The Mandie Collection (75 page)

Mandie slowly felt her way down the stairs with Celia holding onto the back of Mandie's skirt. As they reached the bottom step, the girls looked around. It was dark down there, but there was enough light from somewhere that they could distinguish supplies stacked here and there.

“We have to be awfully quiet,” Mandie whispered in Celia's ear. “We may be directly under the parlor, and that woman might wake up.”

“Right,” Celia said, hardly breathing.

They moved slowly around the large room and found several smaller rooms. In one of these, Mandie spotted a window. “Look!” she whispered, hurrying to examine it. The window was too high for her to reach.

Silently, they looked around for something to stand on. Finding a heavy barrel in the corner, they struggled to place it beneath the window. It took every ounce of their strength, but they finally succeeded. They stopped to catch their breath.

Mandie had to put Snowball down in order to move the barrel, but he stayed close to her feet until they reached the window with it. As the girls rested a moment, the white kitten jumped up on the barrel and then in a flying leap landed on the window sill above. Turning to look out the window, he immediately puffed up his fur and meowed angrily.

“Sh-h-h! Snowball, be quiet,” Mandie whispered. Climbing on top of the barrel, she stood on tiptoe to look through the window. She tried to open it, but it wouldn't move. She couldn't see a lock, but something was holding it.

Celia watched from below. “Will it open?” she whispered.

Mandie felt around the window sash. “It's not locked, but I can't open it.” Suddenly her fingers felt something sharp on top of the bottom sash. “Aha! I've found a ten-penny nail. It's nailed shut.”

“Maybe I can find something to pry it out,” Celia said, looking around the small room.

“We can't use anything that will make a noise. That woman will hear us,” Mandie told her. She continued pushing at the nail but couldn't budge it. Even Snowball tried to help. He was still upset about something outside, but he also seemed interested in what his mistress was doing.

“I can't find a single thing,” Celia said, searching the darkness.

“I know what.” Mandie stooped down while still standing on the barrel. “Help me unbutton my shoe. I can probably loosen the nail with my shoe heel.”

Together they got Mandie's shoe off, and she went to work on the nail. Managing to get the tiny shoe heel between the nail and the wood, she wiggled it back and forth and finally gave a sigh of triumph as the nail came out.

“I got it!” She whispered as she stooped to put her shoe back on. After quickly buttoning it, she stood up. “Now maybe we can get out of here.”

The window was easy to open, and Mandie hoisted herself up from the barrel and through the opening. Celia followed, with Snowball rushing out ahead of them both. Once again he arched his back and puffed up his fur.

As the girls straightened up in the dim light outside, they found themselves in a thicket of bushes.

Mandie became nervous about her kitten. “Snowball, come here!” she demanded in a hoarse whisper.

Suddenly there was a loud growl and the girls froze.

“A dog!” Celia gasped, clinging to Mandie's skirt.

There on the other side of the bushes was a huge black dog, eyeing Snowball. Mandie grabbed her kitten, and when she did, the dog growled again.

Mandie passed the white kitten to her friend. “Here, you hold onto Snowball, and I'll see if I can talk this dog into letting us by,” she whispered. “Please don't let Snowball get away.”

Mandie turned her attention to the dog and spoke in low tones. “Here, doggie, here. Come here, doggie.”

The dog bared his teeth.

Mandie looked around quickly. “Celia, if you can get through that gap in the bushes over there while I distract the dog, maybe he'll let me through,” she suggested nervously. “I have an idea he's more interested in Snowball than he is in us.”

While Mandie whispered to the dog in soothing tones, Celia slowly edged away with Snowball and made it through the opening in the bushes. As soon as Snowball was out of sight, the big dog became friendly and edged forward for Mandie to pat his head.

“Doggie, I hate to do this, but I'd rather you were inside and away from us,” Mandie said. “Come on, doggie. Come on.” She quickly led him to the open window and snapped her fingers for him to jump through. To her amazement, he bounded through the opening, hardly making a sound as he landed on the floor below. Hastily pulling the window down, Mandie hurried to catch up with Celia.

“Where's the dog?” Celia asked as Mandie joined her on the back lawn of the house.

Mandie looked around as she took her kitten from her friend. “I put him in the cellar,” she replied, noticing how much lighter it was outside now. “What do you say we go that way?” She pointed toward the yard of the house behind the one from which they had just escaped.

Mandie led the way through the yard to the high wall separating the houses, and she and Celia struggled to climb over. Making their way across the lawn of the neighboring house, they scaled its front wall and finally found themselves on the road that ran parallel to the one they had been on.

Stopping to catch their breath, Mandie decided, “There's only one way to get back to the hotel, and that is to start walking.” She looked around. “This way, I think.” The girls took the road uphill.

Celia shook her head. “I just hope we can find the way, Mandie,” she said.

“Don't worry. We will–” Mandie promised, “–sooner or later.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

LOST IN PARIS

Even though the sun was just coming up, the streets were already full of people rushing in every direction.

Mandie and Celia hurried along, now and then stopping someone to ask the way to the Hotel Rochambeau. But no one could understand them. The girls hastily made their way through a maze of narrow cobblestone streets lined with small dwellings and tiny shops. Dozens of poorly clad children played among the intersections of alleys while dogs and cats roamed among them. Mandie had to hold Snowball especially tight whenever they passed other cats and dogs.

“Celia, do you realize that we haven't seen a single public carriage—in fact a carriage of any kind—since we left that house?” Mandie asked as they continued their hurried pace. “This must be a poorer section of Paris. We can't be anywhere near our hotel.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Celia agreed, making long strides to keep up with her friend. “And how are we going to find our way back to the hotel when we can't even ask anyone for directions? I wish I could speak French!”

“Remember our verse, Celia,” Mandie said, catching Celia's free hand in hers.

Together they recited in low tones, “ ‘What time I am afraid I will put my trust in Thee.' ”

“Now everything will be all right, Celia. I think we need to slow down a little, though, or we'll flat give out of breath,” Mandie said as she slackened her pace.

Celia suddenly stopped in her tracks and pointed to the left. “Oh, Mandie, look!” she exclaimed. “There's the Eiffel Tower.”

Mandie stopped to look in the direction Celia pointed. “It is, Celia! We'll just go there. Remember, the driver told us you can find someone there who speaks almost any language. There's bound to be an American or Englishman at the tower who can understand us. I told you everything was going to be all right!”

The girls turned off onto a smaller, narrower street to the left and aimed for the Tower. With each intersection they passed, the neighborhood became cleaner and more orderly. The streets were full of carriages.

“It sure is a long way to the Tower, when it looked so close back there,” Celia commented.

The girls crossed a beautiful park with blooming flowers and neat hedges. “That's because the Eiffel Tower is so tall that you can see it all over Paris,” Mandie reminded her friend. “Let's stop for five minutes and rest.” She plopped onto a nearby bench and Celia joined her.

“I wonder if Jonathan ever came back to the hotel,” Celia said, “or I should say his room. I don't know that he ever actually left the hotel.”

“Maybe he met up with those three girls—or maybe he decided to run away again,” Mandie suggested as she let Snowball down to wander around while she held on to his leash. “You know something?” She laughed. “I just realized I'm hungry.”

“Me, too,” Celia acknowledged. “When we get back to the hotel, we can eat to our heart's content—that is, if we ever find the way.”

“And don't forget about my grandmother and the senator,” Mandie said. “I hope that strange woman was lying and that they didn't have an accident. The whole episode was so unbelievable, being persuaded to leave the hotel with a stranger only to end up locked up in a house with that mysterious woman. I just can't figure out what that woman was up to.”

Children playing nearby threw their ball and it rolled in front of Snowball. He pounced on it and jerked the leash out of Mandie's hand.

Mandie jumped up and raced after her kitten as he chased the ball. “Snowball! Come back here!” she called.

The children watched as Mandie managed to step on the end of the leash. Snowball looked at his mistress in shock at the sudden restraint. Mandie picked him up and held him tight.

“Snowball, we just don't have time to play,” she told him. “Celia, I think we'd better get on.”

The girls finally arrived at the Eiffel Tower, tired, hungry, worried, and with sore feet. Lots of tourists milled around, and Mandie and Celia mingled with them, keeping an ear open for the sound of English, which was the only language they could understand. Finally they spotted an older man and woman posing for a photograph. The woman photographer was saying, “Now, please be still!”

Mandie and Celia rushed through the crowd. As soon as the photographer finished taking the picture, Mandie approached the three. They were nicely dressed and acted friendly when the girls spoke.

“Ma'am, we heard you speaking English, and we imagine you must be American,” Mandie began. “We're from the United States too, but we're lost right now and can't make anyone understand what we're saying. We're trying to find our way back to the Hotel Rochambeau,” she explained to the lady photographer. “Can you tell us which way to go?”

The lady looked at Mandie and Celia with concern. “Oh, dear, you mean you two are all alone?” she asked, not waiting for an answer. “Why, dears, you are not very far from your hotel, but don't you think you'd better get a carriage?”

“Well, no, ma'am,” Mandie replied. “If we're nearby, we can walk. Could you just point out what direction?”

The woman pointed beyond the Tower. “You go three streets that way, and then go left,” she explained. “After three streets in that direction, you turn right. From there you can see your hotel.”

The girls thanked the lady and then hurried in the direction she had indicated. When they had almost covered the first three blocks, they both stopped suddenly and stared straight ahead.

“Jonathan!” Mandie gasped, pointing to a stopped carriage down the avenue. Two men were forcing Jonathan to get into the carriage.

The girls broke into a run, but they weren't fast enough. The carriage pulled away in a rush, and Mandie and Celia stopped in disappointment.

“It looked to me like those men were treating Jonathan like a prisoner or something,” Mandie said, watching the carriage as it disappeared around a corner.

“They didn't look like policemen, did they?” Celia asked.

“No—they acted more like crooks!” Mandie replied, trying to soothe Snowball.
“Come on
, Celia, we've got to get back to the hotel and find out what's going on!”

When they turned the last corner and the hotel came into view, the girls practically ran the rest of the way. They rushed through the crowded lobby and down the long hallway to their rooms.

Mandie tapped on the door. “Grandmother,” she called anxiously, “it's me, Mandie.”

There was no answer. Mandie tried the knob and the door opened. The girls ran into the suite and looked around. There was no one there.

Mandie began to feel worried again. “Grandmother!” she called out, looking into both bedrooms. “Celia, let's go ask the man at the counter if he's seen my grandmother.”

The girls turned to leave the suite and almost collided with Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton.

Mrs. Taft gasped. “Amanda! Celia!” she cried. “Where in this world have you two girls been?” She dropped onto the settee in the parlor and the senator stood beside her.

Mandie threw off her bonnet. “Grandmother, you're all right!” she cried with relief as she set Snowball down.

Mandie's grandmother looked puzzled as Mandie sat on the carpet at her knee. Celia sat down too, and removed her bonnet.

“Oh, Grandmother, we've been through some terrible things,” Mandie began. “We were told you and the senator had an accident and it must have been all lies! Thank goodness, you're both all right.” She laid her head against her grandmother's knee.

“Amanda, explain yourself !” Mrs. Taft told her. “What are you talking about?”

As Mandie related what had happened to them, Celia filled in details now and then. Mrs. Taft and the senator silently exchanged worried glances.

“It was awful, Grandmother, not knowing for sure whether you and Senator Morton had really had an accident,” Mandie concluded.

“That woman from the ship needs to be questioned by the police,” Senator Morton remarked.

“Amanda, we already have the police looking for you and Celia and Jonathan,” Mrs. Taft said. “When we came back last night from the concert and couldn't find any of you, we alerted the police right away.”

“Oh, Grandmother, we saw Jonathan on our way here today,” Mandie added, explaining what they had seen.