Mandie Collection, The: 8 (35 page)

When the man saw her, he turned and went the other direction.
She hurried on to her room. The door was shut tightly, and she knew immediately that someone had to have let Snowball out.

“Be quiet, Snowball,” she whispered to the cat as he clung to her shoulder. She slowly opened the door to her room.

Quietly crossing the room, she looked around behind the furniture and in the bathroom. No one was there. She couldn’t see that anything had been disturbed.

“But someone was definitely in here,” she whispered to her cat. “How I wish you could talk.” She set him down and added, “I’ve got to go back. Now, if anyone else comes in here, you just hiss and scratch them for all you’re worth, you hear?”

“Meow,” Snowball agreed as he jumped up on the bed and began walking in circles before he settled down and curled up.

“And don’t get too comfortable, either,” Mandie cautioned him. “I will be back soon to get you for your supper.”

Still looking around the room, she went back to the door, opened it, stepped into the hallway, and closed the door firmly. She checked it to be sure it wouldn’t come open.

As she hurried back down to the dining room, she wondered who the man was she had seen on the upper floor. Senator Morton seemed to have different servants at every turn she made. He had so many servants that she wondered how he kept up with all of them, especially since he spent a great deal of time in Washington. Because he was away a lot, he would have to have people working for him whom he could trust, but somehow she just didn’t trust Juan. She wondered where he was.

CHAPTER THREE

THE LIGHTHOUSE VISIT

Everyone retired to their rooms early that night. Mandie and Celia got ready for bed, but they were too excited to go to sleep. They walked over to an open window and knelt down to lean on the windowsill and gaze out into the darkness. Many lights were still visible in other houses.

“I wish we didn’t have to waste time sleeping. I want to see everything,” Mandie fussed, pushing back her long blond hair.

“But sleeping is not wasting time, Mandie,” Celia reminded her. “If we didn’t sleep, we would soon run out of the strength to go on. I’m sure we’d feel absolutely awful.”

“Back home, when I mentioned we were coming to St. Augustine, so many people told me to see this or do that. There must be lots to do here in this town,” Mandie said.

“I’ve heard that, too,” Celia agreed. “My mother has visited here before, and she was saying—”

Mandie quickly leaned her head out the window as she interrupted, “Celia, isn’t that Juan walking up the street over there? That way, toward the park.” She pointed.

Celia pushed forward to see. “It looks like him.”

“I wonder where he’s going this time of night?” Mandie said, watching the figure move quickly up the street and into the distance.

“Mandie, there are lots of places he could be going,” Celia replied. “He lives in this town, you know.”

“But he’s headed for the same park where we saw him go before,” Mandie said, squinting to see into the darkness that now blocked Juan from her view.

Celia moved back inside the window and said, “We’ll have to give up on him tonight. He’s gone.”

Mandie turned back into the room on her knees. “Oh well, we have lots of other things to talk about,” she said. “I have even heard that St. Augustine has ghosts. Can you imagine, ghosts?”

“Ghosts?” Celia questioned. “Do you believe in such things?”

“Just that they’re some kind of mystery someone is trying to make,” Mandie replied with a big smile. “I’m sure I could solve the whole thing if we happened on to one of these so-called ghosts.”

“But suppose there really is such a thing as a ghost?” Celia asked. She shivered as she added, “I sure hope we don’t run into one.”

Mandie laughed and said, “I’ll take care of it if we do. It might be fun to solve a mystery about a ghost, because I’m sure there aren’t any real ghosts.”

Mandie was so certain there was no such thing as a ghost that she had no problem falling asleep later. But her certainty was shaken the next morning in their conversation at breakfast. Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton were discussing several points of interest they thought the girls might like to visit.

“I would say top preference should be given to the old fort,” Mrs. Taft said, looking around the table. “A tour of it would be both educational and interesting.”

“Yes, ma’am, you are so right,” Senator Morton agreed, setting down his coffee cup. Looking at Mandie and Celia, he asked, “Would you young ladies like to visit some of our ghost-occupied places?”

“Ghosts? Real ghosts?” Celia asked, laying down her fork.

“Yes, Miss Celia, what some people declare are ghosts,” Senator Morton replied.

Mandie was speechless with surprise for a moment. Then she asked, “Grown-up people believe in ghosts?”

“There are some adults who do, Miss Amanda,” the senator told her.

Mrs. Taft spoke from across the table. “Amanda, there’s nothing
unusual about that. There have always been some people who believe in such things,” she said. “I never have, but I have known others who absolutely have sworn they have seen ghosts.”

Mandie looked back at the senator and asked, “And you know people here in St. Augustine who actually believe in ghosts, you say?”

“Oh yes, in fact, I’ll introduce you and Miss Celia to some of these folks,” Senator Morton promised.

Mandie thought about the possibility of meeting someone who actually believed in ghosts. She didn’t believe anyone could actually confirm that they had seen a ghost because in her opinion there were no such things as ghosts. She could easily solve such a mystery, just as she had told Celia.

“Amanda, Celia, if we’re going to spend time out at the lighthouse, we should hurry now and get finished with our breakfast,” Mrs. Taft reminded the girls.

“Oh yes, ma’am,” Mandie replied quickly, then drank her coffee.

“I am already finished,” Celia announced as she laid her knife and fork across her empty plate.

“So am I,” Mandie added, setting down her empty cup.

“Then I’ll see about our basket of food that the cook is preparing for us to take along,” Senator Morton said, rising from the table.

“We’ll get our hats and wait for you in the parlor, then,” Mrs. Taft told him as she, too, stood up.

“I’ll get Snowball,” Mandie said, rising and following the senator toward the kitchen, where her cat had been given his breakfast while they ate.

As they walked down the hall toward the kitchen door, Mandie asked the senator, “Do you really know people who believe in ghosts, Senator Morton?”

The senator stopped to look down at her and said, “I certainly do, and I have an idea you are anxious to meet them.” He smiled at her.

“Yes, sir, I am,” Mandie agreed. “I just never knew anyone who believed in ghosts, and I have lots of questions to ask these people. Do you think I could question them?”

“Why, you certainly can, Miss Amanda,” he replied as he pushed open the door to the kitchen. “In fact, that kind of people always like to talk about what they’ve seen and heard.”

“I’m glad it’s all right,” Mandie said, following him into the kitchen, where Snowball came running to her. “Let’s go, Snowball,” she said, picking up the white cat. She glanced at Senator Morton, who had gone down to the other end of the long room and was talking to the cook.

Mandie carried Snowball and hurried upstairs to her room to get his leash and her hat. Celia was ready and waiting.

“I suppose we have to be nice to these people who believe in ghosts. When we meet them, we better not stare,” Celia said, following Mandie across the room.

Mandie reached for Snowball’s leash on the bureau and turned to look at her friend. “And not stare?” she asked. “Now, why would we stare at people like that?” She stooped to fasten Snowball’s leash.

“Well, I figure they must be strange people to believe in such things,” Celia explained.

Mandie quickly stood up, rushed over to the wardrobe, and got her straw hat. “They probably are a little odd,” she agreed as she stood in front of the mirror to put on her hat. “But we can still be polite to them. Besides, I want to ask them lots of questions, so I know I’ll have to be nice to them if I want any answers. Come on. Let’s go.” She quickly picked up Snowball and headed for the door. Celia followed.

Even though it was only a short distance to the dock to get the ferry that traveled back and forth to Anastasia Island, Senator Morton had Juan waiting with his carriage to drive them there.

The girls sat in the backseat, and while the senator and Mrs. Taft were busy talking, Mandie whispered to her friend, “I would think it’s dangerous for Juan to drive if he can’t hear.”

“But he can see,” Celia whispered back.

Mandie held on to Snowball in her lap as they turned a corner. “He can’t see forward, backward, and to both sides at one time—like your ears can hear in every direction.”

“Well,” Celia replied thoughtfully, “I suppose you are right. But maybe other drivers in this town know he can’t hear and watch out for him and stay out of his way.”

“I hope so,” Mandie said. “He is a strange person. I’ve been wondering about his friends. How can he communicate with them? He can’t carry on a conversation.”

“The poor man may not have many friends,” Celia said.

“I sure wish he could talk. I’d like to ask him why he was in our
room,” Mandie said. She bent closer to her friend and added, “Maybe we can follow him sometime, when we see him leave Senator Morton’s house.”

“Are you serious?” Celia asked in surprise.

“I don’t trust him.” Then she quickly added, “You know, he may have a family here in town somewhere. He may not actually live at the senator’s house. What do you think?”

“Yes, that could be so,” Celia agreed.

“Maybe we can find out somehow or other,” Mandie said. Straightening up in her seat, she saw the dock coming into view. “This must be the place where we get the ferryboat. See the water and all the little boats tied up there.”

Mrs. Taft turned from her seat to look back at the girls. “Amanda, please be careful with that cat,” she said. “We would never find him if he got away from you here.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Mandie replied, squeezing Snowball tightly in her arms as the carriage rolled to a stop. “Snowball, you heard Grandmother. You’d better behave now,” she added, looking down into the white cat’s blue eyes.

Snowball meowed in response and reached a paw up to touch her face.

The cat did behave well on the ferry. But once they landed and stepped ashore, he decided he wanted to run away, forcing Mandie to carry him. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Juan watching her as he carried the picnic basket, and she hurried to walk near the senator. She wished one of the other servants had come with them instead of Juan.

“Mandie, look how big the lighthouse is!” Celia exclaimed as they neared the structure.

Mandie gazed up and asked, “Do you suppose we can go all the way to the top of it?”

Senator Morton, walking ahead with Mrs. Taft, heard the question and turned to reply, “Of course you young ladies may go all the way to the top if you wish, but my legs are not as young as they used to be, so I’ll stay on the ground.”

“So will I,” Mrs. Taft added as she and the senator paused in front of the girls. “However, Amanda, you and Celia may walk up to the
observation tower, provided you don’t let that cat get loose. That would cause a lot of trouble.”

“I’ll hold on to him, Grandmother,” Mandie promised.

Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton sat down on a bench near the entrance to the lighthouse to wait for the girls. Mandie and Celia went inside and began the long climb to the top. Mandie happened to glance back from the first landing and saw Juan also coming up the steps.

“Don’t look back,” Mandie whispered to Celia as they continued on their way, “but Juan is behind us.”

“Oh no!” Celia whispered back without turning.

At that moment, Mandie tripped on her long skirts, and Snowball managed to get free. He raced up the stairs ahead of them and disappeared around a corner. Mandie quickly pulled up her skirts and sprinted after him.

“The leash came unhooked,” she told Celia as her friend ran with her up the steps. She held up the red leash, which she had wrapped around her wrist to prevent Snowball from escaping. “Snowball! Come back here!” she called up the stairs.

Other people going up the stairs moved aside as the girls raced past them. Mandie kept watching for the cat and was surprised to see Juan quickly pass them, evidently in pursuit of the cat.

Carefully inspecting each turn in the stairs, Mandie kept calling, “Snowball, come back here!”

Celia, gasping for breath as she stayed right behind Mandie, said, “I just hope he doesn’t fall out a window!”

“Oh no!” Mandie cried, glancing back at her friend and hurrying faster.

Finally the girls reached the top and came out onto the observation deck. Mandie heard Snowball squealing before she saw him. Juan was stooping near the rail and was holding Snowball by his collar as the cat tried to get loose. He was trying his best to bite and scratch Juan, who somehow managed to avoid the fight.

Mandie rushed to fasten the leash to Snowball’s collar. Juan immediately stood up and hurried back down the stairs without looking directly at Mandie.

“Thank you, Juan,” Mandie called to him, even though she knew he could not hear her. After securely hooking the leash, Mandie picked up her cat. “Snowball, just wait until Grandmother hears about you
running off like that. If you don’t start behaving better, one day she’s going to stop letting you go places with us.”

Snowball purred.

“Look, Mandie!” Celia exclaimed from the railing. “You can see forever from here!” She waved her hand around in the air.

Mandie joined her at the rail and looked out over the water, which disappeared into the distance. The bouncing waves glowed in the bright sunshine, ushering a strong salt-laden breeze up the shore. The girls had to hold their hats with one hand and their long, full skirts with the other. Since Mandie had Snowball on her shoulder, she bent her arm around him and tried to hold her hat with that hand. Finally she leaned against the rail to keep her skirts from billowing out.