The Mandie Collection (79 page)

Celia finally nodded her assent.

“All right, come on,” Mandie told the girls. “This way. But if you try anything, you'll be sorry.”

“Try
anything?” Mary asked. “What does that mean?”

“Oh, it's a good old American expression. ‘Don't do anything unusual—just behave yourselves,' ” Mandie replied. She took Snowball from Celia and led the way, staying as far from the carriage as possible.

At the tunnel entrance, Mandie told the Covington girls to walk ahead of Celia and her. She didn't trust them behind her.

The girls shrugged and did as Mandie asked.

Mandie held her breath, listening for any sound that might indicate that the two men were coming back. She didn't want to run in to them. They could be dangerous.

If the three sisters could help free Jonathan, Mandie and Celia would find some way back to the city, Mandie was sure of it. But then Mandie remembered the conversation between the men and Jonathan. Neither man was French. What were they doing in this palace? Did the French guards know the men had locked up Jonathan in this place—in Marie Antoinette's great palace?

Where
was
everybody? Mandie wondered. The forest where they had found the girls had been deserted. And they had not met anyone else in the tunnel. She had to admit to herself that those men had her frightened, as well as the fact that there was no one else around.

CHAPTER TEN

CONFRONTATION WITH THE SPIES

The girls soon reached the locked cell where Jonathan was being held

prisoner. Mandie leaned over and peeked through the keyhole.

“Jonathan!” she called softly. “It's Mandie and Celia!”

“Mandie!” Jonathan replied at once.

As Mandie watched, Jonathan moved over to the door and looked through the keyhole at her. “Mandie! How did you and Celia find me?” he asked.

“That's a long story, Jonathan. We'll tell you later,” Mandie whispered. “Right now those three girls that have been following us around everywhere are going to help us get you out.”

“No, no, no!” Jonathan protested from behind the door. “Don't trust those girls. They were in on the kidnapping scheme. Don't trust them.”

“But they promised to help get you out of there. They claim they didn't know you were locked up,” Mandie told him through the keyhole.

Mary quickly pushed Mandie aside. “Jonathan, please believe us when we say we didn't know what those people were up to,” she said. “We
will
help get you out.”

“You'd better not be lying to me,” Jonathan replied cautiously.

“All right.” Mandie took charge again and peeked through the keyhole at Jonathan. “In the next cell, there's a connecting door to your room, but it has a heavy cross-bar blocking it. Celia and I couldn't move it, so these girls are going to help. Maybe together we can get the door open. We've got to hurry.”

“Yes,” Maude agreed. “Our father will be back soon with his friend.”

Without wasting more time and words, Mandie quickly showed the three girls the door. Hooking Snowball's leash to the other cell door, Mandie explained what she wanted them to do.

“No problem,” Mary said. “Five of us can surely lift that silly old crossbar.”

Together they beat and banged and pushed and pulled at the iron bar. But it wouldn't budge. They tried different angles without any luck. Mandie worried about all the noise they were making, but there was no other way to get Jonathan out.

As she stopped to take a breath, Mandie said, “I suppose you're the ones who have been sending mysterious messages and notes.”

“Not us,” Maude said. “Our mother has been doing that. She also sent flowers to the hotel.”

“We
were
the ones who put that note in your journal and then came and took it back,” Martha admitted. “We didn't know exactly what was going on, and we didn't want you to get in any trouble.”

“Well, that was nice of you,” Mandie said sarcastically. “Why couldn't you have come and told us what was going on?”

Jonathan called from inside the room. “Please hurry up and get the door open. Please. Those men will be back.”

“You're right,” Mandie answered, turning back to the old crossbar.

Suddenly there was the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the passageway.

The girls looked at each other in alarm. Mandie quickly grabbed Snowball and held him in her arms to keep him quiet. Then she softly pushed the cell door shut. All five girls backed off in a corner.

The footsteps stopped outside Jonathan's door, and the deep voice said, “We will be sending you food soon. We will be back.”

“All right,” Jonathan replied through the closed door.

As the sound of footsteps died away, the girls breathed a sigh of relief.

“Quick! We've got to get that bar off,” Mandie said. She opened the cell door and swiftly tied Snowball's leash to it. “They'll go to the carriage, find y'all gone and come back looking for you!” she told the girls.

Spurred on by fright, the girls pushed with all their might and the crossbar slowly became dislodged from its rusty hitches. The iron bar was also rusty, which had created the tighter fit. They still struggled to free the bar completely from the narrow openings on each end.

Mandie stomped her foot. “It's enough to make me lose my temper!” she cried.

“Me, too,” Celia agreed.

“Don't give up,” Mary said. “We can do it. We've got it loose. All we have to do is heave upward together and force the bar out. Let's do it.”

The five girls tried again.

“I wish I were out there to help,” Jonathan said through the door.

“Then we wouldn't have to do this!” Mandie replied.

The five girls worked on the bar again. They were making so much noise that they didn't hear the approaching footsteps. Suddenly the bar came free, and they almost lost their balance.

Just then, there was a loud voice behind them. “Just what are you girls doing?” the Britishman asked, snatching Maude with one hand and Martha with the other.

The deep-voiced man grabbed Mary and lunged at Mandie and Celia, but they were too quick for him. Mandie picked up Snowball, and she and Celia dashed out into the hallway.

“Look out!” Mandie cried to Celia.

Celia ran straight into the Covington girls' “mother.” As the woman grabbed Celia, Mandie raised her long skirts and aimed a sharp-toed shoe at the woman's shin. The woman gasped in pain, and Celia got away.

Mandie and Celia ran and ran into one side passageway after another as they zigzagged away from the spies. Finally, they had to slow down to catch their breath.

“Whew!” Mandie gasped as she and Celia sat down on the cobblestone passageway. They looked around in the dim light.

“I have no idea where we are now,” Mandie said between breaths.

“Me either,” Celia said, panting beside her friend.

Snowball clung to his mistress.

Mandie stroked her kitten reassuringly. “Celia, I don't know if we'll ever find our way back outdoors.” She sighed. “We need to find one of those guards and tell him what's going on.”

“Right,” Celia agreed. As she brushed back her thick auburn curls, she felt around for the combs in her hair. They weren't there. Her long hair hung around her shoulders, and her bonnet was clinging by a string. Putting her bonnet back on, she retied it.

Mandie laughed. “You look just great. I'm sure I do, too.” She felt for the combs in her hair and could only find one. “Celia, I've lost my bonnet!”

Celia reached behind her friend. “No, here's your bonnet, Mandie. It was hanging down your back,” she said, pulling it around.

Laughing again, Mandie tightened the strings under her chin and let the bonnet hang down her back. “Celia, we've got to help Jonathan,” she said. “I imagine that man and woman are going to be awfully angry with those girls. They saw us all pulling that crossbar off the door.”

“What do you suggest doing?” Celia asked.

“If we can only find our way out of this place and get to a guard, we'll be able to get help,” Mandie said. “You know, I can't figure out why there was no one in that part of the tunnel except those spies.”

“But since it's an ancient dungeon, no one would know it's being used,” Celia replied.

“I guess you're right, Celia,” Mandie admitted. “Do you remember the windows high up in the cells? Well, if we could find those windows from the outside of the building, we'd be able to tell where Jonathan is.”

“Right!” Celia brightened. “Let's try.”

Hastily weaving in and out the corridors, they finally saw light at the end of a passageway.

“Come on!” Mandie cried happily. Holding Snowball tightly, she raced toward the daylight.

“I'm coming,” Celia replied, trying to keep up with her friend.

When they finally reached the daylight, they discovered they were back at the entrance where they had come in. There were lots of people around, and there was a uniformed man at the entrance.

Mandie ran up to the man and began talking to him. “Mister, there's someone locked up in the dungeon in that tunnel down there, and he needs help. Please get the police and help us get him out,” Mandie babbled.

The man stared at her in surprise. Obviously not understanding English, he began talking rapidly in French. Mandie and Celia tried gestures, but that didn't work either. The man still couldn't understand.

Mandie turned to Celia. “We are a sight to be seen—all dirty and falling apart. He probably thinks we're crazy or something!”

“That's what I was thinking, Mandie,” Celia replied.

“Let's try someone else,” Mandie said.

The girls began walking around the grounds of the palace, trying to make people understand what they were saying. Some were polite and smiled. Some looked at them in disgust. Some just turned and walked away.

“You know, Celia, I've been thinking,” Mandie told her friend as they paused by a water fountain. “We probably should go back and see if Jonathan is still there. Those people might have taken him away because they know we found him.”

“Is it possible to find our way back to that dungeon?” Celia asked, doubtfully.

Mandie ran her fingers through the spray of water from the fountain. “I think we ought to at least try,” she replied.

As they re-entered the tunnel at the same place they had gone in before, a carriage came rushing out, almost running them over.

Mandie and Celia jumped aside just in time.

“It wasn't the Clydesdale horses,” Mandie noted.

“No, it wasn't the same carriage,” Celia agreed.

The girls tried to remember exactly the way they had gone before. It seemed to take forever, but they eventually found the dungeon.

“We're on the right path,” Mandie whispered, leading the way.

As they finally located the door to the cell where Jonathan had been, they paused and listened. The sound of several voices echoed off the walls. Mandie peeked through the keyhole and was startled to
find not only Jonathan but the three Covington girls all locked in the small room.

Silently, Mandie and Celia looked inside the connecting room and saw that the crossbar was back in place. Going back to the keyhole, Mandie whispered loudly, “Jonathan, we're back!”

Jonathan came to look through the hole from his side of the door. “Mandie, please be careful,” he quietly warned. “Those people are dangerous. They've even locked up their daughters in here because they were trying to help me escape.”

“We've tried to get help, but no one understands English,” Mandie told him. “They all look at us as though we were demented.”

“Mandie, I have an idea,” Jonathan whispered. “Can you learn to say this?
Aidez-moi, s'il vous plaît
? That's “Please help me” in French. Can you say it?
Aidez-moi, s'il vous plaît
.”

“AY-day MWA, seel voo PLAY,” Mandie repeated awkwardly.

“That's good enough,” Jonathan said. “If you can find someone and say that to them and then show by gestures that they are to follow you, maybe they'll understand.”

Mary moved in front of the keyhole. “The French do not know we are in here,” she told Mandie. “This part of the palace is not in use. You will have to show them the way.”

“What are those awful people going to do with you girls?” Mandie asked.

“We do not know, but they are terribly angry with us,” Mary replied. “I think you should hurry before they come back.”

Jonathan came to the keyhole again. “Mandie, don't forget.
Aidezmoi, s'il vous plaît
.”

“AY-day MWA, seel voo PLAY,” Mandie repeated again. “We'll hurry. I can't promise anything, Jonathan, but we'll try everything we can think of.”

Mandie and Celia hurried off in search of someone to try the newly acquired French on. They crisscrossed tunnels, anxiously looking for anybody except the spies. And they suddenly found themselves at the end of the tunnel where they had found the three sisters earlier. They were in the forest again.

“Oh, goodness!” Mandie moaned. She flopped down on the low wall where the girls had been sitting. “I am tired, and it seems as though all we do is go round and round in circles. Let's rest a few minutes and
think this thing out.” She let Snowball down on his leash and rested

her head on her hands.

Celia closed her eyes and leaned against a statue behind them.

They were silently contemplating the situation when suddenly a low bird whistle jerked Mandie to her feet.

She gasped. “It can't be!” she cried, clasping her hands for joy. “It can't be!”

Celia looked at her friend. “Mandie, what is it?”

There was another low bird whistle.

“Celia, it has to be Uncle Ned!” she exclaimed. “It has to be! That's his signal to me, remember?” Mandie turned 'round and 'round, straining to see through the bushes and trees. “Uncle Ned, where are you?” she called.