Everybody started applauding Mara’s discovery.
As the staff began to disassemble all four fake walls, Mara checked over her notes, and the blue prints and told Mr. Anderson that she believed that there were two more false walls in the dining room, two false walls in the parlor, and in two other rooms on the first floor as well.
When all of the false walls had been taken down in the five rooms, the staff discovered there were more than two hundred fifty paintings. The paintings had been hung floor to ceiling, and wall-to-wall, so that they could all be hidden in those five rooms.
Mr. Anderson phoned a friend of his in New York, who was an art expert at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York City. Mr. Anderson invited her to Charles City, Virginia, to look at some paintings, giving her very few details of the discovery.
When Dr. Garvey arrived that afternoon, she was led into the ballroom. She was speechless, when she saw all of the paintings. She spent the next several hours examining the collection. She made many notes and consulted several art books that she had brought with her.
By eight o’clock that evening, Dr. Garvey gathered everyone together. She asked Mara if she would like to guess the value of the art collection she had uncovered. Mara guessed ten million dollars. Dr, Garvey just smiled and addressed everyone in the room. “This art collection is the biggest discovery of this century, or any century for that matter.”
“All of these paintings appear to be originals. The oldest ones date back to the late 1400’s and even the newest ones are at least eighty years old.”
“Most of these paintings were painted by the greatest artists of history, the Masters of the art world, including Michelangelo, Raphael, Van Dyke, Rubens, Van Gough, Renoir, Rembrandt, Goya and Velasquez, to name just a few. There are even a few of Pablo Picasso’s paintings”.
“Most of these paintings were unknown works of these famous artists, and were probably done early in their careers. “
“The value of this collection is priceless. If I had to place a monetary value on the entire collection, I would guess well in to the hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly over one billion dollars.” Now, Mara needed to sit down, as her legs were starting to get a little wobbly.
Mr. Anderson swore everybody to secrecy, including Dr. Garvey, until a decision was reached concerning the art collection.
He gave Mara a big hug and thanked her for finding the paintings, as well as the room full of antiques.
Mara was feeling very proud of herself for helping the museum to find the lost treasures. She and her parents returned home and they kept their word. They did not tell a soul about the paintings.
About a week later, Mara and her parents were watching a movie on television when it was interrupted by special news report telling of the discovery of more than two hundred and fifty previously unknown paintings that were painted by the greatest artists of history.
The newscaster reported that the collection was discovered in the small town of Charles City, Virginia. He added that the Marshall Art Museum would be holding a private showing of the paintings that weekend. The museum would then be open the following week for the public to see the priceless collection.
The next day, Mara got a phone call from Mr. Anderson, inviting her and her parents to be his special guests for the private showing.
The three of them arrived at the museum the day before the private showing open house. Mr. Anderson took them on a personal tour of the Marshall Mansion Art Museum. The paintings were hanging throughout the museum, in all of the rooms throughout the mansion.
Mara also noticed that the artifacts and antiques from the basement had been distributed throughout the mansion as well, portraying the 1700,s, 1800,s and 1900’s.
The mansion looked like it would have looked in the past three centuries.
“This mansion looks beautiful”, said Mara. “You did a great job of arranging the antiques and paintings.”
Mr. Anderson just smiled and told her; “None of this would have possible if you hadn’t solved the mystery”.
The next afternoon, art experts from all over the world, showed up for the private viewing of the art collection. They were stunned and in awe of this magnificent discovery.
When Mara and her parents arrived at the reception, Mr. Anderson introduced them and told the guests that Mara was the girl who had discovered the paintings and solved the mystery. She received a standing ovation. Everyone wanted to meet this extraordinary girl.
The historical society and the museum wanted to give Mara a reward, but Mara refused. She suggested that instead, that the museum should not charge school groups for tours, or admission.
“You have the opportunity to encourage their creativity and help them learn to appreciate the arts,” said Mara. Mr. Anderson agreed and they shook hands to seal the deal.
One of the guests, who happened to be a millionaire philanthropist, overheard the entire conversation. He told Mara and her parents that he was so impressed by Mara’s modesty and refusal to accept a reward that he was going to set up a trust fund in Mara’s name that would pay her entire college education to include all expenses at the college of her choice. Mara thanked him and shook his hand.
As Mara and her parents returned home the next day; Mara wondered when and where she would find her next mystery to solve, or would the mystery find her. Only time would tell.
Making the Right Choice
After Mara had solved the mystery of the lost paintings, she received a lot of publicity. She became quite famous for a ten-year-old child.
Her Mom started a scrapbook of all the newspaper and magazine articles from around the country. Their phone was constantly ringing, with requests to do interviews.
Mara had appeared on the Oprah Show, the Tonight Show, and David Letterman show, as well as several radio shows. Mara could hardly go out in public without somebody recognizing her.
Mara’s parents decided after six months of the madness to take Mara on a vacation away from the pressure and the publicity.
They arranged to take some time off from work and take Mara to Disney World for the last week of July.
Mara was thrilled when she heard the news. She thought that it would be cool to celebrate her eleventh birthday while in Disney World. Moreover, she had never been to Florida before.
When they arrived at Disney World, Mara’s mother told the woman at the guest relations office their names and the three of them were escorted to the main office.
Mara’s parents had arranged a few surprises for her special day. Mara was greeted by Mickey and Minnie Mouse and after having her photo taken with them; Mara was informed that she would get to ride with Mickey and Minnie in the parade that evening as the guest of honor.
All day long, Mara had little surprises wherever she went. It was the best birthday ever.
She ate lunch with the Disney characters, and that evening, she ate dinner with all of the Disney princesses and got to sit next to Prince Charming. They even had a birthday cake shaped like Mickey Mouse.
Later that evening when it was time for the parade, Mara was escorted to the lead float, where she stood between Mickey and Minnie. As the parade started, hundreds of people lined the streets, all of them waving at Mickey, Minnie, and Mara. Mara was having a blast waving back at everyone. She had never been so excited in her life.
After the parade was over, Mara and her parents watched the fireworks and then they headed back to their hotel. Mara thanked her parents for her best birthday ever.
Over the next four days, Mara and her parents visited many other attractions in Orlando. On the evening of their fifth day in Orlando, Mara was watching the news with her parents and she saw something that got her more excited than Disney World.
Her two favorite actors of all time, Jason and Ryan Davis, who played “Nick and Chase Stevens” on the TV show, “Wi
sh upon a Star” were going to be at an Orlando Mall the following morning signing autographs for their fans.
Mara loved the show. Jason and Ryan starred as twin brothers with magical powers. They had the ability to hear the wishes of children, and they also had the power to grant those wishes that were pure, and unselfish.
When Mara heard that news, she got so excited that she could not speak. When she did get her voice back, she begged her parents to let her go see them and get their autographs. Her parents agreed to take her there the next morning. They knew that Mara was obsessed with the Davis twins. Her bedroom had posters of them covering all four walls. She also had dozens of magazines with pictures and articles about them. Mara could possibly be their biggest fan.
When they told Mara that she could go, Mara’s parents did not realize what they were getting themselves into.
Jason and Ryan were scheduled to begin signing autographs at 8 A.M. Mara wanted to be the first one in line to see them. She convinced her parents to go to the mall at 4 A.M. and start waiting in line.
Mara’s parents waited with her until 6:30 in the morning. By that time, there were several other kids in line, as well as several parents. They left Mara in line, and then they went to their van to take a nap.
By 7am, there were over 500 children and parents in line to see Jason and Ryan. Mara was very excited. She was just an hour away from meeting her
Mara Louis; Girl of Mystery Page 5
