Mandie Collection, The: 4 (43 page)

Mandie couldn’t get Rupert’s activities out of her mind. He was really acting strangely. And someone ought to know about it.

CHAPTER NINE

THE DARK-HAIRED WOMAN

After breakfast the next morning, when the girls had gone back to their rooms, Olga asked Mandie if she would like to go with her to get the trunk from the attic.

“The dinner party tonight will keep us all busy,” Olga said, placing a bowl of food in the bathroom for Snowball. “We should get that trunk for you this morning.”

Mandie watched Snowball gobble up the food. “All right, but let me get Jonathan to go with us,” she told the maid.

“Hurry, miss,” Olga said. “Much work awaits me.”

Mandie hurried into the hallway and knocked on Jonathan’s door. He had already taken off his shoes to relax, but opened the door at once.

“We are going to the attic now,” Mandie told him, smiling. “To get another trunk for me.”

“Wait!” Jonathan replied with his mischievous smile. He darted back for his shoes. “I’m ready.”

Jonathan pulled on his shoes as they returned to Mandie’s room.

“All ready?” the maid asked as she led the way down the corridor.

“I shut Snowball in the bathroom,” Celia told Mandie. “He wasn’t finished eating.”

“Good,” Mandie said as they hurried along behind Olga. “I’ll take him outside for fresh air later.”

Mandie loved attics and she was anxious to see what was in the baroness’s attic.
It’s probably crammed full of antiques
, she thought as they went along.
But probably everything is dirty, broken, and jumbled
.

Olga led them down steps that ended in a huge courtyard. High stone walls surrounded it but there was no roof.

“What a place!” Mandie exclaimed as they followed Olga across the stone floor.

“I thought attics were supposed to be upstairs,” Celia protested.

“Maybe they do things backward here,” Jonathan teased.

“Oh, but we have to come down in order to go up,” Olga turned back to explain. Crossing the open patio she entered a door, with the young people right behind her, and they found themselves in a hallway with steep stairs ascending before them.

“The castle must have been made in pieces,” Mandie said as they looked around.

“That is true, miss,” Olga said as she led them up the steps. “Added to after each occupant passes on. Every generation has their own ideas.”

“Have you been working here long?” Mandie asked behind her.

“
Ja
, I was born here and my mother before me,” Olga explained.

There were no floor breaks in the stairs, just steps going up, up, up, with a small landing now and then.

“Once you start up you can’t get off these steps,” Celia said, “except by going back down.”

“That is correct,” Olga said, as she hurried ahead.

Looking up at the steps that went almost out of sight above, Jonathan said, “Whew! After all this I may not be able to come back down.”

“And there is no bannister to slide down on,” Mandie said, laughing, as she looked at the small metal handrail.

Olga went up the steps so fast, that by the time the young people got to the top all three were almost out of breath. Mandie looked around when she reached the last step. They were in a circular room, wide open to the stairs. Small slits of windows high up on the wall barely illuminated the place. And as she looked closer she realized there was nothing but trunks and more trunks, all lined up in neat rows, and each one with a label attached. Each was numbered.

Celia and Jonathan paused, too, surveying the room.

“Does the baroness keep only trunks in her attic?” Mandie asked in a puzzled voice.

“Only trunks in the trunk attic where we are. She has other attics for other things,” Olga explained.

“Well, she certainly is a neat housekeeper, with everything all sorted out,” Celia remarked.

“Ja,” Olga replied, walking among the trunks. “All my life I see only sorted-out attics. Now, miss, which trunk would you like?” She turned to Mandie.

Mandie was not certain what to do, whether she should walk around and examine each trunk, or just point to one. She sighed and looked at Olga. “Why don’t you pick one for me, as near the size of mine as possible so it will hold all of my things?”

“Oh, but there are several that size,” Olga said, walking around the room. “Would you like this brown one, or that black one over there? Or maybe you would like the one in the corner with all the fancy brass hinges.” She stood waiting for Mandie’s answer.

Mandie quickly glanced at the trunks Olga indicated and then she said with a sigh, “I think I’ll be fancy and take the one with the brass hinges, please.”

Olga smiled, walked over to the trunk, and lifted the lid. Mandie and her friends followed. Inside was an elaborate framework for hanging garments and a tray for small items.

“You have made a good choice, miss,” the maid said. She glanced at the label. “This trunk is number 100, the highest number here, which means it is the newest.”

“Are you sure the baroness won’t mind if I take one of her trunks?” Mandie asked as she straightened.

“I have explained to Frau Jahn and she has told the Baroness Geissler of your need. The baroness has given permission to take any trunk in this attic,” Olga told her.

“Thank you,” Mandie said. Turning to Celia, she asked, “Don’t you think this one is pretty?”

“It looks awfully expensive, Mandie,” Celia replied.

“Maybe I should break the lock on my trunk so I could get a nice one, too,” Jonathan teased with his mischievous smile.

“Jonathan, I’d much rather have my own trunk, but since I can’t lock it anymore I have to take this one,” Mandie said seriously.

Jonathan started to pick up the end of the trunk and Olga said, “Nein, we get helpers to take the trunk down to the miss’s suite. They have experience on the steps.”

“That’s right, Jonathan,” Mandie said. “It would be some job for us to try to carry a trunk down those narrow, steep steps.”

“Now we go,” Olga said, turning to go down the stairs. “Today the helpers will put that trunk in your room, miss.”

“Thank you, Olga, and if you will, please tell the baroness I appreciate it,” Mandie said as they hurried down.

“Ja
, I will,” Olga replied.

Once they were all back inside the corridor to their suite, Olga left them to attend to her duties.

“I need to take Snowball outside for a while,” Mandie told her friends. “And we can check on the juniper while we’re out there if y’all want to.”

Jonathan and Celia agreed and waited in the hallway while Mandie went to put Snowball on his leash.

As the three walked around the backyard, Mandie happened to see Ludwig, the jockey. He was coming up a path toward the house. Mandie waved to him and he smiled back, then stopped to speak to them.

“Would you have time to show us the horses now, Herr Ludwig?” Mandie asked.

“Of course, miss,” the jockey said with a smile and a small bow. “I am at your service anytime. It would be a pleasure to show you young Americans the baroness’s horses.” He looked at Jonathan and Celia.

“Oh, yes, please,” Celia said excitedly.

“I would be interested in seeing them, too,” Jonathan added.

“Then we must go visit them,” Ludwig said, turning back down the pathway he had come. “It is a nice little walk.”

Ludwig led them down the path that meandered through open fields and then through dense woods, until finally they came into an opening and saw dozens of thoroughbreds.

Celia broke from the group and ran to the fence. Her family had raised horses for generations back home in Virginia and she dearly loved the animals. She leaned on the rail, gazing about. Mandie tied Snowball to a bush away from the fence in case the horses didn’t like him.

The others came up behind her and Ludwig whistled slightly. One of the young horses came to him at the fence. The animal nuzzled his hand between the rails. Then the horse turned to Celia, who was thrilled with the attention.

Mandie had her own pony back home and was an expert rider, but she didn’t have the rapport with the animals that Celia did.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Mandie exclaimed as she stood beside Celia, who was talking gibberish to the attentive horse.

Jonathan was plainly impressed with the horses. “I wish my father would move out of New York into the country somewhere so I could own a horse,” he said wishfully.

Mandie quickly turned to him and said, “Maybe he will. Senator Morton seems to think your father will be a changed man when you return home. He thinks your father realizes now how he has neglected you.”

Jonathan dropped his gaze and kicked at the bottom rail of the fence. Then he looked up at Mandie with a big grin and laughing, he said, “I don’t really want him to change completely, just enough to have some time with me so I can really get to know him.”

“Does he ride?” Mandie asked.

“I don’t even know,” Jonathan replied. “I suppose he does. He spends a lot of time with friends in upstate New York on their country estates.”

“Then I would imagine he does,” Mandie decided.

They turned back to the fence to watch the horses. Then a loud voice suddenly spoke behind them. They whirled around to see Rupert standing there. “I see you Americans are enjoying our horses,” he said as he came up to the fence beside Ludwig.

Celia smiled at him, and said breathlessly, “Oh, yes.”

Mandie was instantly on the defensive, wondering what he was up to this time. She watched him closely, as did Jonathan.

Ludwig spoke up, “Are you looking for me?”

“Oh, no,” Rupert said. “I’m waiting for my horse to be saddled at the barn. I’m going for a ride.”

Mandie couldn’t believe her ears when she heard Celia ask, “Could we go riding with you, Rupert?”

“Of course not. You wouldn’t know how to handle our horses.

After all, our horses don’t understand your language,” Rupert said with a sneer.

Celia gasped and looked at Mandie.

“I would imagine my friend Celia here could outride you anytime, no matter what nationality the horse is,” Mandie said sharply.

Rupert pressed his lips together, looked at her, and then replied, “If that remark was meant to goad me into letting you people ride our horses it didn’t work.” He turned and walked away quickly up the path.

“Please forgive his manners,” Ludwig said quickly. “He does not own the horses, they belong to the baroness. And if you’d like, I will ask if you could ride them.”

“No, thank you. He has taken all the pleasure out of it,” Celia said sadly.

“I don’t think my grandmother would want us riding unfamiliar horses anyway,” Mandie said.

“If you change your minds, please let me know and I will talk to the baroness,” Ludwig told them.

“Thank you,” Mandie said.

“We appreciate your kindness,” Celia added.

“I wonder why Rupert doesn’t seem interested in his fiancee,” Jonathan said to the jockey. “Evidently he is going riding alone.”

“It is an arranged marriage, and he doesn’t like being told what to do, not even by the baroness. But the
fraulein
has the money needed to keep this place going, and Rupert will have the title someday,” Ludwig explained. “An even swap, you might say.” He smiled.

“I sure hope it all works out,” Mandie said. She thought of her mother and father, whom her grandmother had managed to separate when she was born. Her father was half Cherokee, and Mrs. Taft wanted no Indian-blooded grandchildren. But things had finally changed for the good.

“He is going for a ride at an odd time. The noon meal is probably being put on the table right now,” Ludwig said.

“Oh, goodness, we need to hurry!” Mandie exclaimed. “Thank you.” She rushed back to the bush, untied Snowball, and picked him up.

“Can you find the way back? I’ll be glad to walk back with you if you can’t,” Ludwig offered.

“We were only on one path. Even I can find the way back,” Jonathan teased the girls, smiling at Ludwig.

“There are two small intersections, but just stay on the main pathway and you’ll be all right,” Ludwig cautioned.

After thanking him, the three began their walk back to the castle. They discussed Rupert’s behavior, and when they came to the first intersection Rupert startled them by suddenly, and dangerously, riding across their path. They froze in their tracks. Then the woman they had seen the night before in the old kitchen came flying after him on another horse. The two riders ignored them and kept going.

“I think we ought to tell someone about the way Rupert has been acting,” Mandie said, stamping her foot and holding tightly to Snowball, who was protesting loudly.

“Oh, Mandie, we don’t want to be tattletales,” Jonathan told her.

“We don’t have anyone we can tell anyway, remember?” Celia reminded her friend.

“I’ll figure something out,” Mandie promised, walking ahead. “But we’d better hurry right now.”

When the three young people entered the front door of the castle, they met up with Frau Jahn. She had been looking for them.

“The food is ready to put on the table,” Frau Jahn said, reaching for Snowball. “I will take him and feed him.” Mandie handed him to the housekeeper. “You don’t have time to stop. I’ll show you the way to the parlor.”

The three found all the adults in the parlor. Frau Jahn spoke rapidly in German to the baroness and then disappeared down the hallway with Snowball in her arms.

The baroness smiled at the young people and waved her hand toward some chairs nearby. They sat down. Mrs. Taft sat with Senator Morton on a settee, and Uncle Ned stood at the window looking out. Then he came to join the group.

Upon seeing her old Cherokee friend, Mandie immediately decided she would talk to Uncle Ned about Rupert. Maybe he could help in some way. As soon as she could possibly get a chance alone with him, she would relate everything that had happened concerning Rupert.

Mrs. Taft spoke to them, “I’m glad to see you all got here in time to eat. No one knew where y’all were.”

“I’m sorry, Grandmother,” Mandie said. “We went for a walk and
ran into the jockey, and he showed us the horses. They’re absolutely beautiful!”