The Mandie Collection (30 page)

“I think Uncle Ned has been almost everywhere. Remember, he even came to Europe, and he was at President McKinley's second inauguration,” Mandie reminded him.

“Do you stay in touch with him? I mean, does he know you have come to New York?” Jonathan asked.

“He always knows where I am,” Mandie replied. “When my father died, Uncle Ned promised him he would watch over me, and he always does. My father considered him his best friend. And you know that my father's mother was Cherokee, but Uncle Ned is not actually blood kin.”

“I remember you telling me all that,” Jonathan replied, hungrily devouring his food.

“I just thought of something,” Mandie said, sitting up straighter. “When Celia and her mother come back from shopping, are we going to tell them everything that happened to us today?”

Jonathan thought about that for a moment and said, “We won't if you don't want to.”

“I know that her mother will tell my mother about everything we do here in New York, and it would just worry my mother. After all, that terrible ordeal on the roof is over,” Mandie explained. “I suppose it would be all right to tell them the rest of the events since they left this morning.”

“Then I will speak to my father privately, because I will have to tell him everything,” Jonathan said, reaching to refill his plate. “More roast or anything?”

“No, not right now,” Mandie said. “In a way, I'll be glad when Celia gets back so we can discuss all this with her. I will tell her everything, but not her mother.”

“And she won't tell?” Jonathan questioned.

“No, she's my best friend. We share all our secrets,” Mandie replied.

Mandie found herself looking forward to the return of her friend but wondered how she would talk with her right away without her mother present. She would have to think of a way.

CHAPTER NINE

MORE MYSTERY

When Celia and her mother returned from shopping, Mandie and Jonathan were still sitting by the fire in the parlor. Mandie was trying to figure out a way to talk privately with her friend, but the answer came much easier than she had expected.

“How are you feeling, Amanda?” Mrs. Hamilton asked as she looked at Mandie lying under the quilts on the settee.

“I think I'll soon be all right, Mrs. Hamilton,” Mandie said with a big smile. She certainly didn't want Celia's mother to worry about her health.

“I hope so. And, Jonathan, did you have a nice day?” Mrs. Hamilton asked. She removed her gloves and began unbuttoning her heavy winter coat.

“It was interesting. But where are your packages? I thought you and Celia went shopping,” Jonathan replied, standing by the mantelpiece.

“Everything will be shipped directly to our home so we don't have to bother with it on our return journey,” Mrs. Hamilton said, removing her coat. “Come on now, Celia, and get cleaned up.”

Celia had been standing in the middle of the floor looking at the others. Now she smiled at her mother and said, “I'll be right up, Mother. There's something I need to tell Mandie first.”

“Well, don't be too long,” her mother replied as she left the room.

“What is it, Mandie? You look like the goose that laid the golden egg,” Celia said, quickly pulling up a stool by the settee. She took off her gloves and coat and sat down.

“Why, Celia, what on earth are you talking about?” Mandie teased.

“We certainly haven't seen any golden eggs today,” Jonathan told her as he sat down in the chair next to them.

“Oh, do tell, Mandie,” Celia said, eagerly looking from Jonathan to Mandie. “What have y'all been up to today?”

“Well, you see, it was like this,” Mandie began. She quickly related the day's events to her friend with Jonathan adding a comment here and there. Celia's eyes widened as she listened.

“Mandie, how could you even think about going into such a neighborhood?” Celia asked.

“We didn't exactly have time to think. The man was getting away, and we had to follow real fast,” Mandie replied.

“Remember, Uncle Ned always tells us to think first and then act?” Celia reminded her. She looked at Jonathan and added, “Jonathan, you must have known that was a dangerous part of town.”

“But we didn't see anything dangerous going on over there,” Jonathan told her.

“No, it didn't look dangerous, Celia,” Mandie agreed and frowned. “It's just a lot of poor people who don't even know how to speak English.”

“And Dr. Plumbley said his office is near there,” Jonathan told her.

“And, Celia, he and his nephew Moses are coming here for dinner tomorrow,” Mandie said with a big smile. “We asked them, and Jonathan said it would be all right with his father. Mr. Guyer hasn't come home yet.”

“You and Jonathan could have been locked out on that roof forever without anyone even knowing where you were. Suppose that girl had not opened the door and it had begun to snow real hard. What would you have done?” Celia asked in disbelief. “And you know these people must be dangerous. After all, you said they tied up the butler and stole something from the house here.”

“That's what Jens claims. I plan on asking my father to talk to him,” Jonathan said.

“Well, here I am. What is it you want me to talk about, son?” Mr. Guyer asked from the doorway. He walked into the room.

“Oh, Father, I didn't hear you come in,” Jonathan said, rising from the chair. “Could we talk privately when you have time?”

“There's no better time than now. Come with me. We'll go up to my study,” Mr. Guyer said. He looked at the girls and added, “I hope you young ladies have been enjoying yourselves. Are you feeling under the weather, Miss Amanda, or just resting under those quilts?”

“I'm feeling much better now, thank you, Mr. Guyer,” Mandie replied as she sat straight up. “I have a little cold, but I do believe it's about to go away.”

“Let's hope so. Now, Jonathan, come on,” Mr. Guyer told his son.

“Be back soon,” Jonathan told the girls.

“Be sure you tell him everything, and I mean everything, Jonathan,” Mandie said in a loud whisper as Mr. Guyer left the room and Jonathan started to follow.

Jonathan gave her a big grin and said as he went out the doorway, “Yes, ma'am, Miss Amanda. That I will do.”

Celia stood up and shook out her long skirts as she held her coat and gloves. “Mandie,” she said, “I'd better get upstairs before my mother comes looking for me, but I'll be right back.”

Mandie looked at her friend and said, “You understand, Celia, that we are not going to tell your mother every little thing we've been doing because she would go and tell my mother, and it would worry her. My mother's still not completely recovered from the fever, you know, and I don't want anything to worry her.”

“I am not about to tell my mother all the things you and Jonathan have been saying,” Celia promised. “My mother would probably pack up right here and now and take us home. But, Mandie, please try to stay out of danger.”

“Oh, go on to your room, Celia,” Mandie said with a laugh. “We survived, and I certainly don't plan on doing anything like that again. I learned my lesson.”

“I sure hope so,” Celia replied, going toward the door to the hallway. “Be right back.”

Mandie lay on the settee by herself, reliving the day's events in her mind, and she was a little frightened when she thought about it. She and Jonathan could have ended up in a lot of trouble if these people in
that tenement house had decided to treat them as intruders. She silently thanked God for taking care of them.

Sipping the hot tea left in the pitcher on a table near the settee, she realized she was feeling much better now. She was glad to have recovered from the cold and wind on the roof and from the fright of being up there.

But she wondered who the strange girl and the foreign-looking man were. She didn't believe what the butler had told Jonathan about the man. Jens didn't act just right when he replied to Jonathan's questions. She wished Jonathan would hurry up and come back so she could find out what his father had to say about all this.

Leila, the young maid, interrupted Mandie's thoughts as she appeared in the doorway to the parlor and asked, “If you are finished with the food cart, may I take it away?”

Mandie looked at her and smiled as she sat up. “All done, Leila,” she said. “It's all yours.”

“Oh, but I do not wish to have it. I only wish to roll it back to the kitchen if you are finished,” Leila said, smiling back as she walked over and began stacking some of the dishes on the cart.

“I suppose that means the same thing,” Mandie replied, still smiling. “Where is everyone? Did Jonathan come and talk to all of you?”

“Not Master Jonathan, but Mr. Guyer himself,” Leila said, looking up from the cart. “Mr. Guyer himself rang all the bells. All the people in this house came to the kitchen. He asked questions, but no one had any answers for him. I did not see the intruders this morning that he asked about, so they sent me for this cart.”

“Mr. Guyer is asking questions of all the people who work here,” Mandie repeated out loud. Then as Leila began rolling the cart toward the door, she asked, “Is Jens being asked questions, too?”

“Ja, he told us how this man and this girl got in this house this morning and tied him up and stole something, but I know nothing about it. Neither did anyone else,” Leila said as she pushed the cart toward the doorway. “I must hurry now.” She disappeared into the hallway.

Celia was the next one to come into the parlor. She had changed her clothes and brushed her long, curly auburn hair.

“You look so nice, and I look so terrible. My dress is all crumpled up under these quilts,” Mandie said as she fanned the covers to look
beneath them. “I will have to go clean up and put on a fresh dress before suppertime.”

Celia sat on the low stool again. “I wish you could have gone shopping with us, Mandie,” she said. “We were in some stores that had the most beautiful things, and Mother insisted I buy anything I wanted. Now I can't even remember what all I did buy.”

“Are you having the stuff shipped to your home, or is yours going to our school?” Mandie asked.

“All of it will go to our house,” Celia replied. “Some of it is for Molly—”

“Molly?” Jonathan interrupted as he entered the room and sat down nearby. “Whatever happened to Molly? You're talking about the orphan Mrs. Taft brought back from Ireland when you all returned home back in the summer, aren't you?”

“Right,” Celia agreed. “She is still living with us.”

“Well, how did she get to your house?” Jonathan asked. “I thought Mandie's grandmother was taking Molly home with her until she could locate the girl's aunt here in the United States.”

“When we got home and found Mandie's mother so ill, my mother volunteered to take Molly home with us for the time being, and she's still there,” Celia explained. “She's quite a handful, too, still searching for leprechauns and still talking without taking time for a breath.” She smiled.

“Jonathan,” Mandie asked impatiently, “what did you find out?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Jonathan said with a disappointed shrug. “No one saw or heard anyone in the house this morning. And Jens still holds to the story he told me.”

“Did your father believe him?” Mandie asked.

Jonathan shook his head and said, “No, but Father told me he had never known Jens to lie about anything before.”

“And we don't even know what the man and the girl stole,” Mandie said.

“And it would be hard to figure out what is missing in this big house,” Celia commented.

“It would be impossible,” Jonathan agreed. “My father is thinking about hiring a detective to get information on the man and the girl and to check out the story Jens told us.”

“That is a great idea,” Mandie said, and then she added, “But in the meantime, we could spy on Jens.”

“Spy on Jens?” Celia questioned.

“I'm not sure we could do that without him finding out,” Jonathan said. “But we could try. Shall we begin right now?”

“Now?” Mandie asked, tossing back the quilts and swinging her feet to the floor.

“Yes, now,” Jonathan replied. “You see, Jens has free time between the noon meal and whenever we eat at night. He only answers the door, or checks on the housekeeper who checks on the maids, so he's free to move around and do anything he likes.”

“All right, I'm all for it,” Mandie agreed as she stood up. She swallowed and realized her throat was also clearing up. “But I do have to go to my room to change clothes before we eat tonight.”

“Father will expect us all down here in the parlor at six o'clock, so we do have some time to spy. Let's go,” Jonathan told her.

“Coming, Celia?” Mandie asked, looking at her friend, who had not volunteered to spy with them.

“I suppose so,” Celia said as she followed her two friends out of the parlor into the hallway. “Jonathan, where is the dog?” she asked.

“Oh, he's in the back parlor. We'll take him out in the garden later,” Jonathan replied. “Now, we should begin somewhere around the kitchen.”

The two girls followed Jonathan through several corridors as he cautioned them to be quiet. He softly opened doors along the way, looked inside the rooms, and listened, but there was no sound anywhere until they came to the door of the greenery, which was closed.

Jonathan held up his hand to stop the girls and whispered, “He might be in here. This is a good place for clandestine operations.” He grinned.

The three young people peeked through the glass door, then Jonathan softly pushed it open and led the way inside the glass room, all the time motioning for the girls to be quiet.

Mandie tried to see among the large plants and the huge pots, but she was too short to see over them and the plants were too close together to see through them.