Mandie Collection, The: 4 (34 page)

“Now how do you propose to find the bent twigs on the way back in this darkness?” he asked.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Mandie said. “You see, you bend twigs on the same side of the path all the way, and at the same height. Then all you have to do is look along the same line as you trace them back.”

“Oh, I see, but what if you don’t find bushes the same height down the path? Or you run out of bushes altogether?” he asked.

Mandie picked up a stick in the pathway and bent to make a mark in the dirt. “Then you mark the trail this way,” she explained, making a crude arrow design.

“That sounds reasonable enough,” Senator Morton said.

“Well, are we going ahead now?” she asked, straightening up to catch his response.

“If you think you can find the way back,” the senator replied with a big smile.

“I can assure you we won’t get lost!” Mandie said, turning to walk ahead.

An opening in the forest came before they knew it. The moon had disappeared though, and they found themselves in darkness almost equal to the deep forest.

“Well, we made it through,” Mandie said, looking up at the clouded sky.

“Yes, and I do believe it’s going to rain,” the senator said.

They stood there surveying the situation. There was no sign of anyone or any dwelling, but the open space seemed to go on for miles. And the pathway they had been following intersected with a wide road.

“Look!” Mandie said, pointing to the road crossing in front of them. “Now which way do we go?”

Senator Morton went ahead to inspect the road and Mandie followed. “I’d say this is a well-traveled highway,” he determined. “And since we are supposed to be journeying north, the direction to the castle should be to the right.”

“Are we going all the way to the castle by ourselves?” Mandie asked.

“Not if we can find help before we get that far,” the senator said. “And there should be somebody on this road. Let’s go.”

Even though they had made it through the forest, Mandie was tired and just couldn’t get up much speed. After all, her legs weren’t as long as the senator’s.

“I think I see some boulders over there.” The senator pointed to the left of the roadway. “Let’s sit for a few minutes and catch our breath.”

“Thanks,” Mandie said. “I hope I’m not slowing you down.”

“Why no, of course not,” Senator Morton said with a smile as he sat down. “These legs of mine aren’t as young as yours. I get tired too.”

“But mine aren’t as long as yours, so we’re even,” Mandie said, laughing.

They had hardly sat down when the sky seemed to open up and drenched them with a heavy downpour.

“Shall we go back to the woods for shelter?” Senator Morton asked as he turned up the collar of his coat.

“Oh, no, I won’t melt, if you won’t,” Mandie said, pulling her cloak tighter around her. “Let’s just get going. We might be real close to some place where we can get in out of the rain.”

Senator Morton got up and shook the rainwater off his hat, then replaced it on his white hair.

“I hope your grandmother and the others can find some protection from this sudden downpour,” he said as they started walking down the road.

“I do, too. We’ll never hear the last of it if my grandmother’s bonnet gets ruined,” Mandie said with a laugh. “Especially after all the damage to our things in the accident. And I’m not sure they will be able to shelter our luggage from the rain.”

“That was such a devastating thing,” the senator replied. “We have to be thankful no one was killed or seriously hurt.”

Mandie suddenly started jumping up and down and pointing down the road ahead of them. “I see a light! A light!” she cried, excitedly.

“Yes, I see it, too. Just ahead,” the senator said.

“Thank the Lord!” Mandie said, hurrying ahead despite the downpour. Her cloak was wet and heavy, slowing her progress. She reached down and gathered the skirt of it up into her arms.

Senator Morton followed closely. As they neared the light, Mandie
could see that it was inside a small building. She breathed a sigh of relief. There must be someone there and maybe they would have a vehicle of some kind that could take them to Baroness Geissler’s castle.

When they finally reached the dwelling, the rain suddenly stopped. Mandie turned to smile at Senator Morton and then started toward the door.

She dropped the skirt of her cloak and tried to shake out some of the water as she knocked. She could hear someone moving about inside but no one answered. She knocked again.

“I can hear someone in there, but they won’t come to the door,” she told Senator Morton.

“Yes, I can hear someone, too. Here, let me try,” he said, stepping up and knocking heavily on the door. “Anyone home? Is there anyone home?” he called through the door.

The noise inside continued, but there was no response.

“I’ll see if I can look through a window,” Mandie suggested, stepping off the tiny stoop and going around the side of the hut.

She pressed her face close to the glass and could see an old man inside. He was replenishing the fire in his iron stove. She knocked on the glass but he didn’t turn to look. As she watched she saw him put the last stick of wood in the stove. He turned to open a back door. She quickly ran around to the back.

Mandie gasped as the man opened the door and looked at her. “Mister, can you help us? We’ve had a wreck.”

The man looked at her in bewilderment without uttering a word.

“I believe the man’s deaf,” Senator Morton spoke up from behind her.

“Deaf? Oh, dear!” Mandie said. “What will we do now?”

“Let’s try writing a note,” Senator Morton suggested as he took a pad and pen from his pocket and quickly scribbled something on it. He held it out to the man, who was still staring at them.

The old man grunted, shook his head, and backed away.

“Maybe he doesn’t understand English, Senator Morton. Why don’t you try writing in German?” Mandie said.

“Of course,” the senator said, writing again, this time in German. He extended the note to the man.

The man’s face lit up and he reached for the note pad. He quickly
wrote a reply and gave it back to Senator Morton. Then the man stepped back and motioned for them to come inside his house.

“I asked him if we could find a carriage or some conveyance to pick up your grandmother and your friends and go on to the castle,” Senator Morton explained. “He wrote back that his name is Heider. He works for the baroness and this is her property. He will go to the castle for help while we stay here and dry out by his fire.”

The senator wrote a thank-you to the man who was hustling into a jacket and hat. He nodded, motioned for them to sit by his stove, and quickly left.

“At last!” Mandie sighed as she removed her wet cloak and sat on a low stool. “We’ll soon be able to get Grandmother and Celia and Jonathan and go on to the castle!” She took off her bonnet, which had been covered by the hood of her cloak.

“Yes, and I’m afraid they’re thinking we’ve gotten lost by now,” Senator Morton said.

“The baroness must live in an isolated part of the country if this is her property. We haven’t seen a single person or dwelling until now,” Mandie remarked.

“I understand it’s a huge estate,” Senator Morton said. “However, Herr Heider—
Mr
. Heider—said he’d be back right away, so we must be close to the castle.”

“Or the stables for the castle,” Mandie added.

Even though Herr Heider did return shortly, the minutes seemed like hours to Mandie as she worried about her grandmother and her friends out there on that mountain road alone. And when she saw the huge elaborate carriage with a uniformed driver, Mandie clasped Herr Heider’s hand and stood on tiptoe to plant a kiss on his cheek. He smiled and gave her a quick squeeze.

After they were seated inside the carriage, Senator Morton tried to explain to the driver where the others were. He didn’t seem to understand. Mandie spoke up and told him it was through the woods and up a mountain. He smiled knowingly.

“But this carriage cannot get through the woods, so we go this way,” the driver explained. He indicated the direction of the wide road they had walked. “Stupid driver you had, no one takes that road anymore. A big slide blocked it off years ago. But we find the others soon.” He
quickly closed the door and jumped up on his seat. Then he guided the thoroughbred horses swiftly down the road.

Even though they were traveling quite fast, Mandie noticed the luxurious carriage didn’t bounce like the one they had rented earlier to carry them to the castle. Even so, she hoped this driver would slow down when he reached the rough road where they had had the wreck.

After a while it seemed to Mandie that they were going in circles, as the driver kept making left turns at various intersections. Finally she recognized the rough road they were searching for.

“This is it!” Mandie told the senator, excitedly. “Now we have to watch for the place where Grandmother and Jonathan and Celia are waiting.”

“Yes, the driver said he would slow down on this road and look for them,” Senator Morton assured her.

“At least the rain has stopped and the moon is back out,” Mandie said, looking at the sky through the window, while watching for the others.

Their carriage suddenly stopped and the driver came back to speak to Senator Morton.

“I see a wrecked vehicle down there, but there are no people around here,” he told him.

Mandie’s heart beat faster. “Let me out. I want to see,” she said, pushing at the door. The driver helped her down and Senator Morton followed.

They walked around the spot, calling the others’ names without response.

“All the luggage is gone, too,” Mandie said, as she came within sight of the place where she and Jonathan had piled it.

“It sure is,” Senator Morton said.

“Look, what is that?” she asked, pointing toward the wrecked carriage. “Why it’s an umbrella. It’s open and just standing there.”

“I do believe it belongs to Jonathan,” Senator Morton said. “I can’t imagine what happened, unless someone else gave them a ride.”

Mandie spied a piece of paper under the shelter of the umbrella. “Look, a note from Jonathan! It says: ‘The driver sent another carriage for us and he will take us on to the castle. We know you will have some method of transportation when you return, so rather than be drowned
out here in this downpour we are leaving. See you there.’ Well, at least they got a ride.” She handed the note to the senator.

The driver stood by listening and waiting. Senator Morton turned to him and said, “I suppose all we can do is return to the castle with you. The others should be there before we arrive.”

“Yes, we will go now,” the driver agreed.

Mandie snatched up the umbrella and closed it, bringing it along with her.

“They’re probably dried out and have already eaten while we still slog around in these wet clothes,” Mandie mumbled. Then she straightened up as they neared the waiting carriage and added, “But I’m really glad the driver sent another carriage after them. I know my grandmother must have been awfully worn out by then.”

She looked at the senator as the driver closed their door.

“The only sad thing about it is, Jonathan and Celia don’t get to ride in this great big fancy carriage!” she said with a smile.

“That’s right,” he agreed. “Well, at least the baroness didn’t send her motor car for us.”

“Oh, goodness, yes!” Mandie exclaimed. “I don’t think I’ll ride in that while we’re here. That one ride in her car in Rome was enough for me!”

“But she has the latest and most expensive model out right now,” Senator Morton said, smiling.

“You know me, Senator. I’m a country girl. I love riding in carriages with horses. It’s safer,” Mandie said, quite seriously.

“Safer? But what about the wreck we had today?” he asked.

“That was just plain carelessness on the part of the driver,” Mandie replied.

“Yes, I agree with you,” Senator Morton said. “But one of these days, and soon I predict, we’ll be replacing carriages with motor cars.”

“Not me. If I live to be a hundred I will keep a carriage.” She glanced out the window and said, “Look, isn’t that Herr Heider’s house?”

“It’s almost too dark to tell, but I believe it is,” Senator Morton acknowledged.

“Then we are nearing the castle,” Mandie said. “I do hope the baroness has a lot of good hot food waiting and a nice warm bed.” She sighed with fatigue.

The driver followed a long, winding, tree-lined road to a huge stone building. As they circled the place, Mandie cried out in excitement when she spotted a real drawbridge let down over a creek on one side. However, the carriage didn’t go inside by that way, as she expected from the stories she had read about castles in the old days. Instead, the driver brought it to a halt in front of a huge doorway, so wide that the vehicle could easily have gone through it.

As the driver jumped down and opened their door, a uniformed butler appeared in the doorway of the building and stood waiting for them to come up the steps. He spoke to them in perfect British English.

“The baroness bids you welcome. She is not presently at home but she will return shortly. The housekeeper will get you settled,” he said in a very businesslike manner.

Mandie looked up at the tall, slender man. Though he was bald, she thought he would have been handsome if he had just smiled at her.

“Are my grandmother and my friends here yet?” she asked as they paused on the steps.

“No one else has arrived. Is the baroness expecting more guests?” the man asked.

“Yes, my grandmother, Mrs.Taft, and my friends, Jonathan Guyer and Celia Hamilton. We were all invited,” Mandie replied.

“I am sorry. No one else has arrived,” he repeated. “Were you not all together?”

“Yes, we were,” Senator Morton spoke up. “We had an accident and your driver picked us up at Herr Heider’s house where we had gone for help. When we went back to get the others they were gone, leaving a note to the effect that someone had come for them.”

The driver of the baroness’s carriage had been standing in the yard listening to the conversation and now he said, “Perhaps they have not had time. I know the shorter way.”