Mandie Collection, The: 4 (36 page)

“I don’t know, dear, unless Snowball got lost and they couldn’t find him,” the senator said.

“Oh, Snowball, if you could only talk,” Mandie said as she cuddled him close in the folds of the long cloak.

“Shall we go on?” Kurt asked.

“Yes, I think we’d better,” Senator Morton told him. “Take the long way back to the castle and we’ll see if we can find anything on that road.”

Kurt got the carriage turned around and they drove several miles back in the direction from which Mandie and her group had traveled the previous day. After a long time Kurt turned the vehicle onto a wide road, and here and there Mandie could make out small dwellings along the way. But there was no sign of anyone anywhere.

Finally they came to the road that Mandie knew led to the castle. By this time the sky was beginning to lighten with the first rays of the morning sun.

“Senator Morton, we didn’t find a thing, except Snowball of course,” Mandie said. “What are we going to do now?”

“Kurt and I discussed the possibility of not finding them, and decided we would go all the way back to the town where we rented the carriage that was wrecked yesterday,” the senator said. “The note from Jonathan said our driver had sent someone else to get them. Therefore, the owners of the carriage should know something.”

“Just give me time to round up my clothes and I’ll go back with you,” Mandie told him as Snowball stood up and turned around in her lap.

“I’ll change, too, before we leave again,” he said.

Kurt circled the castle as he had done when he first brought them there, and as Mandie watched out the carriage window, she saw another carriage standing in the driveway ahead. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she
saw her grandmother being assisted down from the vehicle by the driver, and her friends Celia and Jonathan scrambling out behind her.

Mandie reached for the door at the same time. “They’re here!” she cried. “Look!”

Kurt had stopped their carriage and had come back to open the door for them. Mandie in her haste threw the door open and almost knocked him down.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” she exclaimed as she stumbled down the steps. Kurt caught his balance and reached out to assist her.

“That’s quite all right, miss. I know that must be your grandmother and friends,” he said, smiling at her.

“Yes, it is!” Mandie cried as she ran toward her grandmother, who had just straightened up and turned toward her.

Mandie threw her arms around her grandmother, with Snowball in tow on his leash. “Oh, Grandmother, thank the Lord you’re all right,” she cried as tears streamed down her face.

“Yes, dear, in spite of our ordeal we’re all here safely,” Mrs. Taft said, returning the embrace. When she released Mandie she saw Snowball. “Where did you find him?”

“Snowball? Oh, Grandmother, I’m freezing. Let’s go inside and I’ll tell you what happened.”

Mandie turned to her friends and smothered them with hugs too. Senator Morton assisted Mrs. Taft as they all entered the castle.

Even though it was barely daylight, Frau Jahn was at the door to greet them.

“You have had such an experience! Perhaps you’d like a cup of tea by the fire in the drawing room before you go upstairs?” Frau Jahn suggested.

Mrs. Taft hesitated, but Mandie quickly made up her mind for her.

“Please, Grandmother, while we are all together, let’s talk about what happened,” Mandie begged, still holding firmly to Snowball.

“I suppose we’d better, and then we can rest,” Mrs. Taft agreed. She turned back to Frau Jahn and asked, “What time does the baroness usually rise in the morning?”

“Much later, madam,” the housekeeper told her. “Shall I show you to the drawing room now?”

“Yes, please,” Mrs. Taft said.

They followed the housekeeper down several hallways and were shown into a drawing room decorated in deep red and gold, where a fire was blazing in an enormous fireplace.

Too exhausted to make much observation, Mandie followed the adults to the chairs by the fire, threw off the cloak she was wearing, and plopped down on a low settee. Celia and Jonathan joined her.

Snowball wanted down, and Frau Jahn noticed him for the first time.

“If you please, I will take the cat and ask the cook to feed him,” she offered.

“Thank you,” Mandie said, handing his leash to her. “But please, be careful that he doesn’t get out. He has already been lost once. He likes to run away.”

Frau Jahn took Snowball into her arms and cuddled him. The kitten seemed content.

“We will be careful, miss. He will be fed in a closed room where he cannot escape,” she promised. “I will send the maid with tea immediately.”

As soon as Frau Jahn left the room, everyone spoke at once. Mandie and her grandmother looked at each other and they both said, “Tell me—”

Mandie laughed, and said, “You first, Grandmother.
Where
have y’all been? We’ve been nearly worried to death!”

“Yes, and so have we,” Mrs. Taft replied. “We left you a note.”

“We got the note when we went back to look for you, but that was a long time ago,” Mandie told her. “What happened?”

“As the note said, our driver sent another carriage for us,” Mrs. Taft began. “After we got all the luggage loaded onto it, we started out. The driver, like the first one, had never been in the area before and he thought he knew the way to the castle, but we had to backtrack on the road we had traveled earlier. Then after we were miles and miles down that road, Celia suddenly realized Snowball was missing.”

“I’m sorry, Mandie,” Celia said, squeezing her hand.

Mandie squeezed her hand back and said to her grandmother, “As you saw, we found Snowball, but I’ll tell you about that when you’re finished.”

“Well, we turned around and went back to look for him. Jonathan and Celia searched the whole area and couldn’t find him, so we decided
we’d get on to the castle and have you go back later and look for him. You know sometimes he won’t come to other people like he will to you,” Mrs. Taft explained.

“You are right about that,” Senator Morton said, smiling at Mrs. Taft.

“So when we started back, the driver somehow took the wrong road and we ended up in a village a long way off. By that time everyone was tired and worn out and confused,” she continued.

A uniformed maid quietly brought tea on a cart and set everything out before Mrs. Taft. Everyone waited silently.

“Would you require anything else, madam?” the girl asked.

“No, thank you,” Mrs. Taft replied and smiled, dismissing the maid.

As her grandmother reached for the teapot, Mandie got up to help her. “I’ll pass the tea,” she offered.

Getting a good look at her granddaughter, Mrs. Taft gasped, “Amanda, what are you wearing?”

Mandie looked down at the borrowed robe, and said, “It’s a robe the housekeeper gave me. My clothes were all wet and I didn’t have anything to change into. Please continue, Grandmother.”

Mrs. Taft cleared her throat and went on, “As I was saying, we were all tired and cross so I discharged the driver and carriage and rented another one in the village. This man knew where we wanted to go. He brought us here and here we are!”

Jonathan spoke up, “The first driver found the horses. They weren’t too far away. The second driver told us he had brought them back.”

“Now, dear, what happened to you and Senator Morton after you left us?” Mrs. Taft asked as she sipped the hot tea.

Mandie quickly related their experiences and then she finally remembered to ask, “Celia, how is your hand?”

Celia smiled and said, “It’s going to be all right.”

“Oh, dear, Celia, how awful of me,” Mrs. Taft said. “I must get the maid to bring you some liniment for your wrist.”

When the maid came to show them to their rooms, she returned at Mrs. Taft’s request to get some medicine, and promised to bathe Celia’s wrist for her.

Senator Morton took Mrs. Taft’s arm and said, “You don’t know how relieved I am to know that you are finally safely here.”

“And so am I,” she said, returning his smile.

The others were shown to their rooms, and Mandie was grateful that they were all located close together.

Mandie and Celia had adjoining rooms, and Mandie sat by the fire with her friend while the maid bathed Celia’s wrist. Snowball had also been brought back, and was now playing around the hearth.

“Thanks for putting us in rooms together,” Mandie said. “We’ll probably sleep together, since this is a strange place to us.”

“This is indeed a strange place,” the maid said as she rubbed Celia’s wrist.

“What do you mean by that?” Celia asked.

“Strange things happen here sometimes, which no one can explain,” the girl told her.

“Like what?” Mandie asked eagerly.

“Like that huge juniper tree that jumps up and down sometimes,” the maid said.

“A juniper tree that jumps up and down? How could that be?” Mandie asked.

“No one knows yet, but it happened again last night,” the girl said.

“I never heard of a tree that could jump!” Celia said in a nervous voice.

“This one is probably forty feet tall. It’s an unbelievable sight, but it has been seen to jump up and down occasionally,” the girl said. She replaced the stopper on the bottle of liniment. “I must go now. You young ladies get some sleep and I will bring you some food later.”

“Thank you,” Celia said.

“What is your name?” Mandie asked.

“No one told you? My name is Olga, and if you need anything please let me know,” the girl said, smiling.

“A tree that jumps up and down? Do you believe that, Celia?” Mandie asked as they jumped into the big bed and Snowball followed to curl up on their feet.

“No, I don’t, Mandie,” Celia said. “I don’t see how it could be possible.”

“Well, we’ll just find out whether she is making up tales or not,” Mandie declared as they both drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE DUNGEON

The girls felt as though they had just gone to sleep when Olga was waking them. She had brought them cups of hot tea.

“Your grandmother says you girls are to drink this tea, get dressed properly, and come down to the dining room for the noon meal,” she told them all in one breath as she set the tray on a nearby table.

Mandie and Celia sprang upright, disoriented at first. Snowball jumped down off the bed and prowled around.

“Oh, I know what he’s looking for,” Mandie said, jumping out of bed to get the kitten. She turned to the maid and asked, “You don’t happen to have a sandbox for my kitten, do you?”

“A sandbox? You mean a box with sand in it?” the maid asked, puzzled by the American term.

“Yes, you know, a place where he can go to the bathroom,” Mandie replied.

“Oh, that is no problem,” she said, walking across the room and opening a door. “Here is the bathroom.”

Mandie, exasperated with the girl’s lack of understanding, and worried that Snowball might soil the carpet, said, “I know that is the bathroom. But my kitten needs his own little commode.”

“Ah, yes, commode!” Olga exclaimed, understanding at last. She pushed the door open to the bathroom. “His commode is right here.”

Mandie followed her and saw the pottery bowl full of sand at the end of the bathtub. She put Snowball on the floor, and he ran straight to the bowl and jumped up.

“Thank goodness!” she sighed, and followed the maid back out into her bedroom.

Celia was up and checking the luggage, which had been set in one corner of the room. They had taken nightclothes from their small overnight bags when they readied themselves for bed.

“Mandie, we haven’t unpacked! What are we going to put on?” she asked.

“I’d forgotten. We’ll probably find everything all tangled up inside our trunks after that tumble in the carriage yesterday,” Mandie said, shaking her head.

“But that is my job,” Olga said. “I will unpack your belongings and hang them up.” She went straight to the trunks. “I did not know they were not done.”

“That’s because we only got our luggage early this morning when my grandmother and the others finally got here,” Mandie explained. She opened her purse on the bureau and got her key while Celia did the same.

Celia had no trouble unlocking her trunk, but the lock on Mandie’s seemed to have been damaged in the wreck. She couldn’t get the key to turn. Neither could Olga.

“I will get a man to do this for us. He will be stronger,” Olga said, straightening up. “As soon as you girls go downstairs he will come up.”

“Thank you,” Mandie said. “But what will I put on right now?”

“Mandie,” Celia quickly offered, “my things are not damaged, only wrinkled. Maybe you can find something of mine to put on that won’t look too bad.”

“Well, if you don’t mind, I sure would appreciate it,” Mandie said, walking over to Celia’s trunk. “What do you want me to wear?”

“Anything you like, Mandie. We are about the same size, so I think anything would fit you all right,” Celia said. “Choose whatever you want.”

“No, you tell me what,” Mandie insisted. “What are you going to wear?”

Celia bent over to look, and picked up a dress from the top. “Oh, I
suppose I’ll put on this green one.” She shook it out and hung it across the back of a chair.

Mandie picked up the next dress and said, “Then I’ll just wear this blue one, if you don’t mind.” She held it up. “I’m sure it’ll fit.” She draped it across another chair. “I don’t believe they’ll be too wrinkled to wear.”

“You girls drink your tea quickly and I will help you get dressed,” Olga offered as she pulled more dresses out of Celia’s trunk and spread them out on the bed.

While they dressed Mandie asked the maid, “Will you show us the juniper tree that jumps up and down?”

“The jumping juniper tree? Oh, yes, you passed it when you came here,” Olga told her as she buttoned the back of Mandie’s dress. “It stands right around the corner from the drawbridge.”

“I was tired both times we came in and I don’t really remember anything about the outside of this house. I saw the moat, but it was dark,” Mandie explained as she turned to the mirror to brush her hair.

Olga helped Celia into her dress, and commented, “When you go outside look for it. It is the oldest tree here, I understand, and the tallest.”