Mandie Collection, The: 4 (74 page)

CHAPTER EIGHT

WHERE ARE THE VAN DONGENS?

As they stood waiting for William to bring their carriage alongside the narrow pathway outside the Delftware factory, Mandie noticed the Chinese man and woman standing nearby talking to the older couple who had been in line inside. She couldn’t understand the language they were speaking, and she frowned as she watched them. The Chinese man happened to glance her way, and suddenly the strangers all changed their conversation to English.

“Yes, I hope they catch the terrible person who mixed that blue and yellow paint,” the Chinese man was saying.

The other strangers in the group had turned to look at Mandie and her friends. The older man replied to the Chinese man, “Not only is it costly, it could damage the Dutch reputation for fine porcelain.”

“And that must be maintained under all circumstances,” the Chinese man said, glancing at Mandie again.

Mandie nudged Celia and Jonathan, who were also aware of the conversation among the strangers. “They keep looking to see if we’re listening,” she whispered.

Jonathan suddenly rolled off a few sentences in what Mandie recognized
as French. Then he turned his back on the strangers, winked at the girls, and said softly, “I’m trying to make them think we’re French.”

“Jonathan, I’d advise you to behave yourself for the rest of the trip,” Mandie admonished him with a frown. “No more fooling around.”

Jonathan looked sharply at Mandie, sighed, and stepped ahead to stand by Mrs. Taft.

William came along with their carriage at that moment, and as they all climbed inside, Mandie, who usually sat between her two friends, gave Celia a little push to put her between Jonathan and herself.

Snowball, waiting in the carriage for his mistress, quickly jumped in her lap.

But William didn’t get very far because another flower parade was passing by and he had to bring the carriage to a halt.

“M-m-m-m! I smell them!” Mandie exclaimed as she leaned out the window.

“Roses!” Celia added as she bent beside Mandie.

Jonathan kept his seat, and when Mandie glanced back at him, he said, “One flower parade is enough. When you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.”

Mandie looked back out the window and quickly answered, “You may be right. But I see that girl and young man we saw leave the other parade when we first got to Holland. See? Right over there.” She tried to point at the moving participants.

Jonathan ignored her remark, but Celia said, excitedly, “You’re absolutely correct, Mandie. They
are
the ones we saw.”

“Maybe the same people participate in all the parades,” Mandie said as the procession passed on and she sat back in her seat. She looked at Jonathan and he quickly glanced out the other window.

Senator Morton spoke to the young people: “That parade originated here at the factory. I saw them assembling behind the building when we went inside.”

“I didn’t notice,” Mandie said, and then asked, “Where are we going now?”

Senator Morton looked at Mrs. Taft, who answered Mandie’s question. “I thought we’d just go back to the house and relax for the rest of the day, dear,” she said. “This excursion turned out to be far more tiring than I expected.”

Mandie was instantly relieved. She was more interested in pursuing
mysteries than in sight-seeing. “I’m sorry, Grandmother, if we’ve worn you out, but I think it’s a good idea to quit for the day. After all, we never know when Uncle Ned might arrive, or when Senator Morton might get a message from Jonathan’s father or his aunt and uncle,” she said quickly.

Mrs. Taft smiled at her granddaughter and said, “Yes, I suppose you young people would rather go your own way than sight-see with us older folks.”

“Oh, I’ve enjoyed seeing the sights with you folks,” Jonathan insisted.

“And we’ve enjoyed having you with us, Jonathan,” Senator Morton said.

“Yes, Jonathan, we are so glad you could join us for this journey around Europe,” Mrs. Taft added.

Mandie was silent as she thought,
Grandmother doesn’t know what Jonathan did back at the Delftware factory, or she’d be ready to wire his father to come and get him right now. But I’m not going to tell, because of what the Dutch people might do to him if he’s caught
.

When they finally arrived back at their rented house, it was late in the day. Mrs. Taft immediately went to her rooms, and Senator Morton left for a stroll after checking with Gretchen to find there were no messages.

Mrs. Taft had warned the young people not to get into any mischief. “Well, what do we do now?” Jonathan asked as he sat across from the girls in the parlor.

“Do? Like what?” Mandie asked with a sarcastic frown.

“You girls were planning to see Albert about something,” Jonathan said in a long-drawn-out voice. “And I suppose you two will want to pursue the so-called mysteries you’ve concocted.”

“Jonathan Guyer, we didn’t
make up
any mysteries and you know it,” Mandie said angrily. “You’ve been with us when everything happened.”

“Sure I’ve been with you, but I don’t see the mystery in these things, not really,” Jonathan replied, raising his dark eyebrows.

Mandie sighed and said, “You don’t have to go along with Celia and me if you don’t want to, then, but there are some questions I’m going to find the answers to.” She stood up and added, “Right now

I’m going to find Albert and ask him some questions.” She picked up Snowball and started toward the door.

Jonathan jumped up quickly and said, “Albert? Then I’m going with you.”

Celia followed as she said, “But, Mandie, that’s a long way to walk. Remember, we have to go out of the way in order to cross the canal.”

“I know, Celia, but we’ll make it back in time for supper if we hurry,” Mandie said. She led the way, and her friends rushed after her.

Snowball squirmed as his mistress held him tightly in one arm, and with her other hand lifted her long skirt. She raced through the flower fields toward the steep, curved bridge that crossed the canal. As she ran and the windmill came into view, she noticed the blades were set for closing and she wondered if the miller had ever gone to work that day. They were in the same position as they had been that morning.

The wind blew Mandie’s bonnet back, and it hung from her neck by its ribbon. Her blond hair tumbled free from its braid and fluttered about her face. But her thoughts were only on Albert. She believed he had the answers to the puzzles, and she intended to find out what he knew.

The house looked deserted and no one answered her knock. Celia and Jonathan stood by and waited while Mandie let Snowball down on his leash.

“I don’t believe anyone is at home,” Mandie finally said. She looked around the surrounding yard and then to the windmill nearby. There was no one in sight. Turning she said, “Let’s look inside the windmill. Maybe someone is there.”

But they soon found that was not possible. The windmill was locked.

“You’d think at least a servant would be around,” Mandie said with a sigh. “And I remember Mr. Van Dongen mentioning a maid.”

“But she may be only a day maid, Mandie,” Celia said. “It’s getting late.”

“And I don’t want to miss supper. I think I’ll head back,” Jonathan said, glancing for a response from Mandie as she stood in front of the door to the windmill.

“Well, let’s go eat supper and come back over here later,” Mandie
said matter-of-factly. She picked up her kitten and led the way back to the house they were renting.

The three walked and then ran. There was no time for conversation if they were going to get back in time to dress for supper. When they arrived, Gretchen was looking for them. She met them at the front door.

“Food will be on the table in thirty minutes. Madam Taft has been notified,” the girl said.

Mandie smiled at the maid’s accent. “Thank you, Gretchen. We’ll be there on time.”

“See you girls at the table,” Jonathan told them, and quickly ran up the steps.

Mandie and Celia went to their room, where they quickly changed into fresh clothes.

“I’m so sorry Jonathan has disappointed us with his behavior,” Mandie remarked as she slipped the pale blue dress over her blond head.

Celia stopped straightening her long skirt to look at her friend. “But, Mandie, we don’t know for sure that Jonathan is guilty of mixing the blue and yellow paint at the Delftware factory. We didn’t actually see him do it.”

“But, Celia, he was talking about what would happen if he did,” Mandie said, continuing with her sash. “I’m sure he did it. Besides, who else could have done it if he didn’t?”

“Lots of people were in that room with us,” Celia said. “In fact, people from several different countries.”

“I just don’t understand why no one saw the paint being mixed,” Mandie said, bending to slip into her dress slippers. “I didn’t even see Jonathan leave the line and then come back. That’s how easy it was to do something out of the ordinary. And Jonathan acts guilty. He doesn’t have anything to say since I accused him of mixing the paint.”

“That’s no proof he did it,” Celia argued. “Look at it this way. If you accused me of doing something wrong, and I knew good and well I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t have much to say to you either. My feelings would be hurt.”

Mandie thought about that a moment as she looked at Celia. She didn’t have any proof that Jonathan had done such a thing, only the
feeling that he was guilty because of his remarks about the blue and yellow paints before it happened.

“Well, if you think he didn’t do it, then tell me where you think he went when he left the line,” Mandie said, twirling to flounce out the frills on her long organdy skirt. “When I asked him, he wouldn’t tell me.”

Celia frowned and said, “You know Jonathan. He likes to move around all the time. He might have just walked around to the other end of the room looking at everything and everybody.”

“He told me it was a secret about where he’d been,” Mandie told her.

“Well, he is a big tease. He was probably just teasing you,” Celia decided. “Anyway, let me remind you of what Uncle Ned would say. He’d tell you to
think.
”

“I’ll talk to Uncle Ned about it when he gets here, if he ever does. Seems like he should have finished with his business in other places by now. Maybe he’s visiting friends,” Mandie said. Changing the subject, she asked, “Are you going back to the miller’s house with me after supper?”

“Do you think your grandmother will allow us to go?” Celia asked.

“If she doesn’t have any plans, I don’t see why she wouldn’t allow us to go over there. After all, she has already met the miller and his son and been in their house,” Mandie said.

“Let’s don’t wait too late to go, Mandie,” Celia said. “I don’t think we should stay up all hours of the night wandering around.”

Mandie smiled at her friend. “But that’s what makes solving mysteries exciting. We’ll go as soon after supper as possible.”

When the girls went down to the dining room everyone was already there. Mandie handed Snowball to Gretchen so she could give him his supper. Then she sat down beside Celia, with Jonathan on the other side of her friend. She was determined not to be on a friendly basis with Jonathan until the mystery of the paint was solved.

No one had much to say at the supper table, but as soon as they were all finished, Mrs. Taft decided they would all go for a stroll in the flower gardens.

“We need some slow, relaxing exercise, so I thought we’d just walk in the gardens around the house for a little while,” Mrs. Taft told the
young people. “Then before we go to bed, maybe we’ll have a cup of tea in the parlor. How does that sound to y’all?”

The three young people exchanged glances. Mandie raised her eyebrows slightly and said, “All right, Grandmother.” She was hoping this wouldn’t take long, but if it included tea afterward, it would probably be dark before they could return to the miller’s house, and she decided not to even mention it. Somehow she would find Albert and ask him some questions.

Celia and Jonathan merely replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

The gardens turned out to be spacious and interesting, full of blooming flowers and green shrubs, with several streams running through them. Mandie loved the quaint, steeply curved bridges over the water. She and her friends stopped at the peak of one to glimpse the countryside from its height. Snowball sat on the stone rail.

“I see the widow’s house over there,” Mandie said, pointing in the direction of a stone structure. Turning to Celia she added, “You know, we ought to go visit her. I’d like to see what she looks like.”

Celia smiled at Mandie and said, “She has a son, you know. I wonder what he’s like.”

“Too bad no one around here has a beautiful daughter,” Jonathan said sarcastically.

“Oh, but the miller has a daughter,” Mandie told him.

“Remember, Albert said something about staying up until his sister came home.”

“She’s probably ten feet tall like her brother and her father,” Jonathan said, turning away to look down into the stream below. “There’re fish down there. Look.”

Snowball evidently saw the fish, too. He chose that moment to jump into the stream from his high perch.

“Snowball! You could drown!” Mandie shouted as the kitten splashed into the water. She quickly ran down the bridge to call him from the side of the stream.

Snowball didn’t seem to be hurt. He was paddling in the water trying to catch the fish. Mandie tried to coax him to the shore.

Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton were sitting on a bench nearby and had seen the cat leap into the water. They came hurrying over to see if he was all right.

“Is he all right, Amanda?” Mrs. Taft asked.

“Yes, Grandmother. He’s just wild about fish,” Mandie explained as she stooped to reach out and catch him.

Snowball still had his leash on, and Mandie managed to grasp the end that floated in the water. She began pulling on it, and although the white kitten didn’t want to leave the water, she managed to get him out. He immediately shook all over to get the water off his fur, and everyone had to stand back to keep from getting wet.

“Snowball, this is it. You are going up to our room and staying there for the night,” Mandie declared, pulling firmly on the leash to guide him up the pathway.