of the missing note. Could all these things be connected to one person? What did it all mean?

Mandie was determined to find out.

CHAPTER FOUR

MISSING RELATIVES

Snowball woke Mandie the next morning. Although he usually slept on the foot of her bed without stirring, this morning he had crawled up on her pillow and was purring loudly in her ear.

Mandie opened her sleepy eyes. “Snowball, what's the matter with you?” she mumbled.

The white kitten jumped down to the floor.

Confused, Mandie sat up in the big bed. The sun peeked through a fold in the drapery that was not closed properly. Then she remembered where she was. Celia was already awake beside her.

Celia laughed. “He woke me up too,” she said.

Mandie reached over to the table for her watch, which she wore on a chain around her neck. “Snowball must be hungry,” she said, flipping the cover on her watch face to see the time. “Celia, it's just ten minutes to six.” Looking at the opening in the drapery, she added, “And I believe the sun is already up.”

“Do you know if we'll have a maid here like we did in London to open the curtains and bring us our breakfast?” Celia asked.

“I don't know, but I'll beat her to the curtains,” Mandie said, rushing across the room. As she pulled back the heavy draperies, the sunlight streamed through, and she turned to go back to the bed.

“Mandie! There are people out there! They can see in!” Celia gasped, quickly sliding under the sheet.

Mandie returned to the window to see what was going on outside. “Celia, they're sitting at tables out there and eating, I think,” Mandie told her as she stood back from the window. “My grandmother probably didn't think about anything like this when she took these rooms on the ground floor.” She kept watching the people outside.

“Mandie, please close the curtains so we can get dressed,” Celia begged, still under the sheet.

Mandie reached for the drapery pull, and then stopped. “Celia, Jonathan is out there!” she exclaimed. “And you won't believe who else. Those three girls we've been seeing everywhere!”

Celia jumped out of bed and crept to Mandie's side to view the scene.

“Where are the man and woman that are usually with them?” Celia asked.

“I don't know,” Mandie answered. “But what on earth are they doing out there so early in the morning?”

“They're eating,” Celia shrugged.

“I know, but why so early?” Mandie replied, still curiously watching the foursome. “They sure are doing a lot of talking about something.”

“Mandie, look at these windows,” Celia said, “I believe they open up like doors. See, they go all the way down to the floor. We could get dressed and go outside.”

“This early?” Mandie replied. “I don't think my grandmother would approve of that. Well, Jonathan finally got a chance to talk French with those girls!” She yanked the draperies shut, rushed over to the bathroom door and said, “I'm going to get dressed.”

Celia plopped down on the side of the bed. “Why, Mandie, I do believe you're jealous,” she teased.

Mandie whirled around. “No, I'm not! It's just that—oh, I'm going to get dressed.” She went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Someone tapped softly on the parlor door, and Celia went to answer it.

A tall, thin woman in a neat uniform rolled a teacart into the parlor as she said,
“Bonjour
. I bring food.” Then she went to open the parlor draperies. Mandie stepped to the bedroom door and looked out, expecting
to see Jonathan and the girls. There was nothing there but a flower garden. Obviously the parlor windows opened onto a different side of the hotel.

The woman turned and spoke rapidly in French to Celia, gesturing with her hands, and walked to the door.

“Thank you,” Celia said.

The woman smiled and waved as she left the room.

Celia turned back into the bedroom. “Mandie!” she said, surprised to see her friend was already dressed. “The maid brought us some food.” She motioned toward the parlor.

“Good,” Mandie replied. “I'm hungry. Are you going to dress before we eat?”

Celia nodded and went to peek behind the curtain that opened to the outdoor eating area. “Jonathan is gone,” she said to Mandie.

Mandie shrugged and pursed her lips, pretending she wasn't interested.

By the time Celia was dressed and they'd begun eating, Mrs. Taft had joined them to discuss their schedule for the day. “We'll be leaving as soon as the senator is ready,” she said, helping herself to coffee. “We'll drop Jonathan off at his aunt's house and then—how would you girls like to go up the Eiffel Tower?”

Mandie asked excitedly, “You mean it's possible to go up the tower?”

“Well, we'll go part of the way, just so you girls can enjoy the view,” Mrs. Taft replied. “And then maybe we'll go to the Louvre and look at some art work.”

“Could we eat at one of those little places where you sit at a table on the sidewalk?” Mandie asked.

“Of course, dear,” Mrs. Taft replied. “You girls may choose what you'd like to do. After all, this trip to Europe is especially for y'all.” She patted both girls' hands.

“Thank you, Grandmother.” Mandie's smile lit up her blue eyes.

“I'm so grateful to you for bringing me along, Mrs. Taft,” Celia told her.

“Well, after all, your mother and Amanda's mother are childhood friends,” Mrs. Taft said. “I'm glad you could come.”

There was a knock on the parlor door and Mandie rose. “I'll see who it is, Grandmother,” she offered.

Senator Morton and Jonathan greeted her at the door, ready for the day. She invited them in, and they were all soon on their way.

Neither of the girls had much to say to Jonathan as they walked down the long hallway toward the hotel lobby.

Leading the way to the front desk, Senator Morton reminded them that they must all exchange some American money for French currency.

Mrs. Taft, who was in charge of the money for Mandie and Celia, gave the clerk American bills and received French francs, which she divided between the girls. “Put this money in your bags now, and be careful you don't lose it. That's about ten American dollars' worth,” she explained as the girls examined the strange-looking money.

“Their bills are so much bigger than ours,” Mandie commented.

“And we get so many more francs than the dollars you gave the man,” Celia added.

“But it all adds up the same,” Jonathan told them.

“Aren't you getting any francs?” Mandie asked Jonathan as they waited for the adults to finish their transactions at the counter.

“No,” Jonathan replied. “Remember, I don't have any money.”

The girls laughed.

“Imagine,” Mandie said, “the son of one of the richest men in the United States doesn't have a penny to his name!”

Jonathan smiled. “Don't worry. I'll get money from my aunt and uncle. They can get it back from my father.”

“And speaking of money, Jonathan,” Mandie said. “Don't forget you owe us that reward for finding you when you ran away from home, remember?”

“Now wait a minute. My father offered that reward,” Jonathan corrected her.
“He
owes you.” Then he smiled and added, “But of course I'll see that you get it.”

“We only want it to give to Mandie's kinpeople to help build the school for their children,” Celia added.

“I know,” Jonathan said. “And I said I would contribute to it, too, but you girls are going to have to wait until my father comes over here.”

Senator Morton turned around. “In my message to Jonathan's father, I told him that you girls had found his son stowed away on the ship and that any reward should go to you two,” he assured them. “He agreed to that in his reply. So don't worry about it. You'll get the money.”

Mandie tried not to look too pleased. “His father must have been relieved to hear that he had run away from home and had not been kidnapped, like all the newspapers said.” Turning to Jonathan, she added, “But you know, Jonathan, I still think that was a terrible thing to do, running away from home. I've been through it, and I certainly wouldn't do it again, no matter what.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jonathan replied, lowering his head and digging his shoe into the carpet.

Senator Morton put his hand on Jonathan's shoulder. “I know it was a bad thing to do, Jonathan, but I believe it has jolted some sense into your father,” he said kindly. “I know he has always sent you away to private schools so he could spend more time with his many businesses. Maybe he'll spend some time with
you
from now on.”