The Mandie Collection (72 page)

Jonathan smiled up at the old man. “I sure hope so, sir,” he replied. “But I also hope he'll let me stay with my aunt and uncle here in Paris for a while—at least for the summer.”

“Well, let's go find those relatives of yours,” the senator said.

Jonathan attended school in Paris at one time, but he had never visited his aunt and uncle at their home. They had come to his school several times instead. Therefore, the boy had no idea how to find their house.

Senator Morton engaged a public carriage and asked the driver if he could locate the address. The man didn't seem to know the area where they lived but decided he could find it.

The girls had not let Jonathan know they had seen him outside with the three girls that morning. And as they rode through the streets of Paris, they were too excited to talk about anything but the city. The carriage driver took them through the grand
Arc de Triomphe
, and Jonathan related the story of Napoleon, who began building the archway that was not finished until many years later.

“This is the
Champs-Elysées
,” Jonathan told them, indicating the wide avenue they were traveling. “The most expensive shops are on this street.”

Mandie gazed at the ladies in exquisite fashions strolling in and out of the stores. “I don't think I want to shop here then,” she said. “I don't want to spend all my money in one place.”

Celia nodded. “It's good your grandmother is controlling all our money, Mandie, because I might just spend it all on French clothes,” she remarked.

Mrs. Taft smiled at her. “Dear, your mother gave me money for your spending sprees here in Europe. In fact, I really don't believe you could use it all up, no matter where you shopped. So maybe we'll visit this neighborhood later.”

“Oh, thank you, Mrs. Taft!” Celia said. “I didn't realize I had that much money available. But then my mother has tried to spoil me ever since . . . since we . . . lost my father last year.” Her voice quivered.

“I doubt that you could ever be spoiled, dear,” Mrs. Taft said. “Your mother knows you are a sensible girl, I'm sure.”

“Well, I'll be glad when I get some of
my
father's money to spend,” Jonathan joked.

The driver pulled the carriage to the curb, got down from his seat, and opened the door to speak to Senator Morton. “Sir, it seems we are headed in the wrong way, so with your permission I'll turn the carriage around and go back the other direction.”

“Yes, of course,” Senator Morton agreed. “But let's do be quick about it. We don't want to spend the whole day looking for one address.”

“Yes sir!” the driver replied, quickly closing the door and jumping onto his seat. The man rushed the horses around the square and once again they passed through the
Arc de Triomphe
. Finally the shop area gave way to a neighborhood of beautiful homes—old, sedate, and grand stone structures.

Mandie gazed outside. “Oh, imagine living in one of these houses!” she exclaimed.

“When you are older, maybe you'll have one for a vacation home,” Mrs. Taft said.

“Grandmother.” Mandie was shocked at the idea. “I couldn't live here in this foreign country. I wouldn't want to leave all my friends at home for people whose language I can't understand.”

Everybody laughed.

“By then you will be able to speak French as well as anyone else, dear,” her grandmother replied. “And by that time you'll probably be ready to travel the world. We'll see.”

Mandie only frowned at the remarks.

Snowball stirred on the seat beside Mandie and stretched. Mandie had brought the red harness to put on him whenever they walked outside. “Snowball, you probably need some air,” Mandie said. She held him up on the ledge of the open window, but he was frightened by that and managed to wiggle free and get back to the seat. “Well, I guess you don't want any fresh air,” she said.

The driver slowed the carriage and was evidently searching for numbers on the houses. Then he pulled over and came back to the carriage door again to speak to Senator Norton. “I believe that chateau behind the wall there is the one you are looking for, sir,” he said, pointing to a large building almost hidden from view.

“Then we'll go see,” Senator Morton replied. “Jonathan, come with me,” he said. “At least you'll know your aunt and uncle when you see them. I won't.”

“Yes sir,” Jonathan said. Turning to Mrs. Taft, he told her, “Ma'am, if this is the right house, I'll come back for you and the girls. I know my aunt and uncle will want to meet you all.”

“All right, Jonathan,” Mrs. Taft replied. “But please hurry. I don't like sitting on a public street without an escort.”

The girls watched as Jonathan led the way to an iron gate in the stone wall. Senator Morton followed. Jonathan tried to open the gate, but it seemed to be locked. He reached over his head and pulled a cord, and a bell rang somewhere inside the wall.

Mandie laughed. “Well, how do you like that? A bell for your visitors to ring to let you know they've arrived.”

Jonathan pulled the cord again.

“I don't believe anyone is home,” Celia said.

Then as the girls watched, an old man in work clothes came along the road and walked up to the gate of the house next door.

Jonathan hurried toward him. “Sir, do you know if the Johnsons live here?” he called.

The man paused and looked at the boy but didn't answer. Then a woman came through the gate and joined the old man.

Jonathan began speaking to them in French.

The old woman spoke English in a high, shrill voice. “The Johnson people do not stay here much,” she said. “I did not see them for this whole month.”

“Have they moved away?” Jonathan asked.

“They did not move. Some other place they stay,” the woman said as the man stood idly by. “People come all this month to look for them.”

“I am their nephew,” Jonathan explained as Senator Morton joined him. “I have come all the way from the United States to see them.”

The woman shrugged her shoulders. “Many people from other countries look here for them also.”

“Other countries?” Jonathan asked.

The woman nodded.
“Oui
, many strange-speaking people.”

Senator Morton spoke up. “Ma'am, what did these people look like?”

“Many of them dark. I do not see them all,” the woman said. “I hear from behind my door. I do not open my door to strange people.”

The old man continued to stand there, looking from Senator Morton to Jonathan with a blank expression on his face, and the woman turned to go back through the gate.

“Do the Johnsons still work here in Paris?” Jonathan asked.

“Oui
, they work at newspaper,” the old woman replied with a nod. Then she spoke to the old man in French, and he followed her through the gate.

“Thank you, ma'am,” Jonathan called after them. He and Senator Morton walked back to his aunt and uncle's gate, glanced through it, and started back to the carriage.

Mandie sighed. “Oh, goodness,” she said. “I wonder where his kinpeople are.”

“Maybe they're on vacation somewhere,” Mrs. Taft said.

Jonathan and Senator Morton spoke with the driver of their carriage for a few moments and then came back inside.

“Well, no one is home,” Jonathan said, taking his seat beside the girls.

“Yes, we heard, Jonathan,” Mrs. Taft said as the senator sat down beside her. “You'll just have to stay with us until we can catch up with your aunt and uncle.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Jonathan agreed. “We're going by the newspaper office where they work to see if we can find out where they are.”

Mandie glanced out the window and gasped. “Look there! There's that strange woman from the ship!” She pointed to another carriage parked across the road.

Everyone turned to look as the other carriage quickly drove off.

“It
was
that woman.” Celia nodded.

“Yes, it was,” Jonathan added.

Mrs. Taft and the senator exchanged glances.

“Too bad the carriage was headed in the opposite direction,” Mandie said. “We could have followed it.”

Celia shook her head. “We might have gotten lost.”

“We don't have time to follow that woman,” Mrs. Taft told them. “Right now we have to get back to the business district and find the newspaper building.”

The driver knew where the newspaper office was located, so it didn't take long to get there. Jonathan and Senator Morton went inside, and when they came out again, Mandie could tell they were disappointed.

“The office boy said they've been out of the country on an assignment for the past month,” Jonathan said as he and the senator climbed back inside the carriage. “He's not sure where they are or when they'll be back.”

“What shall we do?” Mrs. Taft asked the senator.

“I sent a message to Jonathan's father over the newspaper's wireless, telling him Jonathan would stay with us until we informed him further,” Senator Morton replied. “The boss is also out of town, so I left the name of our hotel here and in London with the office boy, with instructions to see that the Johnsons get that information as soon as they return.”

“That's the best thing to do,” Mrs. Taft said. “That way we'll be free to continue with our sightseeing.”

“Did you ask the newspaper boy if he knew anything about people from other countries coming to see your kinpeople?” Mandie asked Jonathan.

“No, I figured he wouldn't know anything about that,” Jonathan replied. “But I do wonder who the people are that the woman next door saw.”

“Another mystery,” Mandie said, and smiling she added, “but I'm glad you're going to stay with us for a while at least.”

“You may be sorry,” Jonathan teased.

CHAPTER FIVE

JONATHAN'S DISAPPEARANCE

“Whew! I'm plumb out of breath!” Mandie gasped as she, Celia, and Jonathan stopped on the top landing of the Eiffel Tower. Mandie cuddled her squirming kitten, trying to settle him down.

“Me, too!” Celia added.

The three leaned against the barrier to look at Paris below.

“Oh, what a view!” Mandie exclaimed as she surveyed the town.

“You can see the way the Seine River weaves in and around the town,” Jonathan told the girls. “See it, over there? Then let your eyes travel along its way, and it will go clear out of sight.”

“It is a nice river, but it's nothing like the ones we have back home in North Carolina,” Mandie replied. “Our rivers are clear, and they have falls rippling over huge rocks in places. I wish you could see the Nantahala River, Jonathan. I think it's the most beautiful of all rivers.”

“Maybe some day I'll come and see it,” he said.

Celia stepped back from the barrier. “My head is going round and round,” she said. “I know now why your grandmother and the senator decided to stay on the first landing.”

Mandie took her friend's hand. “Come on, Celia. We'll go back down,” she said. “We've got lots of other things to see.”

The three looked for the adults on the first landing, but there was no sign of them.

“They must have gone on down to the entrance,” Jonathan said.

They found Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton waiting near the refreshment stand.

“Back so soon?” Mrs. Taft asked. “Do y'all want some tea or something?”

At that moment the three dark-haired girls appeared and sat down near the adults. They all smiled at Jonathan, and the youngest one said,
“Bonjour
.”

Jonathan self-consciously dropped his gaze. “Hello,” he muttered.

Mandie answered her grandmother. “I don't believe we want anything, Grandmother. Let's go on to Notre Dame.”

As the adults stood up, Mandie turned to lead the way back to their carriage. Celia secretly smiled.

Once they were all back in the carriage and the senator had given the driver instructions, Mandie talked at a rapid pace to Celia, ignoring Jonathan.

“I think that was a great way to see all of Paris at once,” Mandie said. “But I'm sorry you're afraid of heights. Snowball is, too. Did you notice how he wiggled around up there? He actually tried to scratch me when I wouldn't let him down. I left his new harness here in the carriage, but the next stop we make I'll put it on him.”

Reaching for the red harness, Mandie quickly slipped it over the kitten's head and shoulders. He tried to remove it. “Now, Snowball, if you want to walk around outside, you have to wear this thing.”

“Whatever you do, Amanda, don't let Snowball get away from you,” Mrs. Taft told her. “He'd be lost forever in this big city.”

“I won't, Grandmother,” Mandie replied. “He can't get out of this harness, and I'll hold the strap tight.”

During their sightseeing that day, they encountered a few motor cars. Each time, the horses pulling their carriage snorted in protest, and the driver had trouble calming them down. But Mandie and the others saw a lot of the city. They finally grew so tired that Senator Morton suggested stopping at a sidewalk cafe. The girls were delighted.

The senator took them to a place where small, round, white tables with matching chairs covered part of the sidewalk. It was a small but noisy cafe. The customers talked loudly in French, roaring with laughter now and then.

The senator was able to get the last vacant table for them, and it was right in the middle.

“I wish I could understand what they're all saying,” Mandie whispered across the table to her grandmother. “You can, Grandmother. Please translate for us.”

Mrs. Taft smiled. “That young fellow over there is making a dinner appointment with the girl he's with.” She nodded in his direction.

Mandie and Celia listened and watched attentively.