Mandie and the Secret Tunnel (8 page)

As they worked their way around the room, they kept calling, “Mr. Bond! Mr. Bond! Where are you?”

Finally they met again.

“He’s not here!” Mandie gasped.

At that moment, something scampered across the floor and both the girls screamed.

“Let’s get out of here!” Polly shouted, running for the door to the steps. Mandie, her heart pounding, followed close on her heels, and then she stopped suddenly as she looked back and saw
Snowball beating an old piece of wood around with his paws.

“Oh, Snowball! Polly, it was Snowball!” She picked up the kitten.

“Well, anyway, let’s get out of here!” Polly ran ahead to the door.

They came down the steps into the front hall so fast they almost collided with Liza who was passing through with her arms full of bed linens.

“Hey, where you two going?” Liza stepped out of their way just in time.

“Liza, have you seen Mr. Bond? He disappeared,” Mandie told her.

“I ain’t seed him since he went up the steps with you two,” Liza answered. “Why? What’s wrong? Something wrong?”

Mandie immediately tried to compose herself, knowing the black girl would become frightened if they told her what had happened.

“Oh, nothing, we just missed him, I guess,” Mandie said.

“Yeh, we stayed too long in the attic,” Polly helped out.

“You been in the attic? Lawsy mercy, what you two done been doin’ in that spooky place?” Liza’s eyes widened. “Ain’t you’ns askeered to go up there?”

“We just went up there looking for something, Liza. Come on, Polly, let’s go out in the yard.”

Once the two girls were out of Liza’s sight they ran for the entrance to the tunnel.

“He’s gotta be in the tunnel. He must’ve found the panel that opened up,” Polly declared.

“Right. Maybe we can find the way in from the tunnel now,” Mandie said as she ran on ahead and pushed at the door. “Oh, no, Mr. Bond locked it when we left, remember? And we don’t have the key!”

“Guess we give up and go home and wait for him to come back from wherever he’s gone,” Polly lamented.

To their amazement, Mr. Bond was sitting in the swing on the front porch when they came around the corner of the house.

“Mr. Jason! Where did you go?” Mandie ran to him.

“Where did I go?” the old man asked.

“Yes, when we were in the attic, you just disappeared,” Polly added.

“Oh, the attic—why, I just came on back downstairs.”

“But we didn’t see you leave,” Mandie insisted.

“No, because some of that old furniture is taller than you two, I suppose.” He smiled at the girls. “Did you get scared because I left you alone up there?”

“Oh, no, Mr. Jason. We were just trying to find you. We thought maybe you had found the secret panel,” Mandie told him.

“The secret panel? Oh, the panel to the tunnel. No, I don’t suppose there’s an opening into the attic after all,” Mr. Bond said.

The two girls looked at him and then at each other and didn’t say anything else, but they went on inside the house and up to their room on the third floor.

“I don’t believe him!” Mandie was emphatic about it.

“Neither do I!” Polly flopped down beside Mandie on the big bed.

“But why would he lie to us, Polly?”

“Must have a good reason.”

“Well, after all, this is my uncle’s house and Mr. Jason shouldn’t keep secrets from me,” Mandie moped.

“Nope.”

“Well, don’t you have any ideas?”

“I just can’t figure this one out, Mandie. Everybody seems to be trying to hide something from everybody else.”

“I know. Guess it’s the money my uncle has. Money makes people fight sometimes, my father always told me. He always said it was better to be poor. Then you would know who your friends really are.”

“Oh, Mandie, I don’t agree with that at all. I’d just die if we were poor.” Then Polly realized what she was saying. “Sorry, I forgot. I mean, I know you told me how poor your family is. But, anyway, don’t you think it’s better now, with all those new dresses and so much to eat, and servants to do all the work?”

“Well, I suppose. But look at the difference in
things since Bayne Locke and that Mrs. Snow and her terrible Ruby came here. They’re all after my uncle’s money!”

“So what are we going to do about Mr. Jason now?”

“I suppose we’ll have to watch him now, along with the others.”

Chapter 8 - Joe Comes to Visit

The people who sat around the dining table at mealtime after that acted like enemies. There was very little conversation between any of the occupants of John Shaw’s house.

Mr. Bond tried his best to carry on a conversation at the table one day at dinnertime, but Bayne Locke and Mrs. Snow and her daughter completely ignored him. The girls did not talk either, but continued to listen and watch everyone else. Mr. Bond only got curt answers to any questions he asked in an attempt to draw the girls out.

“Well, if this ain’t the quietest bunch I ever seed in all my born days,” Liza remarked as she brought in the dessert. “What’s the matter—cat got all your tongues?”

Mandie laughed. “No, Liza, we just can’t do two things at one time. If we’re going to eat, we have to
eat, and if we’re going to talk, we just can’t eat.”

“Oh, I sees,” Liza smiled at her. “Everybody must be starved to death.” She twirled on out of the dining room with her arms full of dishes. “Most nonsense I ever heard of!”

“Well, guess she’s right,” Mr. Bond remarked, looking straight at the two girls. “But if everyone’s starved to death, why is everyone leaving so much food on their plates?”

“Don’t include me in that. I eat whatever I’m served,” Mrs. Snow haughtily informed him.

“So do I,” her daughter piped in.

“I’m always hungry. I always eat anything I can get my hands on,” Bayne Locke said. “Food’s too good to waste.”

“That leaves me to answer, I suppose,” Mandie volunteered. “My stomach doesn’t feel too well lately. Too much excitement around. Besides, I’m not used to so much food at one meal.”

“Well, I think eating is a silly habit and a waste of time when you could be doing something more interesting. Therefore, I only eat enough to keep from starving,” Polly told them.

“Maybe the food will taste a little better at suppertime,” Mr. Bond said as he rose from the table. “Although I didn’t see anything wrong with what we just had.”

There was a loud knock on the front door. Everyone was silent and listened. There were indistinct voices in the hall and Liza came hurrying into the dining room.

“Missy, you’se got company—the doctor man and his son,” Liza announced to Mandie.

“Joe!” Mandie rushed from the room.

She greeted Dr. Woodard and Joe in the front hallway.

She grasped the old man’s hand. “Dr. Woodard, I’m so glad to see you, and you, too, Joe.” She turned a little shyly toward the boy. “Seems like ages since I saw y’all. Come on into the dining room and meet everybody. You’ll probably want something to eat, anyway.”

“Wow! Your uncle sure does have a big house.” Joe commented.

“Hope you’ve been all right, Mandie,” the old doctor squeezed her hand.

“Everybody,” Mandie addressed all who were still at the table, “these are my friends, Dr. Woodard, and his son, Joe.”

Liza was already setting two more plates and she motioned for them to sit down.

“Jason Bond, doctor,” Mr. Bond said, shaking his hand heartily. “Sit down, eat. You, too, young fellow.” As the two sat down, Mr. Bond resumed his seat. Mandie took her place again, and then introduced each one around the table. “This is my friend, Polly Cornwallis. This is Bayne Locke, Mrs. Snow, and her daughter, Ruby. Now do help yourselves, Dr. Woodard, there’s plenty to eat.”

“Yes, I can see there is,” Dr. Woodard said, piling his plate high, and turning to Joe who kept his eyes glued on Polly. “Joe, dig in, boy.”

“Oh, yes, sir,” Joe answered and began filling his plate, still stealing glances at Polly who was openly staring at him also.

“Where are you from, Dr. Woodard?” Bayne asked him.

“We live near where Amanda comes from, in Swain County,” he answered between mouthfuls of green beans and cornbread. “Had to come to Franklin on some business and just thought we’d drop in to see how she was getting on.”

“You know that Uncle John died?” Mandie questioned.

“Died? Why, no, I hadn’t heard. When? What happened?” Dr. Woodard asked.

“He died right after I came here,” she told him. “He was in Europe.”

“It was very sudden, doctor, from what his lawyer told me, and he was buried overseas,” Mr. Bond added.

“Well, I’m very sorry to hear that,” the doctor replied. “Your ma and sister are fine, Amanda. I saw them at the store yesterday.”

“Oh, Dr. Woodard, please don’t tell them where I am!” Mandie begged, as she quickly studied the doctor’s face. “You—you haven’t already, have you?”

“Well, as a matter of fact, I have, Amanda. But, now don’t you worry. It’s all right with your ma, if you want to stay here—but then, what’s going to happen now that your uncle is gone?”

“You
told
her?” Mandie felt betrayed.

“Yes, I had to. There was a posse out looking for you all over Nantahala Mountain after you ran away from the Brysons. Just happened you had written Joe where you were going,” Dr. Woodard told her. “I didn’t want to, Amanda, but I had to. Those men were wasting their time. But like I said, your ma doesn’t care if you stay here. She told me so. Will you stay on here, now that your uncle is dead?”

“Yes, I will,” Mandie replied. “Mr. Bayne Locke says he is my uncle’s nephew and Mrs. Snow says she is his niece. But, we haven’t found the will yet, so we don’t know what he left to whom.”

“Well, that’s a nice kettle of fish. Can’t find the will, eh?” The doctor continued eating as he turned to Mr. Bond. “Say he has a will to be found yet?”

“That’s right. His lawyer believes it’s somewhere in this house but we haven’t turned it up yet,” Jason Bond told him. “And until we do, nothing can be settled.”

Dr. Woodard turned to Bayne Locke and Mrs. Snow.

“I don’t recollect Jim and John Shaw having any other living close relatives,” he told them.

“That’s because my mother, who was John Shaw’s sister, Martha, died when I was born,” Bayne told him.

“When you were born? Now, let me see, you must be twenty-two or twenty-three?”

“Twenty-two.”

“Well now, twenty-two years ago I was in school
with Jim Shaw and he didn’t have a sister. As a matter of fact, I had known the family probably four or five years before that.” The doctor was emphatic about this.

“Sorry, but he did have a sister and I am her son,” Bayne Locke smiled crookedly at the doctor.

The doctor grunted his disapproval and turned to Mrs. Snow. “And you claim to be a niece? He didn’t have any niece except Amanda here.”

“Well, I don’t know who you think you are, but I guess I know who I am.” Mrs. Snow jumped up from the table and threw down her napkin. “Come on, Ruby, we have things to do.” And they left the room in a hurry.

“Guess she’s mighty sensitive about it,” Dr. Woodard mumbled.

“You’re absolutely right, Doc,” Jason Bond told him. “I know these people are not kin to John Shaw, none of them excepting Amanda here, but I got to get proof before I can put them out. And that proof should be on the way any day.”

Mandie finally noticed that Joe and Polly were staring at each other. Thinking they were both just being shy, she tried to start a conversation. “Joe, you just ought to see all the nice clothes Aunt Lou has made for me since I came here.”

“Clothes? Aunt Lou? Oh, yes,” Joe turned and smiled at her. “I see you have on a new frock. It’s awfully pretty.”

“Joe, maybe Dr. Woodard would let you visit with us for a while. We have this huge house with all
these rooms and all this food,” Mandie began.

“Could I, Dad?” Joe turned to his father and watched Polly out of the corner of his eye. “Could I stay here till you come back next week? Please?”

“Well, I don’t know about that. There isn’t any—”

“Please, Dr. Woodard!” Mandie begged.

Jason Bond tried to help her. “He’s welcome, Doc, if he wants to stay. Like Amanda said, plenty of room and plenty to eat.”

“What about clothes? What did you bring with you?” his father asked.

“You said we were going to be in Franklin two or three days, so I brought a change of everything,” Joe replied. “Please, Dad.”

“All right. I’m not sure what your mother will say, but I reckon it’ll be all right,” his father finally agreed.

“Whee!” Polly spoke at last and jumped up. “Let’s show Joe around—all over—you know.”

Mandie understood the “all over” to include the tunnel and she quickly left the room with them.

Joe, who inadvertently found himself between the two girls, was speechless with all the finery and rooms in the house, and most of all, the story about the tunnel. Mr. Bond still had the key and Mandie had to return to secretly ask him for it. He smiled and handed it to her.

Curious about the tunnel, Joe was glad that his father had allowed him to stay to visit; but Mandie wanted to talk to him alone and it was near
suppertime before she had a chance. Mr. Bond went with Polly to her house next door to get more clothes and Mandie promptly asked Joe to sit in the swing on the front porch with her.

“I sure miss school, with you and everything, Joe,” she told the boy.

“Me, too, Mandie. I never go over to your mother’s house anymore, but I heard that Irene is getting seriously involved with Nimrod,” Joe told her.

“Nimrod! Oh, well, they are two of a kind!” she laughed. “Joe, have you—do you ever—that is, were you ever up at my father’s grave since I left?”

Joe reached over and took her hand in his. “Yes, I’ve been up there several times when I was with Dad in the neighborhood. I’ve tried to keep it cleaned off. And once in a while, I find some flowers growing along the way and I put them on his grave.”

“Thank you, Joe!” She reached over and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re the only real friend I ever had.”

Joe blushed and squeezed her hand. “You, too, Mandie. You know, we will grow up someday. And I still plan on looking out for you.”