Mandie Collection, The: 4 (73 page)

“If you will excuse me, I will see about our carriage,” Senator Morton told Mrs. Taft as he rose to leave the table.

“Of course, thank you, Senator,” Mrs. Taft replied as the senator left the room.

“If you will excuse me also, I’ll go help,” Jonathan said to Mrs. Taft.

“Go ahead, Jonathan. We’ll be along soon,” Mrs. Taft said as she finished her coffee. Jonathan quickly left the room.

Mandie, suspicious of Jonathan’s motive for leaving, quickly swallowed the last bite on her plate and said, “I’m finished, Grandmother.”

“I am also,” Celia added.

“Well, then, it looks like we’re all finished, so let’s get started,” Mrs. Taft said as she pushed back her chair.

Gretchen, standing nearby, told Mandie, “I’ll get your cat,” and left the room.

“Are you planning on taking your cat with you today, Amanda?” Mrs. Taft asked.

“I have to, Grandmother. We’ll probably be gone all day, and I can’t leave him shut up all alone in our room that long,” Mandie said as Gretchen returned with Snowball in her arms and handed him to his mistress.

“Be sure you watch after him carefully, then. I won’t have time wasted because of that cat running away and getting into things,” Mrs. Taft warned her.

“I’m going to help her with Snowball,” Celia said as the three left the dining room.

William had the carriage waiting at the front door while Senator Morton stood by. Mandie looked around, but couldn’t see Jonathan anywhere.

“Where is Jonathan, Senator Morton?” Mandie asked.

“He said he wanted to walk around the house a minute for something,” the senator told her.

“I’ll go get him,” Mandie said, giving her cat to Celia in a hurry, and rushing off down the pathway before her grandmother could object.

She found him exactly where she expected. He was standing down in the flower field looking at the windmill in the distance.

“Jonathan Guyer, we are fixing to leave you,” she called to him.

Jonathan quickly turned and started walking toward her. “I just wanted to see if the blades on the windmill had changed position.”

Mandie glanced at the blades across the field. They were still in the closed position as far as she could tell. Evidently Mr. Van Dongen didn’t get up and go to work very early.

“You see they haven’t moved,” Jonathan told her as he caught up with her in the pathway.

“You know Grandmother is in a hurry, so come on,” Mandie told him as she hurried back around the house.

Mrs. Taft, Senator Morton, and Celia, with Snowball, were already in the carriage, and Mandie rushed up to join them. She looked at her grandmother as she quickly sat down next to Celia, and Jonathan practically tumbled in beside her in his haste. Mrs. Taft didn’t seem to notice that the two had delayed their start a few minutes.

“Tell us about this place we’re going to visit, Grandmother,” Mandie said as William got the carriage on its way.

“It’s an ancient city. As I’ve said before, it is called the City of William of Orange, who was the father of the Dutch Royal family,” Mrs. Taft began. “I’m sure you will all be fascinated with the town. It’s so old and quaint.”

“What about the Delftware factory?” Mandie asked.

“I believe it was along about the beginning of the seventeenth century that the Dutch were being put out of the porcelain business by Chinese imports,” Mrs. Taft said. “The Chinese had learned how to make probably the best porcelain in the world. Well, the Royal family
had to do something about this. So the Dutch people learned how to make the Delft blue ware, which was done by hand and exquisitely painted. And the Delftware surpassed its Eastern counterpart.”

“So all the porcelain is blue?” Mandie asked.

“Well, the Delftware is white, but the painting on it is all blue,” Mrs. Taft answered.

After a long journey they finally arrived at the city of Delft. The young people watched out the window of the carriage as they passed canals, steep bridges, and old houses with quaint gables and tile roofs. There seemed to be sidewalk cafes everywhere and several open-air markets.

“Oh, this is so interesting!” Mandie exclaimed as she looked at the scenery. Snowball woke up and stretched at her feet.

“We will be stopping at a cafe to get some refreshments first, then we’ll go on to the factory,” Mrs. Taft told them.

“I could sure use some refreshment,” Jonathan said with a sigh. “I guess I didn’t eat enough breakfast.”

“Me either,” Celia added.

“I can smell the food already,” Mandie said as the odor of freshly baked bread drifted through the carriage windows.

“I asked William to let us out at the next square, I believe,” Senator Morton told Mrs. Taft. “There’s a place on the corner that has good food.”

After they left the carriage, Mrs. Taft allowed them to walk about the area for a few minutes. Mandie put Snowball on his leash. She and Senator Morton kept right up with them. The young people were excited over the picturesque village. Everywhere they looked they saw something that held their interest.

“Oh, I’d like to stay here awhile!” Mandie exclaimed as they walked over a high, steep bridge made of stone, surrounded by flowers.

“Unfortunately we have to return to our house tonight,” Mrs. Taft told her. “We can’t get too far behind with our schedule for the other countries.”

As the young people stepped off the curved bridge, Mandie suddenly saw a flash of a familiar face in the crowd. She knew immediately that it was the woman from the ship who had been following them everywhere they went.

“Quick! The woman from the ship!” she called to her friends.

Picking up Snowball she raced off in the direction the woman had gone.

Jonathan and Celia quickly followed, while Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton stood there wondering what had caused the young people to hurry away.

Mandie searched the crowd, looking behind statues, bushes, and fences, but she couldn’t find a sign of the woman. She stopped and stomped her foot as her friends caught up with her.

“She got away, as usual,” Mandie told them. “But I’m sure it was that strange woman from the ship. I do wish she would quit following us everywhere.”

“I think we just ought to ignore her if we see her again,” Celia said.

“Yes, she’s always playing games with us, running away like that,” Jonathan agreed.

“But we don’t know why she does it,” Mandie said. With a final look around she said, “Guess we’d better go back. Grandmother will wonder what we’re doing.”

As they returned to where she and Senator Morton were waiting, Mrs. Taft asked, “Amanda, what possessed you to run off like that?”

“Sorry, Grandmother, I thought I saw someone I knew,” Mandie told her.

“Someone you knew? Here in Holland? How could that be?” Mrs. Taft asked.

“Well, I guess it wasn’t,” Mandie said, deciding not to discuss the strange woman with her grandmother. “I’m starving. Could we eat now?”

“Just be sure that we all stay together from now on,” Mrs. Taft said as she and Senator Morton led the way to the sidewalk cafe. White tables and chairs were arranged in clusters on a blue and white tile floor. Pots full of blooming plants outlined the dining area. And the smell of food was enough to make the young people ravenous.

“We can’t spend too much time here,” Mrs. Taft reminded them. “So decide quickly what you want to order.”

With Senator Morton to guide them through the Dutch menu, the young people finally ordered a delicious meal of creamed chicken. Mandie tied Snowball to the table leg and fed him a small dish of food when it came.

Within a short time they were all ready to travel on to the factory. The road was winding and narrow, and they crossed a steep bridge over a small canal. When the factory came within sight, Mandie was somewhat disappointed with the look of it. It was very old and was surrounded with crumbling stone walls. It looked more like a fortress than a factory.

“It certainly is a strange-looking factory,” Mandie remarked as they alighted. She left Snowball in the carriage.

“Wait until you get inside,” Mrs. Taft remarked, “and you’ll see such wonderful work being done that you’ll forget about the way the place looks.”

One door was open to visitors, and they had to get into a line before going inside. Mandie noticed several different nationalities in the crowd, and could hear various languages being spoken.

Senator Morton explained: “You will see visitors from many countries here. It is famous worldwide, and a visit to Holland is not complete without a visit here.”

The young people played a guessing game as to the nationalities represented. “That blond man and woman ahead of us are probably Swedish,” Jonathan said quietly.

Mandie asked, “How can you tell?”

“I can hear them talking,” Jonathan said with a grin.

Mandie glanced behind them and saw an Oriental man and woman join the line.

“And I imagine those people behind us are Chinese,” she said smugly.

Jonathan turned discreetly to look. “You are probably right,” he agreed.

“I’ve never seen Chinese people before, but they look like the pictures I’ve seen,” Celia agreed as she stole a glance.

The line moved forward quickly, and they found themselves inside the structure with Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton. Aisles were roped off so that the visitors could walk along and watch the workers without interrupting them. A tall Dutchman herded them along, but no information was given. It seemed to be a case of watch and see for yourself.

They passed huge vats of blue paint and then yellow paint. Mandie wondered what they did with the yellow paint if the porcelain was all painted blue.

“What do they do with the yellow paint?” she finally asked.

“Well, I don’t know,” Jonathan began, “but if we dumped some of this yellow into the blue paint over there we’d have green.”

Mandie was shocked. “Jonathan Guyer, how dare you even say such a thing!” she exclaimed. “It would ruin everything!”

“And cause all sorts of trouble,” Celia added.

“Of course it would. I didn’t really intend doing that,” Jonathan said, alarmed that the girls thought he was serious. “I just don’t know what they do with the yellow paint.”

Senator Morton heard this remark and turned back to say, “Look at the wall over in that corner. It looks like they are painting it yellow.”

The young people looked in the direction he pointed and saw that he was right. Fresh yellow paint covered part of the wall.

After the adults drifted a little ahead, Jonathan whispered to the girls, “I’d still like to see what would happen if we mixed the blue and the yellow.”

“You’d better not try it,” Mandie cautioned as they moved forward.

The paint seemed to be coming through funnels at each worker’s table, and as they watched, the blue design was carefully painted on the porcelain. Mandie was fascinated by it all, until she suddenly realized Jonathan had disappeared.

“Where did Jonathan go?” Mandie whispered to Celia.

“I don’t know,” Celia said, looking about for him.

“Come along, Amanda,” Mrs. Taft called back to her.

Then as easily as Jonathan had disappeared, he suddenly turned up in line again without the girls seeing where he’d come from.

“Jonathan, where have you been?” Mandie whispered to him.

“That’s a secret,” Jonathan replied with his mischievous grin.

Mandie frowned at him and moved along quickly behind the adults. There were a lot of people in line and it was slow-moving, but Mandie enjoyed watching the workers fashion the blue designs with their swift strokes.

Suddenly a worker that she was watching cried out. She looked to see what was wrong. A man who was evidently the supervisor came running to the worker’s table. There was a lot of excited talk back and forth, and Mandie strained to see over heads. Finally she found an
opening to peek through. She could see that the worker’s design was green instead of blue!

Turning quickly, Mandie stomped on Jonathan’s foot and said, “Jonathan, you mixed the blue and the yellow! How could you?”

Jonathan looked shocked as he said, “No, I didn’t!” He looked at Mandie and then at the piece of porcelain the worker was holding.

The adults turned to see what the commotion was about. Mandie immediately straightened up and stopped accusing Jonathan. It would be better if her grandmother didn’t know what Jonathan had done.

Mrs. Taft looked over at the three and then said to the senator, “Can you imagine what kind of person would do such a thing? To ruin all that paint and porcelain?”

“I’d say it would be a very dangerous thing to do with all the possible repercussions from the Royal family. This factory is their pride and joy,” Senator Morton replied.

Someone seemed to be shoving in line behind them, so Mandie turned to look back. Some people were leaving without finishing the tour. She noticed an older couple walking toward the doorway they had come through, and the Oriental man and woman were also leaving. Then the people ahead of them, that Jonathan had said were Swedish, also turned to go back the way they had come in.

“Come along, Amanda,” Mrs. Taft urged.

Mandie looked forward to see the room suddenly fill with guards who were ushering the people out another doorway. Evidently they had been in the building all the time.

As they stepped outside, one of the guards was asking for identification and writing information on a tablet. Senator Morton took care of all their papers and the man passed them on. They were free to leave.

As they walked toward their waiting carriage, Mrs. Taft discussed the matter with Senator Morton. The young people, following closely, listened. Mandie kept watching Jonathan out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be watching the other visitors.

“That was certainly a stroke of bad luck for us, as well as for the factory,” Mrs. Taft remarked. “We didn’t get to see everything.”

“Yes, and I hope they catch whoever did such a thing,” Senator Morton replied. “The Royal family feels so strongly about this factory, I wouldn’t be surprised if the culprit were hanged, if he is caught.”

Mandie’s heart thumped wildly in her chest. She knew Jonathan
had done this awful thing, and now his very life would be in danger if he were found out. Well, she wouldn’t go so far as to tell on him. She wouldn’t want to be responsible for having him hung. But she would keep her eyes open for any more such deeds he might try to do, because she was determined not to be involved in such things.