The Mandie Collection (6 page)

“What good is the will if Uncle John is dead?” she asked.

“Don't you know what a will is? It's a paper, a legal paper, stating who is to receive what of the inheritance when a person dies. Your uncle had lots of money and property and someone will get all that, depending on who is mentioned in his will,” Mr. Jason told her. “There's a possibility you will be mentioned in his will as a legal heir.”

“An heir?”

“Yes, that's the person who gets whatever is left to him by the person who dies.”

“But he never even saw me that I know of. He might not have even known that I was born.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, he knew he had a brother, who was your father; and since your father is dead, if he willed anything to him, then you would get it instead.”

Mandie finally understood most of what Mr. Bond was telling her, and she became anxious to find the will. She also wanted to talk to someone her own age.

“May I invite Polly to spend the night with me, Mr. Bond?”

“Of course, but her mother will have to agree, you know.”

So when Polly came over and heard the news, she returned home to tell her mother and came back to tell Mandie that her mother would come to call later in the afternoon.

Mrs. Cornwallis, a young widow, was very expensively dressed; her clothes were beautiful. Mandie was a little unsure of herself in the presence of such a lady.

“My dear, such a shock for you. And just the day after you got here, too. You must come over to our house and stay until things are settled,” Mrs. Cornwallis told her.

“Thank you, Mrs. Cornwallis, but I can't leave. I have to help Mr. Jason look for Uncle John's will,” Mandie said. “And I would like Polly to spend the night with me, if you would let her.”

“Yes, yes, of course, dear,” Polly's mother agreed. “But, doesn't anyone know where John Shaw kept his will?”

“No, not even his lawyer. He says it must be somewhere here in the house, so we have to find it.”

“Mandie, can I help you look?” Polly put in.

“That's why I wanted you to spend the night,” Mandie replied. Mrs. Cornwallis rose to go. “Polly can spend the night, dear; but please get some sleep, girls.” She laughed as she left.

“Will you have to go home now because your uncle died? I sure hope not,” Polly said.

“Oh, no, Mr. Jason said I was to stay here until the will is found; and we're going to find it ourselves. Come on! We'll start right now.”

The two girls left Polly's nightclothes in Mandie's room and then in whispers decided to take candles and go up to the third floor. Mandie had not yet been to the third floor of the house, and was anxious to do a little exploring.

They found the door to the stairs, turned the knob and it opened. Silently they gazed up the dark steps, then slowly began their ascent
on the creaking stairway. They reached a landing halfway up and stopped to open the window and push open the shutters to let in the light and fresh air before climbing the last flight.

“At last!” sighed Polly, as they reached yet another door at the top of the stairs.

Upon opening it, they found themselves in a long hallway. Holding their half-spent candles at arm's length, they cautiously followed the corridor to the only door they could see in the hall, at the left. Mandie, arriving first, pushed it open.

Before them was a huge, impressive bedroom furnished with two ornately carved four-poster beds. Each was covered with a white crocheted spread and draped with matching canopy curtains. There were two full-length mirrors with heavy wood frames to match the beds. Four tall windows were covered with sheer Priscillas.

Before the girls could take in more in the meager light, the canopy curtain moved slightly on one of the beds and they heard a strange noise. At the same time, a draft from somewhere snuffed out their candles. With this, the frightened girls ran down the hall in search of the stairway. Just as they reached it, the door slammed violently and when they grabbed for the doorknob they discovered there was none.

Mandie gasped and clung to Polly as the two raced down to the other end of the hall. In the darkness they both stumbled into the wall, pushing a hidden panel open which led to yet another descending stairway. Just when they were beginning to wonder if the stairs would end, they came to a short hallway. They could see no door, but more stairs led downward and they took the plunge hand in hand.

To continue the maze, they found another door, opened it and stumbled into a dark room, managing to cross it without bumping into any furniture. A second door in the room led to another stairway, at which point Mandie cried, “Where in the world are we?”

“Don't ask me,” was Polly's bewildered reply.

At the end of another hall they came upon a locked door, but this time Polly discovered a large key dangling on a nail beside the door. With a trembling hand she inserted the key in the lock.
Exhausted with suspense and fear she handed the key to Mandie and asked her to open the door. To the complete surprise of both the girls there were bushes and vines growing directly in front of them in the open doorway. They pushed through the shrubbery and exclaimed together, “We're in the woods!”

They could barely see the back of the house through all the trees.

“It was a secret tunnel, just like in the storybooks!” cried Polly.

“It's amazing! I can hardly believe this is happening,” added Mandie.

“Say, I'm getting awfully hungry,” murmured Polly. “It must be close to dinnertime.”

“Yeh, me too. Come on, let's run,” Mandie called as she bounded toward the other side of the house.

Polly caught up with her. “Let's keep this
our
secret. Then we can explore it all over again.”

“All right. We won't tell anyone where we've been,” Mandie agreed. “But I sure would like to know what was behind that curtain on that bed. Ooh, it makes me shiver just to think of it!”

“I know,” agreed Polly. “Let's get Mr. Bond to go up there with us and see what it is.”

“That's a good idea. Come on. Let's hurry and eat dinner.” Mandie once again broke into a run.

As they came in the back door Aunt Lou greeted them. “Land sakes! Where you all done been? Vittles bein' put on the table. Git a move on and git washed. Quick!” She shooed them on through the kitchen with a big grin, as they obeyed.

They washed, hurried to the dining room and slipped into their chairs just as Mr. Bond came in right behind them.

“Well, well, where have you two been for so long?” he asked.

“We've been looking for the will,” Polly said, quickly.

“On the third floor,” added Mandie, watching for his reaction.

“On the third floor, eh? Well, did you find anything up there?” He began slicing the ham.

“Yes,” Polly said.

“But we don't know what it is,” Mandie reminded her.

“Well, what's that supposed to mean? How did you find something if you don't know what it is?”

“We found a big bedroom with ghost-white curtains and spreads over two big four-poster beds on the third floor, with white curtains all over all the windows. It makes chills run down my spine!” Mandie exaggerated.

“Mine, too! It made a noise, Mr. Bond, and made the curtains move and then it blew out our lights,” Polly told him.

“Well now, if you'll eat up, we'll just go back up there and see what it is.”

They were soon finished and Mr. Bond went to get some matches and an oil lamp.

Mandie absentmindedly slipped her hand into her pocket. “I still have the key to that tunnel,” she whispered.

“Listen, let's tell Mr. Bond about it—just him—nobody else?” begged Polly.

“All right, but not till we see what the ghost is,” cautioned Mandie as Mr. Bond returned.

They followed the kind man up the stairs silently, darting glances all around. When they reached the landing where they had opened the window, he closed it, commenting that the draft might cause their lamp to go out. Arriving at the top of the stairs he opened the door into the center hall of the third floor.

“Land sakes! Gotta replace that knob,” he said, as he noticed the other side of it was missing.

The girls followed more closely behind him.

“It was in that room,” Mandie said, pointing to the door on the left.

“All right, we'll just see what's in there,” the caretaker told them. He walked over to the bed and the curtains moved. And there was that noise again!

As he touched the curtain a bat flew out from behind it. The girls screamed and ran into the hall. After a long chase, Mr. Bond finally
ran the bat out through the window in the hall and closed it again, leaving the shutters open to allow some light from outside.

“Come on back in now and see for yourselves, girls. It's gone,” he assured them.

The two slowly entered the room, looked cautiously around and were satisfied.

“Mr. Jason, we found a secret tunnel today right here in this house,” Mandie blurted out.

“A secret tunnel?” the old man asked.

“Yes, come on! We'll show you!” Mandie fairly danced about.

“It goes into the woods,” Polly said.

“I don't know anything about a secret tunnel in this house,” Mr. Bond said.

The girls explained how they had found it. They led the way down the hall and searched for the loose panel. Instead, they found a door they hadn't seen before, which opened to a small room containing steps which led to the attic.

“Well, reckon that's it,” Mr. Bond said. “We've looked everywhere and haven't found it yet. There's only one more door left and it's locked.” He indicated a door near where they were standing.

“Oh, we missed that one,” Mandie jumped.

“I've got the key. I know what's in there,” Mr. Bond said.

“Here,” Mandie pulled the key from her pocket. “I have the key to the door at the other end of the tunnel. We can come in from that end.”

“Too late tonight for such things,” Mr. Bond said. “We'll try it tomorrow in the daylight.”

“Well, if you have the key to this room, can we see what's in there?” Polly asked.

Mr. Bond took out his keys and fumbling through them came up at last with the key that unlocked the door. The girls stepped ahead of him into the room and looked around in surprise.

There were shelves on three sides of the room filled with books. In front of a large stained-glass window was a huge desk with papers strewn about on it. All the shutters were open, letting in the
moonlight from outside. On the opposite side of the room was a beautifully carved couch with big soft cushions. On the three sides with shelves there were wall sconces holding candles, as many as could possibly be placed between the rows of books.

Mandie noticed a smaller door in one comer which she tried to open and found locked. The caretaker had no key for it. She also noticed an ashtray with ashes in it on the desk and a pen in a bottle of ink.

“Wonder what your uncle used this room for—a private library?” Polly asked.

“He did his private book work up here,” Mr. Bond told them. “None of the servants are allowed on the third floor.”

“Do you know what's on the other side of that locked door, Mr. Jason?” Mandie wanted to know.

“Nope, can't say I remember ever seeing it before. Believe those curtains may have been pulled over it when I've been in here, and that's not been many times.”

“Can we light the candles, Mr. Bond, so we can see how they look all burning at one time?” Polly begged.

Mr. Bond struck a match, lighted one candle, and the one on either side of it automatically burst into flame. He repeated this around the room.

“You see how close they are? That's what makes 'em all light up magic-like,” the old man told them.

The room was brilliant, and Mandie's attention was drawn to a paper on top of the pile on the desk.

She picked it up and read aloud, “ ‘March 1st. Dear Brother Jim'—This is to my daddy!—‘I am going on vacation to Europe for the summer and since one never knows what the future on a ship can hold, I would like to make peace with you while I can. I am an old man now, fifteen years older than you, you know, and I have no one to leave my belongings to, except you. I am taking the blame entirely for the disagreement between us all these years. I want you to know that Elizabeth is still in love with you, and she says she will never love anyone else. All that matters to me now
is—' ” Mandie looked up, puzzled. “That's all; it's unfinished. Who is Elizabeth?”

Mr. Bond took the paper and read it over again. “I'm afraid I have no idea who Elizabeth is.”

“I wonder why it's not finished,” Mandie mused.

“Might have been written over again on another piece of paper. See that ink blot?” He showed her a black smear of ink on the paper, which she had not noticed.

“You're right, Mr. Jason,” Mandie's blue eyes filled with tears. “I hope my daddy received that letter before he—passed away.”

“He probably did.” Mr. Bond put the paper back on the desk and reached for a long rod.

“What's that?” Polly wanted to know.

“It's a snuffer, to put out all these confounded candles,” he said, as he swung it around the room extinguishing each one as he went.

“Imagine doing this every day,” Polly remarked.

“Yeh, and I'm glad I don't have to,” he said.

Once in her room for the night, with only Polly for company, Mandie studied the paper again, which she had taken from the library. She was glad Polly's mother had agreed to let her stay with her until her uncle's missing will was found.

“I hope my daddy got this,” she said again. “I have to find this Elizabeth who loved him.”

“In the meantime, tomorrow we'll show Mr. Jason the tunnel,” Polly reminded her. “What did you do with the key?”