The Mandie Collection (47 page)

“I sure do, after all I've heard about them from you,” Jonathan agreed.

“We might even manage to get a piece of that chocolate cake that was on the table at noon,” Joe said with a big grin.

“Sounds delicious,” Jonathan agreed. “Or maybe a cup of hot cocoa like we had last night when we decorated your tree,” Polly added.

“Come on,” Mandie said, leading the way down the corridor. “I'm sure Aunt Lou will be glad to oblige.”

When she pushed the door to the kitchen, Mandie found all the servants gathered around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and snacking.

“We're just in time,” she said to her friends as they all entered the kitchen. Then looking at Aunt Lou, she said, “This is my friend Jonathan Guyer from New York, and he wanted to meet you all.”

Aunt Lou stood up and said, “Well, now, we'll all be pleased to meet your friend, but whut do you say we do dis over cake and coffee?” She smiled at Mandie.

“You are always a step ahead of me,” Mandie said, laughing. “That's exactly what we were saying on the way in here—chocolate cake and coffee or cocoa.”

“Well, don't jes' stand der, my chile,” Aunt Lou said as she went toward the stove. “Make places fo' yo' friends at de table. Liza, you git de cups and plates.”

The servants moved over and made room for the young people at the table, and Jonathan looked around at the friendly faces and was surprised to be welcomed into the kitchen. As he sat down, he remarked to Mandie, “You know, at my house we aren't allowed in the kitchen. This is a wonderful atmosphere here.”

Mandie smiled as she sat next to Joe, and Polly managed to get next to Jonathan. “I know all about those high and mighty servants your father has up there in New York,” she said. “But down here we're all like one big family.”

“Mandie and I have eaten here in this kitchen before,” Joe said to Jonathan. “And at my house we have Mr. and Mrs. Miller who live in a tenant house on my father's land and do work for my mother in the house. So you see, this is why I wouldn't want to go to college in New York. Nobody is anybody's friend up there, and down here everybody knows everybody and treats them as a friend.”

“Then maybe someday I'll come down south to live,” Jonathan remarked.

As soon as everyone had been introduced and coffee and hot cocoa and chocolate cake had been served, Jonathan became the center of attention and was asked a lot of questions about New York, that faraway land where these servants had never been. He told them about the city and his home, and when he started naming all of the servants, everybody gasped.

“How kin you find work fo' all dem people to do?” Aunt Lou asked.

“I suppose they all find something to do,” Jonathan replied as he began eating the chocolate cake on his plate.

“I'm sure they do,” Mandie said. “Aunt Lou, his house is enormous. You can get lost in it and not find your way out for days.”

Jonathan laughed and said, “It's not that bad. We don't use the whole house.”

Liza had been silently listening to every word spoken, and now she said, “We'se got part of dis heah house closed off, too.”

Mandie looked at her, wondering what she meant. “Well, we have guest rooms upstairs that are very seldom used,” she said to Jonathan.

“But, Missy 'Manda, dat ain't all,” Liza reminded her. “You knows dat dark tunnel place nobody don't wanna go in.”

“Oh, the secret tunnel. I'm glad you mentioned that, Liza,” Mandie said. Turning to Jonathan, she said, “We'll show you the secret tunnel if you'd like.”

“The secret tunnel?” Jonathan questioned. “You have a secret tunnel?”

“Oh yes, my ancestors built it under this house to hide the Cherokee people during the time the government was forcing them to leave this part of the country,” Mandie reminded him. “Don't you remember my telling you that I'm part Cherokee?”

“I remember you telling me that you're part Cherokee, but I'm not sure you ever told me about the tunnel, but let's go. I'd like to see it,” Jonathan replied.

“I'll get a lantern,” Joe said as he rose from the table. Everyone else stood up.

“And don't forget plenty of matches,” Mandie reminded him.

“Mandie, are you really going into that tunnel?” Polly asked.

“Sure, Polly,” Mandie said. “You don't have to go with us if you don't want to.”

Polly glanced at Jonathan, who was watching her. “I'll go, but let's don't stay in there too long,” she finally agreed.

As the group started to leave the kitchen, everyone thanked the servants, and Mandie looked at Liza and asked, “Don't you want to come with us, Liza?” She leaned closer and whispered, “You could take care of Polly if she gets scared.”

“No, no, Missy 'Manda, I ain't wantin' to go in dat place, nevuh!” Liza said, backing away from her.

Joe had been listening and now he teased, “Liza, one of these days we're going to take you for a walk all the way through the tunnel.”

Liza's eyes got big and she rushed across the kitchen away from the young people. “Ain't nuthin' gwine take me in dat dark place,” she said.

Jonathan smiled at her and said, “If it's all that bad, I might get scared, too. Don't you want to go? We could always come right back out.”

“No, no, no!” Liza said as she stood by the big iron cookstove, rubbing her hands together.

“All right, Liza, we'll see you when we come back, then,” Mandie told the girl as the group left the room.

CHAPTER NINE

A SCARY ORDEAL

As the four young people stepped into the hallway from the kitchen, Mandie said, “Joe, while you get the lantern, I'll ask Uncle John if he'll open his office and we can go into the tunnel from there.”

“Then y'all meet me at the top of the staircase on the third floor,” Joe said, turning to go out the back door from the hallway to the porch.

“All right,” Mandie called back to him as she led the way to the parlor. She spoke from the doorway since her uncle and Lindall Guyer were sitting nearby with Dr. Woodard. “Uncle John, would it be possible to get you to unlock your office? We want to show Jonathan the secret tunnel, and it would be easier if we could go straight down from there.”

“If you promise not to light the candles up there,” John Shaw said, smiling as he rose. “Your mother is always afraid they will start a fire, you know.”

Lindall Guyer also stood up. “A secret tunnel? In this house?” he asked.

“Do you want to go with us, Mr. Guyer?” Mandie asked.

“Not this time,” Mr. Guyer replied. “Maybe later.”

“I'll explain all about this tunnel when I come back. I'll run up and unlock the door for them,” John Shaw said.

Mandie saw her uncle pull his keys out of his pocket as he went
ahead of them up the stairs. Everyone knew his office was kept locked and that the key stayed in a secret hiding place in his and Elizabeth's bedroom. So Mandie wondered why he had the key in his pocket.

The three young people followed John Shaw up the staircase and found Joe waiting at the top with a lantern in his hand. John Shaw looked at the lantern and said, “Please be careful with that lantern. I know you have to have one to go through the tunnel, but please be very careful.”

“Yes, sir, I will,” Joe promised.

John Shaw led the way down the long corridor to his office and unlocked the door. As he pushed it open he said, “It would be much safer if you would just light the lamps in here and not touch the candles, even though I know you would like to show Jonathan how they work, Amanda. Maybe when his father comes up later we could light the candles.” He went into the room and walked over to a small door in the corner, which he unlocked.

“We won't touch them, Uncle John,” Mandie promised as he left the room. Turning back to Jonathan, who was standing in the doorway as Joe lit the lamps, she said, “The candles work like magic. They are so close together that if you light one, the one next to it will catch, and the next one, and so on around the room.”

Jonathan stepped inside the room and looked at the candles in the wall sconces close together around three sides of the room, with shelves above and below them holding hundreds of books. “I never saw so many candles before,” he said.

Joe stopped by the huge desk in front of a large stained-glass window and touched a lighted match to the lamp sitting there.

Jonathan looked around the room and asked, “Well, where is the secret tunnel?”

Mandie walked over to the small door in the corner that her uncle had unlocked and said, “You can go in through here.” She opened the door as Jonathan came over to watch.

“But that's just a paneled wall inside,” Jonathan said.

“Oh, but watch this,” Mandie said as she reached in a corner of the paneling and pressed a latch. The paneled wall swung open, revealing steps inside.

Joe stepped inside first with the lantern. Mandie waved Jonathan
in behind him and then turned to Polly, who had been in the tunnel before. “You're next, Polly,” Mandie said.

Polly stood at the doorway and hesitated.

“Well, aren't you going with us?” Mandie asked.

“I ... I suppose so,” Polly finally agreed as she stepped inside. “But I do think we should have brought two lanterns just in case the one Joe has goes out.”

Mandie followed her and replied, “But Joe has plenty of matches to re-light the lantern if it goes out.”

“This is very interesting,” Jonathan remarked as they came to the bottom of the short flight of steps. Joe flashed the lantern around, showing a small room.

“This is only the beginning,” Mandie told him.

“And we not only go all the way down through the house,” Joe said. “The tunnel goes under the ground for a long distance, too.”

“If you remember, we started on the third floor, but the tunnel also goes on up to the attic,” Mandie explained.

“It sure took an intelligent architect to build this,” Jonathan remarked. “You said it was designed when the house was built, didn't you?”

“Right,” Mandie said.

“Watch your step, now,” Joe warned. “We're going ahead and there's more steps.”

“I'm right behind you,” Jonathan said.

Joe led them down more steps, through more little rooms, platforms, and doors. After a while he stopped again to swing the lantern around in a dark room full of furniture.

“Furniture in here?” Jonathan questioned.

“Sure,” Mandie said. “Don't forget, my Cherokee kinpeople actually lived in this tunnel while the government was trying to move all of them out of North Carolina.”

“Looks like handmade furniture,” Jonathan said, examining a bench nearby as they stood in the middle of the small room.

“It is, all of it,” Mandie said.

“Mandie and I accidentally discovered this tunnel,” Polly said. “We bumped into a paneled wall upstairs. It opened up and we got caught behind it when it closed. It was scary.”

“I imagine it was,” Jonathan said. Then he looked at Mandie in
the dim light and asked, “Do you mean your family didn't know this was here? Your current family?”

“Uncle John knew about it, and he was the one who told us the whole history. It was just Polly and me who didn't know it was here until we more or less fell into it,” Mandie said with a smile.

“Shall we go on?” Joe asked.

“You mean there's more ahead?” Jonathan asked.

“Yes, that is if we can find the way out of here,” Joe teased. He began swinging the lantern around. “Anybody see a door or steps or anything to get out of this room?”

“Oh, Joe is just teasing,” Mandie started to say when suddenly everything went black. “Joe, what happened?” she quickly asked as she felt Polly grab hold of her arm.

“The lantern went out,” Joe said.

“Well, for goodness' sakes, re-light it,” Mandie said.

“Oh, I can't see anything,” Polly said in a trembling voice.

“I'm not afraid, but how are we going to see to get out of here, with all those steps and doors?” Jonathan asked nearby.

“Y'all just wait a minute. I'm trying to find a match,” Joe said.

“Don't tell me you didn't bring any matches,” Mandie said. She was beginning to get nervous, too, but she tried to hide it.

“Of course I brought matches. Only I can't seem to find them,” Joe said. “I know I put them in the pocket of my jacket here.”

“We'll never get out of here in one piece,” Polly moaned as she held tightly to Mandie's arm. “I can just feel all kinds of squirmy things running across my feet and hanging over my head. Oh-h-h-h!”

Mandie was beginning to feel the same way, but she was not about to admit it. She shook Polly's hand real hard and said loudly, “Polly, stop it! We've been in here in the dark before, and we got out.”

“I sure hope someone knows the way in the dark,” Joe finally spoke. “I've lost the matches.”

“Lost the matches?” Jonathan, Mandie, and Polly all spoke at once.

“Sorry, but I have a hole in my pocket that I didn't know about when I put the matches in here,” Joe explained.

“You mean you've been dropping matches all the way down through the tunnel?” Mandie asked. “Oh, Joe, that could be dangerous. We need
to get out of here and get another light and find all those matches. A rat could spark one and burn the house up.”

“I'm sorry,” Joe replied. “Right now I think we'd do better to keep on going down rather than going back up because I believe we are nearer to the entrance in the woods.”

“All right,” Mandie agreed. “Now, if we could just all hold on to the next one in line as we move on, maybe we won't fall down if we miss a step.”

“Good idea,” Jonathan agreed. “If Joe will go first, I'll move back and be last. That way we can protect the girls between us.”