The Mandie Collection (31 page)

The three silently crept around the room, stooping behind pots and plants. They had gone about halfway across toward the door to
the garden when Mandie heard the door open. She put her hand on Celia's arm as Jonathan touched hers. They stayed where they were and waited and listened.

Suddenly there was talking across the room from the three.

“Do not worry, Angelina,” a man said. “We will get the white dog for you. Somehow we will do it. Do not worry.”

Mandie instantly recognized the voice of the man they had been chasing earlier.

“But how will we do it?” the girl asked.

And Mandie recognized the voice of the girl they had found in the garden. So here the two were, brazen enough to come into Jonathan's house after all that had transpired.

“It's them,” Jonathan whispered in Mandie's ear.

Mandie nodded and whispered to Celia, “The man and the girl.”

Celia crept closer to Mandie.

Then Mandie heard another sound that she recognized. A loud meow across the room could only come from Snowball. He must have found a way to escape from the kitchen, where he was supposed to be. She sighed to herself and wondered how she would rescue him.

“Your cat,” Jonathan whispered in Mandie's ear.

Mandie nodded and whispered back, “Right, and I will have to catch him somehow before he goes outside and disappears.”

The man spoke again, “We must go home now, Angelina, and you should not come over here all by yourself any more. You might just disappear. These people are angry with us.”

“I want my dog,” Angelina insisted. “I want him now.”

Snowball meowed loudly again.

“I have idea,” the man said. “You hear that white cat? He is here somewhere. We take him. Then people will give us the dog for the cat.”

Without thinking, Mandie jumped to her feet and ran across the room, calling to her cat, “Snowball, where are you? Snowball!” She hurried between the rows and rows of greenery.

“Mandie!” Jonathan called to her as he followed.

Celia also got to her feet to assist in the hunt for Snowball.

Mandie came within sight of the man and the girl, who were rushing out the door into the garden. “Wait! We want to talk to you,” she called to them.

“Stop!” Jonathan yelled at the strangers.

But the man and the girl disappeared into the tall plants in the garden without even looking back.

“Snowball!” Mandie cried as she finally caught up with the white cat and picked him up. “You just ruined everything!”

Jonathan had gone on out into the garden, and Mandie rushed outside with Celia following her. She saw Jonathan near the gate. From the look on his face she knew the strangers had escaped.

“They got away, and I don't think we'd better go after them. We don't have our coats on, and you are already sick with that cold. Let's go back inside,” Jonathan told Mandie.

“It's freezing out here,” Celia said as she shivered.

The three hurried back inside the greenery and on into the main part of the huge house. Mandie carried Snowball and wouldn't let him down.

“I'd better check on the dog,” Jonathan told the girls as he led the way to the back parlor.

When he opened the door, the white dog was lying on the hearth beside a brightly lit fireplace. The animal saw Jonathan and quickly rose and came to greet him. He wanted to jump up and down all over Jonathan, but Jonathan told him, “Now, now, down, boy. You are not allowed to do that, remember?” He stooped to rub the dog's head.

The dog obeyed immediately and stood there enjoying the petting.

“He does belong to someone,” Jonathan said, looking up at the girls. “I just wish I knew how to find the owner. Even though I'd like to keep him myself, whoever he belongs to may be out searching the streets for him.”

“And you don't think he really belongs to that girl? What's her name? Angelina?” Celia asked.

“Never,” Jonathan said emphatically. “He doesn't want anything to do with her. You saw how he acted when she tried to coax him away before.”

“And the man thought he was going to steal Snowball,” Mandie said as she hugged the cat tightly in her arms.

“He'd sure be sorry,” Celia commented.

Jonathan stood up and said, “I think I'd better get my coat and hat and take the dog outside for a little while. Are you girls coming with me?”

“No, I'd better go up to my room and change clothes. I'm a mess,” Mandie said, looking down at her dress, soiled from the adventure on the roof. “Why, Jonathan, I do believe you have already changed yours.”

“Yes, while I was talking to my father I did a quick job at trying to look more presentable. After all, we did get in a mess on the dirty roof,” Jonathan said with a big grin.

“No more roofs for me,” Mandie said with a smile. “We haven't even seen Jens yet, and that is what we were doing in the first place, looking for him, when we came to the glass room.”

“That's all right. He lives here. We'll spy on him later,” Jonathan promised. “Let's meet back in the front parlor in a little while.”

The girls agreed, and Celia went with Mandie to their bedroom. When they got in the room, Mandie noticed the door to the adjoining room was open. Evidently, Mrs. Hamilton had already gone downstairs.

“We at least got some information,” Mandie commented, setting the cat down and going to the wardrobe to take down a clean dress.

“Some information?” Celia questioned as she flopped into a big chair.

“Yes, we now know the strange girl's name is Angelina,” Mandie said with a big smile. “Pretty name for such a wild girl.” She went toward the bathroom.

“And the man does speak and understand English,” Celia commented. “You said he was speaking a foreign language to Jens when you overheard them before.”

“He was,” Mandie said as she stopped to look at Celia. Then she added, “I can't imagine why, because Jens was speaking English to him.”

“Do you think they sneaked into the house, trying to steal the dog?” Celia asked.

“Probably,” Mandie said. “And come to think of it, the gate was open, so they must have just come into the garden through the gate.”

“But wouldn't you think the gate would be open sometimes? After all, delivery people have to get in—the milkman, the grocer, the gardener, or whoever.”

“I suppose so, but if you remember, Jonathan locked the gate and put the key in his pocket when we were in there before. He got the key from somewhere around the back porch, but he didn't put it back.”

“I remember,” Celia agreed.

“I'll have to think and ask Jonathan about that,” Mandie said as she continued into the bathroom. “I'll hurry so we can get back downstairs.”

Mandie was eager to inquire about the garden gate key.

CHAPTER TEN

A NEW YORK NIGHT

When Mandie and Celia returned to the parlor, Jonathan was already there with his father and Celia's mother.

“I was just coming up to see you girls,” Jane Hamilton began as the two entered the room. “Jonathan's father has suggested that we all dine out tonight.”

The three young people quickly exchanged glances. Mandie, who was never a hearty eater anyway, answered, “If you don't mind, Mrs. Hamilton, I think I'd like to stay here. I'm not really very hungry, and I still feel all worn out.”

“Yes, of course, dear. That cold has dampened your spirits,” Mrs. Hamilton told her. She looked at Jonathan and Celia.

“Why don't I stay here and keep Mandie company? We can get Mrs. Cook to fix us something when we get hungry,” Jonathan replied as he looked at Mandie.

“Then I'll just stay here, too,” Celia said. “We did have a busy day today with all that shopping.”

Mandie silently breathed a sigh of relief. She understood that her friends were more interested in what was going on in this house than eating out in a fancy restaurant. They would get a chance to spy on Jens.

“Then you and I, Jane, will do up the town tonight,” Mr. Guyer said with a big smile as he looked at Mrs. Hamilton across the room.

Mrs. Hamilton looked at the young people and asked, “Are y'all sure you'll be all right here alone?”

Jonathan laughed and said, “I am alone lots of times with the servants while my father travels. We'll be all right. Please don't worry about us.”

Mrs. Hamilton looked at Mr. Guyer, and he said, “That is true. I am gone quite a bit, but with all the servants we have living here, they'll be safe. Now I will telephone the restaurant and reserve a table.” He stood up.

“And I need to get dressed,” Mrs. Hamilton said as she rose.

The two left the room, and the three young people hovered together on the settee.

“Thank goodness we didn't tell her everything that happened today,” Jonathan said with a sigh of relief. “But of course my father knows, and he didn't seem worried about it.”

Mandie anxiously leaned forward and asked, “Jonathan, the gate in the garden was open when that man and the girl ran away from us. You had the key when we were in there before, and you put it in your pocket. How did the gate get unlocked?”

“Oh, that's easy,” Jonathan said with a big grin. “There must be half a dozen keys to that gate. They're kept in different places because so many people need to go in and out during the day. The gate might have been left open by the servants for a deliveryman to come in, or whatever.”

“If that man and this girl, Angelina, live in that tenement house we were in, they have quite a distance to go to get here, but they seem to keep turning up,” Mandie said.

“Maybe they don't go all the way home in between the times they come here,” Jonathan said.

“I can't imagine why they keep coming back when they know they will most likely be seen,” Celia remarked.

“I believe the girl is trying to take the dog,” Jonathan said. “She is so insistent that he belongs to her.”

“Well, she had better not steal Snowball,” Mandie said emphatically. “I left him shut up in our room. Every time I leave him in the kitchen he gets out.”

“You can bring him down here later and I'll get him something to eat,” Jonathan told her. “My father will tell Mrs. Cook that he and Mrs. Hamilton are going out to eat, and I can ask her to serve our food in here if you girls want to do that.”

“I have a better idea,” Mandie said, smiling. “Why don't we just go to the kitchen and eat, and that way I can watch Snowball. He might get food on something in here.”

“That's Mrs. Cook's territory, and she might not like us eating there,” Jonathan replied.

“Oh, then I have another idea,” Mandie replied quickly. “I remember seeing some small tables and chairs in one corner of the glass room. If we ate in there, we could keep a lookout for that girl and that man to return. What do you say?”

“But, Mandie, they would see us and not even come in,” Celia reminded her.

“We could move one of the tables behind some of those tall plants,” Jonathan suggested.

“And think about how many times we've seen those people in that room,” Mandie reminded her friends.

“I believe they go in there because that outside door is never locked,” Jonathan explained. “Of course, the doors from the greenery into the rest of the house are locked at night, and they couldn't get into the house from there.”

“What will the servants think if we eat in there?” Celia asked.

Jonathan looked at her and grinned as he said, “We won't tell them. We'll just ask for the food to be brought in here, and as soon as they leave the room we'll take it all out there. Besides, we don't want anyone to know we're planning to sit our there. Remember, we're supposed to be spying on Jens.”

“Right,” Mandie agreed.

“You will have to secure Snowball somehow out there, or he'll run around the room,” Celia cautioned her.

“You can be sure I'll tie him up,” Mandie said. “I don't want that girl to have a chance to steal him.”

As soon as Mr. Guyer and Mrs. Hamilton came back to the parlor and then left for the restaurant, the three young people began implementing their plans.

First they went to the greenery and moved a small table and three
chairs into a secluded corner of the room. Then Jonathan went to the kitchen to tell Mrs. Cook they would be eating in the parlor. Mandie hurried up to her room and got Snowball.

Later when Leila brought the food on the cart to the parlor, Jonathan told her, “Thank you, Leila. We'll serve ourselves. I'll ring when we're finished.”

“Yes, Master Jonathan,” the young girl said with a smile as she left the room.

“Now, I know a shortcut,” Jonathan told Mandie and Celia as he stood up and took hold of the handles of the cart. “Just follow me and keep an eye out for servants.”

The girls followed him through a back corridor. Luckily the cart was noiseless on the carpeted floors. Mandie carried Snowball in her arms. When they arrived at the door to the greenery, she and Celia held the door open for Jonathan to roll the cart through. But once they were inside the glass room, they found the cart would not fit through the narrow walkway to where they had set up the table and chairs in the dim lighting used for the plants.

“We'll just have to leave the cart here and carry our food to the table, I suppose,” Jonathan told the girls, looking around the room.

“That's all right. It's just a few steps behind these plants to the table,” Mandie said. “I'll tie Snowball's leash to the table leg so he can't run away. He's used to that when we travel, so he shouldn't make a fuss about it.”

Celia and Jonathan began uncovering the dishes on the cart while Mandie secured Snowball.

“Just the aroma of all this food makes me ravenous,” Jonathan exclaimed as he looked to see what was in the dishes.