Mandie Collection, The: 4 (64 page)

The adults had stood back, listening and watching. Now Mrs. Taft walked forward.

“This is my granddaughter,” she said to Alex. “She told me you might need a little help, perhaps to get your boat repaired so you can work again. You are a fisherman, aren’t you?”

Alex and his friend had stood up. “I was a fisherman, madam. However, my minister friend runs an orphanage, and he has been after me for a long time to come and work with him, and that’s what I’ve decided to do,” Alex explained with a big smile. “I thank you for your concern.”

Mandie watched to see what her grandmother would do. The policeman was still standing there, too. She went to whisper to Uncle Ned, “I hope she gives the orphanage some money.”

Uncle Ned smiled and squeezed her hand.

Mandie was right. Her grandmother was saying, “Oh, but an orphanage can always use some extra money.” She turned to the minister. “Would you care to come to the hotel where we are staying and let’s discuss this matter?”

“Of course, madam,” the minister said, smiling broadly.

The policeman approached Mandie and said, “That settles your question, doesn’t it now? There are two different men who look a great deal alike.”

“Yes, sir, but we know something else you might like to hear about,” Mandie said as she looked at Jonathan and Celia, who crowded close.

“And what is that, may I ask?” the policeman said.

“You told us the man you arrested wouldn’t tell you where he hid the paintings. We think we know, don’t we?” She turned to her two friends and they both nodded.

“And where is that? And how do you know about this?” the policeman asked. He was looking over the three young people and added, “Americans, are you?”

“Yes, sir,” all three answered.

“We found a room full of boxes,” Mandie began. “We broke open three of the boxes. Two of them had nothing but rocks and straw inside. The third box had a small painting inside it.”

The policeman got excited immediately. “Where? Where is this place you are talking about?”

“In the tunnel that comes out down this way,” Mandie pointed.

“Show me,” the policeman demanded.

Mrs. Taft and the other adults had been talking and now they stopped to listen.

“Grandmother, this policeman wants to see the room in the tunnel,” Mandie told her.

“Very well. We’ll walk back that way,” Mrs. Taft agreed. She turned to Alex and the minister. “Are you coming along?”

“Yes, madam,” they both said as they followed Mrs. Taft, Senator Morton, and Uncle Ned.

The young people went ahead with the policeman.

As they all stood around the room in the tunnel watching the policeman examine things, everyone was excited about the way it had all turned out.

“Yes, miss, I’d say some smuggling has been going on here,” the policeman said to Mandie. “We’ll let you know as soon as we have opened the other boxes.”

“I certainly would like to know that the thief has been caught and you were able to recover the stolen paintings,” Mandie told him.

“We will walk back to the hotel now. The policeman can find us there if he needs to,” Mrs. Taft said.

“Yes, madam,” the policeman agreed as he continued moving boxes around.

Then Mandie remembered something and she told the officer, “There were two policemen here once before. They found the door open and mentioned some man’s name, but we couldn’t understand what it was.”

“Thank you. I will find out,” the man said.

As the young people walked along behind the adults, Mandie remarked, “What about that? The man was a minister all the time and I thought he was a thief.”

“You can’t judge too much from appearances sometimes. He doesn’t look as if he has much money,” Jonathan said in a low voice.

“I know,” Mandie whispered. “And I hope Grandmother gives him a big chunk of hers for the orphanage.”

The young people waited with Uncle Ned in the reception room while Mrs. Taft, Senator Morton, and the two men discussed business in the tea parlor.

“Oh, this has all turned out so wonderful this time,” Mandie remarked to her friends.

Jonathan and Celia smiled.

“There is more to come,” Uncle Ned told them.

The three were instantly curious.

“What?” they all asked.

“Big reward for finding paintings,” Uncle Ned told them.

The three looked at one another with big eyes; then as though reading one another’s thoughts, they simultaneously shook their heads.

“We don’t want the money,” Mandie said, and her friends nodded in agreement.

“Orphanage can use lots of money,” the old Indian reminded them.

“Of course. That’s what we’ll do with it if they give us a reward, won’t we?” she asked her friends.

“Right,” Jonathan agreed.

“Yes,” Celia said. “Those poor children always need money.”

Mandie looked back at Uncle Ned. “Are you going to Holland with us?”

Uncle Ned nodded. “Yes, must watch over Papoose and her mysteries. Big mystery in Holland.”

“There is? How do you know?” Mandie asked quickly.

“What is it?” Jonathan wanted to know.

“Here we go again,” said Celia.

Uncle Ned continued to smile and said, “Would not be mystery if I tell you what it is. Must be patient. Wait and see.”

“Now you have us so curious, we’ll be counting the minutes until we get to Holland,” Mandie said with a big smile.

“Count minutes to tomorrow. Leave then for Holland,” Uncle Ned replied.

“Tomorrow! Oh, that’s great!” Mandie exclaimed.

That night she and Celia lay awake discussing their adventures in Antwerp. And they played a guessing game as to what the mystery in Holland would be, and whether that strange woman from the ship would also turn up in that country.

MANDIE

AND THE

WINDMILL’S

MESSAGE

For J. Robert and Sarah O. Ritter, Dear Friends and Advisers, With Thanks.

CONTENTS

MANDIE AND THE WINDMILL’S MESSAGE

Chapter   1   Questions in Holland

Chapter   2   She Can’t Hear, He Can’t Speak

Chapter   3   Windmill Blades in the Wrong Position

Chapter   4   Where Had Snowball Been?

Chapter   5   Albert Appears

Chapter   6   Mr. Van Dongen’s Denial

Chapter   7   Who Mixed the Paint?

Chapter   8   Where Are the Van Dongens?

Chapter   9   Investigation in the Darkness

Chapter 10   Where Did Everybody Go?

Chapter 11   Some Things Explained

Chapter 12   Surprise Events

“But if ye do not forgive,
neither will your Father which is in heaven
forgive your trespasses.”
(Mark 11:26)

CHAPTER ONE

QUESTIONS IN HOLLAND

“I hear music!” Mandie Shaw exclaimed. She quickly turned to look all around from the carriage in which she and her friends, Celia Hamilton and Jonathan Guyer, were traveling in Holland.

Her grandmother, Mrs. Taft, and their family friend, Senator Morton, sat across from them. The adults turned and smiled as the young people searched for a glimpse of the source of the music.

“It’s probably a parade, from the sound of it, dear,” Mrs. Taft told Mandie.

“A parade!” Celia said, pushing back her long auburn hair under the bonnet she was wearing.

“It probably is a parade,” Jonathan spoke up. “This is flower season in Holland and they have lots of flower parades.”

“How do you know?” Mandie asked as she glanced at him.

Jonathan smiled at her and said, “You forget. First of all, this is the country of my ancestors. And I have also been to school in this country.”

“Sorry, I keep forgetting you are so well-traveled,” Mandie teased as she held on to her white kitten, Snowball, who was awake now and trying to get out of her lap.

“Well, when you get back home to North Carolina, you will also be
able to say you are well-traveled, at least for a thirteen-year-old girl,” Jonathan told her with his mischievous grin.

Just as Mandie opened her mouth to reply, Celia excitedly pointed outside. “There it is. It
is
a parade. Oh, all those beautiful flowers!” she exclaimed.

Mandie quickly looked over at the spectacle on the road that crossed theirs just ahead. She glanced back at Jonathan and said, “You were actually right.” Pushing close to Celia at the window, she said, “I’ve never in my life seen so many flowers. And so many colors, too. Everything seems to be made out of flowers. Those carts and the ponies pulling them are just covered. And look, even the people in it are wearing whole blankets of flowers. I wonder how they get the flowers to stay together?”

The driver of their carriage brought the vehicle to a halt at the intersection. To Mandie, the parade seemed to be miles long.

“Grandmother, could we just get out while we’re stopped so we can smell the flowers?” Mandie asked Mrs. Taft.

“Yes, that would be a good idea. We’ll all just stand outside and stretch our legs,” Mrs. Taft told her.

Jonathan was already opening the door and helping the girls down as Senator Morton rose to assist Mrs. Taft. The young people rushed forward to stand as near as they could get without interfering with the progress of the parade.

Mandie smiled at the people walking in the parade, but she realized they were looking straight ahead without a glance in her direction. She waved, but the participants still wouldn’t acknowledge her presence.

“Oh, I can’t get anyone to look at me,” Mandie said with a sigh.

“Why do you want them to look at you? They have to keep step and watch where they’re going,” Jonathan said, then added, “They can probably tell we’re nobody important.”

“Jonathan, you don’t have to be important to say hello to somebody,” Mandie protested as she continued to wave.

Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton walked up behind the young people. “Permit me to explain, Miss Amanda,” Senator Morton said, with a smile at Jonathan. “Those people can’t wave or turn their heads because they are weighted down with flowers all over their bodies. If they made a wrong movement they’d probably tear some of the flowers loose.”

“Oh,” Mandie said, dropping her arm. “I understand. I won’t wave,
then. I don’t want to cause them to damage something.” She watched as the parade continued by.

“I’m sure they won’t mind if you want to wave, dear,” Mrs. Taft said, “even though they can’t wave back.”

At that moment, a full band came into view playing a lively march. The musicians walked faster and urged the pony carts on. The three young people clapped to the music as they watched.

Without interrupting her clapping, Mandie looked up at her grandmother and said, “The musicians have so many flowers on them and their instruments, I don’t see how they can play.”

“They’re experienced. There are so many flower parades in this country, I imagine these people are in more than one parade,” Mrs. Taft explained.

“Oh, Mandie, did you see that man with the horn blow off a rose?” Celia asked, pointing to where the flower fell by the road.

Mandie rushed forward, snatched up the rose, and moved back to the side of the road. She smelled its fragrance and touched the velvet petals as Snowball squirmed in her arms.

“I’ll press this and take it home with me,” Mandie said.

“The end seems to be coming up. Shall we return to the carriage?” Senator Morton asked Mrs. Taft as the last figures came into sight.

“Yes, we should be hurrying on so we can get to the house before dark,” Mrs. Taft said, turning back toward the waiting carriage. “Come along, Amanda, Celia, Jonathan.”

As they all took their seats in the vehicle, Mandie asked, “This house we’re going to be staying in, will there be other people there?”

“No, dear, only the servants. We rented it from a family who had it listed with a real-estate agency. They are all away for the summer,” Mrs. Taft explained.

“I hope it’s not too big and spooky like the one in Switzerland,” Mandie told her.

“It’s not that big,” her grandmother said. “There are bedrooms for all of us and one for Uncle Ned when he comes.”

Uncle Ned was Mandie’s father’s Cherokee friend. When Jim Shaw died, the old Indian had promised to watch over Mandie. He had even journeyed to Europe in order to keep his promise. But he seemed to have acquaintances all over the world, and was always going off somewhere to visit someone.

“Uncle Ned promised he would spend more time with us in Holland than he has in all the other countries we’ve visited,” Mandie said, holding the bright red rose she had picked up. Just as the driver started off with the vehicle, Mandie looked down the road at the end of the parade still in sight. “They sure are marching awfully slow at the end of the line,” she remarked.

Celia and Jonathan looked out the window. At that moment, two figures broke away from the marching column and ran back the way they had come.

“Look, they’re leaving the parade!” Mandie exclaimed, watching them come closer.

“Maybe they live around here someplace,” Jonathan said.

As the two participants came nearer, Mandie got a look at their faces. One was a beautiful blond girl and the other was a handsome dark fellow. They kept looking back at the parade disappearing in the distance as they ran. The carriage approached the intersection, and they hurried past without a glance at the vehicle. The driver had to slow the horses to keep from hitting them.

“She was pretty, wasn’t she?” Celia remarked.

“And he was good-looking,” Mandie added with a smile. She laid the rose in her lap, and tied Snowball’s leash to the door handle. Then she pulled her journal and a pencil out of a bag at her feet. “I think I’ll press this rose in my diary,” she said, opening the book to a blank page. She inserted the rose and pressed the book closed, holding it firmly in her lap.

“Are you going to record our journey from Belgium to Holland?” Celia asked as she took her journal and pencil from her bag.

“I suppose so,” Mandie said. “But I’m going to run out of paper for 1901 if I keep writing about
everything
we see and do. I think I’ll have to stay home next year and catch up on other things.” She pushed her long, blond braid under her bonnet, and her blue eyes turned thoughtful as she opened the book to begin writing.