The Mandie Collection (77 page)

“Oui
, she was executed,” the man said. “Now I must bid you good day.
Merci
.” Bowing slightly, he climbed back up on his seat and drove off.

The girls managed to mutter a goodbye as their eyes took in the sight before them.

Mandie stood there on the road uncertain about what to do next. “This
is
a palace,” she said with a shrug. “There must be people living in it. Should we just walk through that gate where the other carriage went and see if we can find it?” she asked, surveying the thick wall.

Celia nervously twisted the strings on her bag. “I suppose we'll have to in order to find out where they went,” she replied. “I hope we don't get in trouble.”

“Come on,” Mandie urged her as she held on to Snowball and walked toward the gate. Celia followed.

To the girls' surprise there was a little gate house just inside the gate, and a young man in a uniform stood inside. When he saw the girls, he stepped outside and spoke rapidly to them in French.

The girls looked at him, puzzled.

“I'm sorry, but we don't understand French,” Mandie said. “Do you speak English?”

The young man evidently didn't understand Mandie. Once again he spoke in French. This time he gestured toward the huge palace in the distance.

Mandie shrugged. “May we go in there?” She motioned to herself and Celia and then pointed toward the palace.

The young man in the uniform gave up, shook his head in bewilderment, and waved for them to go on in. Mandie and Celia smiled sweetly at him and continued on their way.

“Look at the doorway!” Mandie exclaimed as they neared a huge double-door entrance to the palace. “It's so big you could practically move our whole hotel right in through the door!”

“And look at those flowers! And the water fountains!” Celia squealed in delight.

“Imagine living in a place like this!” Mandie cried.

“Imagine Marie Antoinette going in and out that door!” Celia exclaimed. “I can just see her.”

There were lots of other people walking about the courtyard and going in and out of the main palace building. The girls slowly moved on, drinking in all the beauty of Versailles.

Mandie blinked and turned around, looking around the front grounds. “Celia, I just realized something,” she said. “I don't see any carriages anywhere. I wonder where the one pulled by the Clydesdales went.”

“Well, we know it came in here,” Celia replied, “and unless there's a back gate, it has got to be here somewhere.”

At that moment they were almost run down by a carriage that came flying through the courtyard from behind the palace. They clutched each other in sudden fright. The vehicle quickly disappeared through the front gate.

Mandie took a deep breath and tried to calm her squirming kitten. “Evidently there's a place in the backyard for the carriages. Come on,” she said. The girls quickened their pace.

As they finally got around the side of the huge palace, smaller structures came into view, along with green lawn with flowers and statues and water fountains. There were places to sit here and there.

Celia paused to look around. “Oh, I just love this place!” she said excitedly.

“It's beautiful,” Mandie agreed, “but it's too big. I wouldn't want to live here.” She looked over a low wall. “Celia, there are carriages down there, lots of them,” she said. “Come on.”

The girls hurried over the wall and surveyed the vehicles, all of which had drivers and horses waiting in the shade. They quickly examined the animals hitched to each vehicle. Several of the drivers lounging around the carriages tipped their hats and spoke in French to the girls. Mandie and Celia smiled and kept moving.

“There aren't any Clydesdales here,” Celia said.

“There must be another place for the carriages, then,” Mandie decided. “Let's walk on around the building.”

Eventually they reached the front of the palace again without finding any more carriages. They had circled the building from a distance.

“Let's get closer to the palace and see if there's an entrance for the carriages to go inside,” Mandie suggested.

Celia laughed. “Carriages—inside the palace? Oh, Mandie!”

“But, Celia, back in the old days, according to history books, carriages and horses sometimes had rooms attached to the houses,” Mandie explained.

“But this is a fancy palace, Mandie,” Celia argued as they glanced around.

“It's also ancient. Can't you just see Marie Antoinette riding up in her carriage and going right on into the palace in it?” Mandie asked, dreamily staring at the huge, ornate building. “Then the driver would jump down, throw open the door, and bow.”

“And he would say, ‘Home again, your Majesty!' and Louis XVI would be waiting inside for her,” Celia added.

“Didn't they come to a terrible end—the poor king and queen?” Mandie sighed. “I've never heard of a president in our country being executed.”

“But we've never had a president betray our country either,” Celia reminded her.

As they stood there staring at the palace, a carriage suddenly emerged from inside the building and hurried toward the gate in the front wall.

Both girls gasped.

“I told you, Celia!” Mandie exclaimed, hurrying toward the place the vehicle had come from. “Come on. Let's go look.”

As they got closer, they could see a tunnel-like opening in the building. Tall shrubbery partially hid the passageway, and they saw a guard there in a little open room.

“Oh, shucks!” Mandie said as she spotted the uniformed man.

“What are we going to do?” Celia asked as they paused halfway down the incline. “We can't speak French, and if he talks to us, we won't know what he's saying.”

“There's only one thing to do. Just try,” Mandie said, leading the way. Snowball clung to the shoulder of her cape.

As the girls approached the man in uniform, they smiled at him and kept going. To their amazement the man merely smiled back and called,
“Bonjour
.”

They quickly walked past him.

“Hurry!” Mandie whispered to Celia as they stepped into the passageway.

“My legs won't go any faster!” Celia whispered back. “They're too scared!”

Along the way there were doors, all closed, and no one in sight. There was not a sound anywhere. Several other passageways crossed the one they were in at various places, but they continued straight ahead.

“Do you suppose we should explore some of those other tunnels?” Celia whispered. “They're all big enough for a carriage to go through.”

“I think we ought to see where this one goes first. We can always come back and try those,” Mandie replied, leading the way.

As they followed a curve, the passageway grew dimmer and dimmer until it was hard to see where they were going.

“They don't have any lights down here,” Mandie muttered as she and Celia joined hands.

Snowball clung to her shoulder and meowed softly.

“Sh-h-h! Snowball, be quiet!” Mandie whispered. She rubbed her cheek against his fur, and he began purring.

They had to walk slower now because it was getting harder to see the floor. Although there were no steps, they seemed to be going downhill. The air had become cool and damp smelling.

“Mandie, don't you think we ought to go back?” Celia asked softly, staying close to her friend.

“Not till we see where this goes,” Mandie whispered. “Any minute now we'll probably come out in the open daylight. That carriage had to come from somewhere.”

“But it could have come from one of those other tunnels we passed,” Celia reminded her.

“If we don't come to an end pretty soon, we'll turn around and go back,” Mandie promised.

Mandie couldn't see anything clearly on either side of them. She thought they passed a closed door now and then, but it was so dark they had to watch their feet to keep from falling as the cobblestone floor kept going downhill.

Suddenly, there was a loud clanking sound. The girls jumped and clung to each other.

“What was
that
?” Celia cried.

Before Mandie could reply, there was another bang. She grabbed Celia's hand. “Sounds like a metal gate being closed or something,” she whispered. “Let's go see.”

Celia refused to move forward. “Mandie, please,” she whispered in a shaky voice. “I don't want to go any farther. Let's go back,
real fast
, please!”

“Then I'll go by myself,” Mandie said, her heart pounding. Letting go of Celia's hand, she moved forward.

“No, Mandie, don't leave me here,” Celia pleaded. She grasped Mandie's hand again. “I'll go with you.”

The clanking sounds continued ahead of them. Mandie stopped. Then a male voice coming from behind them burst into song.

Mandie tugged Celia's hand, quickly pulling her over to the side of the tunnel. “Sh-h-h!” she warned.

At that moment a huge figure came striding down the passageway. The girls clung to each other as the man passed by them.

Mandie squeezed Snowball tightly, and he meowed loudly in protest.

Mandie's heart turned over, but the man once again burst into song and hurried on his way. As soon as he was out of sight, the girls relaxed again.

“Oh, Mandie,” Celia breathed with relief.

“He looked like a giant, didn't he?” Mandie said.

“Yes, a mean giant!” Celia replied, trembling.

Mandie continued forward. “Come on, let's go.”

“Are we going where he went?” Celia asked.

“We'll find out where he went. It may be the same place we're looking for,” Mandie said. “Come on.” She tugged at Celia's hand.

Celia let herself be propelled forward. “I do hope we find some daylight soon, or at least some lights.” She sighed.

They caught up with the man unexpectedly as they came around a curve in the passageway. It was lighter in the distance, and they could make out the outline of the man. He seemed to be opening and closing doors along the way. The girls stopped and watched, huddling against the wall.

“W-What do y-you suppose he's—he's d-doing?” Celia asked, her teeth chattering.

“Let's get closer,” Mandie whispered.

She pulled Celia's hand again, and moved on, staying close to the wall.

Suddenly the man slammed a door, and the girls knew the source of the clanking sounds they'd heard. As they watched, he turned a big key in the lock. Then he continued down the passageway.

The girls waited for him to disappear at the far end.

“Now!” Mandie whispered, pulling Celia forward. “Let's see what's down there.”

As the girls crept toward the door the man had just locked, there was a sudden loud wail. They froze in their tracks. The sound echoed through the passageway, and then there was complete silence.

After a moment of silent waiting, Mandie urged Celia forward again.

Again a loud wail echoed through the walls. “There's someone locked in that room,” Mandie whispered, “and I think we ought to see who it is.”

Forgetting all caution, Mandie rushed forward and tried the door. She shook it, but it wouldn't open.

“Mandie!” Celia warned. “Someone is going to hear you!”

Mandie ignored her friend. “I wish I could see through that door,” she fussed.

“Please, let's go,” Celia begged, shivering with fright.

Small window openings high on the walls gave a faint light in the passageway, making the place more bearable. Mandie examined every
inch of the metal door, and looking around she realized that there were

similar doors along the walls on both sides.

“Celia, this must be the dungeon!” she exclaimed.

“Dungeon?” Celia asked in a hoarse whisper.

“You know,
dungeons
—like they had in the old castles in our history books,” Mandie replied. “The place where they kept prisoners.”

“Mandie, let's get out of here!” Celia begged again. “Someone might lock
us
up.”

Mandie stooped to examine the lock on the door. The keyhole was huge. She pressed her eye against the hole, and her heart raced. “Celia!” she cried. “Jonathan's inside here! I can just barely see him, but I
know
it's Jonathan!”

“Jonathan? What are we going to do?” Celia whispered.

“We've got to get this door open somehow,” Mandie said with new determination.

“But we don't have the key!” Celia argued. “How are we going to open it?”

“We'll just have to figure out something,” Mandie said. “We've got to get Jonathan out of there before someone comes.”

In the distance they could hear the man singing again.

CHAPTER NINE

THE THREE DARK-HAIRED GIRLS

Mandie handed Snowball to Celia and stooped again to peek through the big keyhole of the iron door. Then she put her mouth right up to the keyhole. “Jonathan! Jonathan!” she whispered loudly. “Jonathan, it's Mandie . . . and Celia!”

She looked through the small opening again, but it was impossible to see the entire room. Jonathan lay curled up on an old quilt in a corner.

“You know, Celia, he looks like he's asleep, but I don't believe he is. That must have been him we heard yell out a while ago,” Mandie said, straightening up. “You look through the keyhole and see what you think.”

Celia quickly peeked through the hole and looked up at Mandie. “He isn't moving. Maybe he's hurt or something.”

“I'd like to get my hands on whoever put him in there!” Mandie said emphatically. “I don't understand what's going on. Ever since we left the ship crazy things have been happening that don't make any sense at all.” Her voice echoed back from the damp walls. “Oh, goodness! I'd better be quiet!” she whispered.

“Mandie, I don't see any way for us to get Jonathan out of that room without help,” Celia said. “How could anyone ever open that metal door without the key?”