The Mandie Collection (34 page)

“Would your family allow you to keep a dog?” Mr. Titus asked.

“Oh, sure, my father has already said I could keep the dog, that is, until we found this tag and knew he must belong to you,” Jonathan replied.

“Come in and sit down a few minutes. Let's talk this thing over,” Mr. Titus told Jonathan, stepping back and pushing the door wide open.

Mandie looked around as they went through a large foyer and
entered a parlor. The man might live alone, but he certainly did have a nice, neat house.

After sitting and talking for a few minutes, Mr. Titus said, “You know, I've been thinking I should find a home for Whitey. I am gone such long hours, and he is alone back there in his pen. I've thought that if I could find the right place, he would be much better off. He has been lonely ever since my wife died last year. Now, I tell you what. Why don't you go home and talk this over with your father, then ask him to ring me on the telephone and we'll see what we can do about Whitey?”

Jonathan stood up instantly and exclaimed, “Oh, thank you, Mr. Titus!” But then he frowned and added, “But I couldn't take your dog. You would miss him, too.”

“No, no, that's no problem. As I said, I see very little of him. Now go on home and ask your father to talk to me,” Mr. Titus said, rising from his chair and going to a small desk nearby. “Here, I'll write down the number for him to call.” He handed Jonathan a slip of paper. “You must hurry now, because I may have to go to work. Since today is Thanksgiving, a day for families to get together, I volunteered to fill in if they need me, although this is my day off.”

“What kind of work do you do, Mr. Titus?” Mandie asked as they all walked toward the front door.

“I'm a policeman, miss, and most of the men are married with families. I don't mind rescheduling my time so they can be with their families today,” Mr. Titus said. “Now make haste, Jonathan.”

Mr. Titus waved to them as they entered the carriage and Hodson drove off.

Jonathan was so full of joy he could hardly sit still the short distance back to his house. “This is wonderful, actually owning Whitey,” he said.

“I'm glad for you, Jonathan,” Mandie said. “But remember, a pet takes a lot of time and trouble. I know. Snowball keeps me busy.”

“But it's worth it all,” Jonathan said. “Whitey and I have already become pretty good friends. Oh, I can't believe it.”

When they arrived back at Jonathan's house, the three young people rushed to the parlor where they found Mr. Guyer and Mrs. Hamilton. Jonathan gave his father the slip of paper with Mr. Titus's phone number
on it, and his father immediately went to the telephone to call the man. It was all settled in a matter of minutes.

Mandie removed her hat and coat and said, “I'd better get upstairs and hang these up before Dr. Plumbley and Moses arrive.” She started toward the hallway.

“Amanda,” Mrs. Hamilton called to her. “Wait just a minute. You don't have to rush because Dr. Plumbley rang up on the telephone a few minutes ago to say he and his nephew won't be able to come. It seems there has been an accident. Several people have been injured in an old building that just collapsed.”

“Oh no!” Mandie replied.

“Where is the building, Mrs. Hamilton?” Jonathan asked, glancing at Mandie.

Mrs. Hamilton looked at Mr. Guyer.

“I believe it's one of those tenements over on the East Side,” Mr. Guyer explained.

“Do you know the street?” Jonathan asked as the girls listened.

“No, but Jens seemed to know. Why? Do you know someone over there?” his father asked.

“Later, Father,” Jonathan said and quickly left the room.

“Well, I'll go hang up my coat and hat in my room,” Mandie said as she started for the door.

“I will, too,” Celia added as she followed.

Mandie silently prayed it was not the tenement house where she and Jonathan had been rescued from the roof. So many poor people were living there that a collapsed building could lead to a disaster.

CHAPTER TWELVE

UNEXPECTED VISITORS

Instead of taking their coats and hats to their room, Mandie and Celia threw them over their arms and rushed after Jonathan. He looked back at them and grinned. “I knew you'd follow me,” he said. “I have to find Jens. Come on.” He was still carrying his coat and hat.

As they came into the hallway to the kitchen, they spotted Jens hastily putting on his coat and hat and starting out the back door.

“Wait!” Jonathan called after him but he kept going. They followed Jens as he rushed toward the carriage that was still standing under the portico. They managed to jump inside the vehicle with Jens as Hodson came running to drive the carriage. Mrs. Yodkin was watching from the side door as they sped away.

“Where are you going, Jens?” Jonathan asked as the carriage swayed from the speed.

“To help with the collapsed building,” Jens replied, sitting sideways and staring out the window.

The three young people looked at the butler but didn't say anything else. They were soon in the neighborhood where Jonathan and Mandie had been on the roof of the old building. And as Hodson pulled the carriage to a stop, they anxiously looked ahead.

“Jonathan, it is the tenement house we were in!” Mandie said with a loud gasp. “Oh, what can we do?”

Jens pushed open the door and jumped down to the street. “I will not be responsible for you if you leave the carriage,” he told the three young people and then rushed down the street.

Jonathan immediately stepped down from the vehicle, and the girls followed. They watched to see where Jens was going, but he disappeared into the crowd.

The tenement building was standing lopsided with half its roof gone.

“Jonathan, we must go see if we can find Angelina. She lives there, you know,” Mandie told him as she put her hand on his arm.

“You're right,” Jonathan agreed. “Maybe we can work our way around the crowd.” He led the way on the outskirts of the mob of people, gradually pushed through some of the groups of bystanders, and came out on the street near the house where a fire truck was parked along with several police vehicles.

A policeman stopped them. “You cannot go any nearer,” he told them as he held out his hands.

“Please, sir, we know a little girl who lives here, and we are trying to find her,” Jonathan said.

“There is no one left in the house, and all the injured have been taken to the hospital. You will not find her here. You must move back now. If the rest of the house doesn't fall by itself, we will tear it down immediately,” the policeman explained. He waved them away.

As they stepped back, Jonathan said, “We've lost Jens. I don't know what to do about the carriage. If we take it and go home, he won't have a way back.”

“It's not very far,” Mandie said. “Why don't we just ask Hodson to drop us off real fast, and then he can come back here to watch for Jens.”

“Yes, there's nothing we can do here,” Celia said.

“I suppose we'll just have to go home and wait for news. Jens can tell us all about it when he comes back,” Jonathan agreed reluctantly.

Hodson drove them home and then rushed back to look for Jens. The three young people went inside the Guyer house, quickly deposited their coats and hats on the hall tree, and went to the parlor.

“Has there been any word about the people in the building that collapsed, Father?” Jonathan asked as he and the girls sat down.

“Nothing,” Mr. Guyer replied. “I sent Jens to check things out, but he hasn't returned yet.”

The three young people looked at each other.

“Father, did you know that as soon as you and Mrs. Hamilton left last night, Jens went out?” Jonathan asked. “And he wasn't back when we went to bed about eleven o'clock.”

Mr. Guyer looked at his son and replied, “Why, no, I didn't know that. Did he say where he was going?”

“Evidently no one knew where he went,” Jonathan said. “I asked Mrs. Yodkin about it, and she said he just put on his coat and hat and left.”

“I'll have to talk to him about that,” Mr. Guyer said. He glanced at Mrs. Hamilton and added, “We have a strict rule around here now that Jonathan is staying home and going to a local school. Hodson and Jens cannot go out at the same time. One must be here at all times. And you know Hodson was driving us and of course didn't return until we did.”

“That's a good rule to have,” Mrs. Hamilton agreed. “But maybe he had an emergency of some kind. Surely he wouldn't just disregard your orders.”

“He never has that I know of,” Mr. Guyer said. “There might have been something important that came up, but he has not mentioned it to me today.”

“It might have had something to do with the visitor I told you about,” Jonathan suggested.

“We'll see,” his father promised.

The white dog rose from the hearth and came over to look up at Jonathan and whine.

“I think I'd better take Whitey outside for a few minutes,” Jonathan said, reaching for the leash on the table.

“And I need to get Snowball and take him out. He's been in our room all morning,” Mandie said.

“I'll go with y'all,” Celia added.

After Mandie brought Snowball downstairs, the three of them made their way through the house and into the glass room on their way outside. Luckily they were silent, because as they walked through the plants, Mandie spotted Mario standing just outside the door on the patio.

“Wait,” she whispered. “Look! Mario is out there.”

The others paused and looked.

“Let's sneak up on him,” Jonathan said. “I'll go through the kitchen with Whitey and come out the back door over there. You girls go out this door, but give me time to get there.”

Mandie and Celia waited for a minute, then made their move. Mario didn't have a chance to escape with Jonathan coming from one direction and Mandie and Celia splitting off on either side of him. He just stood there in surprise as they closed in on him.

“Now we want to talk to you,” Jonathan said.

“And I have come to talk to you,” Mario said, frowning at him. “Where is Angelina?”

“What do you mean, ‘Where is Angelina?' How do we know? You are her uncle, and you're supposed to be taking care of her, but you let her run wild and get into all kinds of things,” Jonathan told the man. “We want to ask you. Where is Angelina?”

Mario looked at him in disbelief as he glanced at the two girls. “You do not know where Angelina is?” he asked.

“We want to ask you something else, too,” Jonathan said as he held to the leash on the white dog. “Why did you tie up Jens in the kitchen, and why did you run away from us?”

Mario shrugged his broad shoulders as he replied, “Jens did not give us enough money, so we tie him up and take his money from his pocket. I do not know why you chase me, so I run.”

The three young people looked at each other. Mandie asked, “Why should Jens give you money? What was it for?”

Mario thought for a long moment and then replied, “Because Jens owes me money, that's why.”

“For what?” Jonathan asked.

Mario shrugged his shoulders again and didn't answer.

“I saw him give you that envelope in the glass room,” Mandie said. “Was there money in it?”

“Yes, but not enough,” Mario insisted. “Must have more money.”

“Money for what?” Jonathan asked again.

“Not your business,” Mario finally replied.

“Does he owe you money for something you have done for him?” Celia asked.

Mario looked at her and smiled. “Yes, I do big thing for him,” he said.

“What big thing?” Jonathan asked.

“If I tell you, Jens will not give me more money. He tell me that,” Mario said with a big frown. “Now where is Angelina?”

“She is your niece. You're supposed to keep up with her,” Mandie said. “She's too young to be running around New York by herself. And I think you'd better find her before something happens to her.”

Mario frowned again as he said sadly, “I am afraid something bad has already happened.”

“We went over to the tenement house where y'all live, and most of it is caved in. They said they are going to tear the rest of it down,” Mandie told the man.

Mario looked at her and said, “Yes, I know, and I cannot find Angelina. Please tell me if you know where she has gone.”

“But we don't know anything about her,” Jonathan said. “My father sent Jens over there to help—”

Mario quickly interrupted, “Jens over there to help? Then I must find Jens.” He turned to go.

“Wait!” Jonathan demanded, stepping closer to the man. “We want the answers to some questions. For one thing, where are Angelina's parents?”

Mario stopped and said, “Her mother was my sister and she died in Spain. I bring Angelina to United States with me.”

“What about her father?” Mandie asked. “Where is he?”

Mario shrugged and said, “I cannot tell you that.”

“Cannot tell me, or do not know?” Mandie asked.

The man looked puzzled with the question and merely shrugged again.

“Angelina has the same last name as Jens,” Jonathan said, “and she said you and Jens were friends in Spain. My father hired Jens from an earl in England, and Jens has always said he is English. Are you related?”

Mario thought for a moment, then looked at Jonathan and said, “I am not to tell or Jens will stop giving me money.”

“Tell what? Come on, Mario,” Jonathan insisted. “If you don't want to tell me, I'll have my father talk to you, and he has a way of
getting answers to his questions. He is a secret government agent, you know.”

Mario's mouth flew open in shock. “Secret government agent?”

“Yes, he is,” Mandie confirmed.