The Mandie Collection : Volume 4 by Lois Gladys Leppard

Author:Lois Gladys Leppard
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781441260154
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Published: 2009-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

WHAT HAS RUPERT BEEN DOING?

“It’s time,” Mandie said softly as the clock struck midnight somewhere in the castle. She picked up her dark heavy cloak and put it around her.

Celia did likewise. “Are we going to leave Snowball here?” she asked.

“Definitely,” Mandie replied, looking at the ball of white fur sleeping on the bed.

Mandie slowly opened the door and looked out into the hallway. There was no one in sight. “Come on,” she whispered.

Celia followed, carefully closing the door to their suite.

The deep silence and the dim lights in the wide corridor made the place eerie. The girls crept along slowly, careful not to make any noise. Mandie held her breath, hoping no one would appear and catch them up after hours. She was determined to watch the tree.

When they finally got to the landing of the stairs, they found Jonathan sitting on the top step. He grinned and rose as they came up.

“I’m ready,” he told them in a low voice.

“So are we,” Mandie said.

They softly descended the huge staircase, pausing now and then to listen for any sound. The front door came into view at the far end of the corridor downstairs and the three hurried toward it.

As they drew nearer, Mandie suddenly put out her hands to stop her friends. She had spotted Rupert sitting on the bench by the door where they had sat earlier watching the arrival of Elsa Wagner and Frau Schiller. Celia and Jonathan saw him at the same time. He seemed to be reading some papers on the table.

The three young people quietly, slowly, backed up the hallway, keeping an eye on Rupert, and stepping into an adjoining corridor.

“Now how will we get out of here?” Mandie asked in a whisper.

“We’ll just find another door,” Jonathan said in a low voice.

“The only other door I know of is the one near the old kitchen—which reminds me,” Mandie whispered. “Jonathan, we saw Rupert putting something down the well in that old kitchen. We had to go find something for Snowball to eat because Olga had not fed him. He was meowing like he was starved. We happened to find the old kitchen while we were looking for the one they use now.”

“Something into the well?” Jonathan questioned. “What did it look like?”

“We couldn’t tell,” Celia spoke up.

“We only saw him let the rope down in the well with something on the end of it,” Mandie explained. “Then he tied the top end of the rope so far down we couldn’t reach it to pull it up, but I think you could.”

“Let’s go see,” Jonathan agreed in a low voice.

The three quietly made their way to the old kitchen. Mandie softly pushed open the door, enough to peek in. There was no one inside.

“Come on,” she said, stepping into the old kitchen and going to the well.

Mandie explained to Jonathan about the rope. He looked down inside the well.

“I can see the rope, but it seems to be fastened a long way down,” Jonathan said, bending as far as he could.

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