The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve (99 page)

I have a cat.

His name is Fish.

I call, “Fish, Fish.”

Fish comes.

“Oh, I like to read about myself!” said Eddie.

Then Benny saw that he would have to make his own reading books. While the children were busy making figure 2’s, Benny printed the story about Eddie’s cat five times on paper. Every child could read it. Benny said they could take the story home.

“Write about me next time,” begged Isabelle. “I’ve got a boat.”

“So have I,” said every child.

“We’ll all read about Isabelle’s boat tomorrow,” said Benny.

The older children had books. They even had spelling books. After reading and a spelling match, Henry said, “Now we will have an art lesson all together. Let’s study that painting of George Washington.”

As Henry pointed out the different things in the picture, Benny was interested.

Henry went on, “You may think it is strange that a strong man would wear ruffles. But every well-dressed gentleman wore short knee pants and long white stockings and shoes with buckles. And now look at the hair. What color is it?”

“White!” shouted every child.

“Yes, it is white. But it is a wig. This is a very good painting, you see. That wig looks exactly like hair.”

Jessie said, “Now notice the
eyes.
George Washington seems to be looking right at you. It takes a fine artist to do that.”

Everyone looked at the eyes. All but Benny. He happened to look at the coat buttons. There was a long row of buttons down the right side of Washington’s velvet coat.

Benny thought, “One of those buttons looks awfully strange to me. It looks like a round hole instead of a button.”

He couldn’t very well tell Henry, so he wisely said nothing. After the art lesson, Henry said, “Now ring the bell for recess, Ben.”

“Recess!” said Jimmy. “It can’t be time for recess.”

But it was. Time had gone fast for all the children.

“Come outdoors, and we’ll teach you a new game,” said Jessie.

The children made a circle and had already played the game once when they heard a car. They all looked, and a bright red sports car came bumping over the rocky road to the island. It was low tide. The game stopped.

The children called out, “Oh, oh! Look, there’s the Money Man!”

A man put his head out of the car window and waved and smiled. He called “Hello! Hello, kids!” But he did not stop.

When he had gone, Benny said, “Tell me about this Money Man, Isabelle.”

“Oh, he gives us things. He came down here last year. You ought to see the big doll he gave me!”

“Why did he give you a doll?” asked Henry.

“He traded it for my old one,” said Isabelle. “I had a teeny little wooden doll only this long.” She showed with her small hands. “My grandfather made it with his knife. And the man said if I’d trade, he’d give me a beautiful doll with a pink silk dress. And he did.”

“Money Man isn’t his name,” said Hal. “We just call him that. His name is Mr. Fred Willet.”

Marie showed Jessie a chain of bright red beads she had around her neck. “The man gave me this, too,” she said.

“And what did you trade it for?” asked Violet.

“Oh, you’d laugh! It was a string of old buttons. Ma said I could string the buttons and wear them for a necklace. They were old things anyway. Ma said most of them were on her grandmother’s dresses. You can see they were old.”

Henry looked at Jessie. Then he said, “Why do you think he is here again? To trade?”

“Oh, I hope so,” said Eddie. “I’ve got an old iron bank. You put in a penny and a little man comes out and goes back in. The Money Man said I could have a real watch for it or a new cap. I couldn’t decide then. But I know now. I want the watch.”

Then the game went on. Benny knew that something was wrong. He saw Henry whisper to Jessie, “I wish we could get word to Grandfather that the Money Man has arrived.”

Violet heard this, too. She whispered to Henry, “Don’t worry. Grandfather’s eyes are wide open. And he doesn’t miss much.”

Then it was time to go in for the singing school.

Jessie taught the children a new song. It was a round with three parts.

Right after the song, the sardine factory whistle blew. Everybody except the Aldens ran.

Benny went up to look at the picture of George Washington again. He said softly to Henry, “Don’t go yet. Wait till the children are out of sight.”

When the last one had shouted goodbye, Benny took his family up to the front of the room to look at Washington. “Look at button number five,” he said. “There’s a hole in the picture. The fifth button
is
a hole.”

“Why, so it is!” cried Jessie. “I wonder why.”

“I wonder what is behind it,” said Violet.

“The back hall,” said Henry.

They all went into the tiny back hall. The back door was there with a window beside it. The huge chimney made one wall of the room. There was a big pile of wood.

“We haven’t time to look around any more,” said Jessie. “I’m worried about that Mr. Willet. He’s here now. I wish Grandfather could stop him before he cheats any more people.”

Jessie did not need to worry so much. The Money Man had gone from the schoolhouse straight to Mr. Fenton’s store. When he went in, there was Grandfather leaning on the counter, drinking a cup of coffee.

T
he Money Man was not at all shy when he saw Mr. Alden. He said brightly, “I’m Freddy Willet, at your service. Introduce me, Fenton, to your friend. I’m a coin dealer. A few antiques, too. Call me Freddy.”

Mr. Alden nodded and said, “How do you do, Mr. Willet. So you’re a coin dealer?”

“Yes, sir! And let me tell you, the people on this island save everything. Never throw anything away. It’s a great place.”

“Really?” said Mr. Alden. “Will these people sell you their things?”

“Sure. They have a lot of old money tucked away. It came from their great-grandfathers, I guess. They trust me because I gave one of them ten dollars for an old quarter. Who wouldn’t take ten dollars for a quarter?”

Mr. Alden wanted to say “I wouldn’t,” but he said nothing. He went on drinking coffee.

Mr. Willet looked at Mr. Alden’s watch chain. He said, “Do you mind if I look? That big old penny on your chain—do you know what that’s worth?”

“Well,” said Grandfather, “not much, I guess.”

“You’re dead right,” said Mr. Willet. “It’s got that hole in it, so it isn’t worth anything at all. But if some idiot hadn’t made that hole it would be worth two hundred and fifty dollars. Yes, sir, no fooling! It’s very rare.”

Mr. Alden said, “Yes, I know. That’s why I wear it. I was the idiot who made that hole.”

“Sorry!” said Mr. Willet with a wink. “Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. By the way, have you any coins on you? I just take a quick look and I know.”

Mr. Alden emptied his pockets on the counter. Mr. Willet quickly turned each piece of money over to see the date.

“No.” He shook his head. “Nothing there.”

“How about this?” Mr. Alden took an old dime from his vest pocket.

Freddy took one look and said, “Ah!” Then he took a magnifying glass from his pocket and held it over the dime.

At last he looked up and said slowly, “Mr. A., you have a rare dime here. I’ll be glad to buy it for a hundred dollars. And
cash.”

Mr. Alden shook his head again. “No, I ought to have told you it is not for sale. I just wanted to know how much it was worth.”

“Well, now you know,” said Freddy. “Sure you don’t want to sell it?”

“Sure,” said Mr. Alden.

This did not stop Mr. Willet. He went on, “I sell coins to fine places. To colleges and museums. Other things, too. I know people who would be delighted to get that dime.”

But Mr. Alden still said no. He looked at his watch.

Mr. Willet went closer to Mr. Alden. He said in a low voice, “Listen, Mr. A., you seem to be a nice sort of chap. That watch of yours is very old. I collect things like that. I’ll give you a beautiful modern watch for that watch. I bet it doesn’t keep very good time.”

“It keeps excellent time,” said Mr. Alden. “I don’t want to sell it or trade it.”

“Well,” said Mr. Willet brightly, “maybe you’ll change your mind. I’ll be around.” He winked and went out of the store.

Grandfather watched Freddy from the door. “Now I do hope he won’t go up and try to buy anything from Miss Elizabeth Gray,” he said.

“Oh, he won’t!” said Mr. Fenton. “He’ll never get in there. The maid Eva sees to that. She doesn’t let anyone in.”

“I see,” said Grandfather. “By the way, what is the matter with Miss Gray? Why does she keep herself shut up in that house?”

“I don’t really know,” said Mr. Fenton. “She’s always been that way. She is almost a hermit. All I know is that she hardly ever comes out of her house.”

“She must care about the children of the island if she lets them use the schoolhouse this summer.”

“Yes, I suppose so,” said Mr. Fenton. “Here’s another thing. Have you seen that little white building on one side of my store? Well, that’s the Gray Library. Miss Gray’s grandfather was a book collector. Miss Gray built that library and gave a lot of her grandfather’s books to the island people. But nobody ever goes there.”

“Why not?”

“Well, the books aren’t interesting,” said Mr. Fenton. “They are all old fashioned and in fine print. Nobody can read ’em.”

“How do you get in?” asked Mr. Alden.

“Walk in!” said Mr. Fenton, laughing. “It’s never locked. A young girl used to stay there on Saturdays, but she just sat there. Nobody came. So she doesn’t come any more, and the library’s always empty.”

Mr. Alden was thinking it very strange that the island people didn’t know who Miss Gray was. They did not know that she was a famous author. Long before the Aldens had come to the island, Grandfather had read all her books. He knew that she was well known for her help to many schools all over the country.

“That’s too bad,” said Mr. Alden. “Probably they are all good books.” But then he changed the subject, asking, “What do you think of Freddy?”

“I don’t like him,” said Mr. Fenton at once. “He may be a coin dealer, but he’s something else, too. I don’t trust him.”

“I wonder why these island people trust him?” said Mr. Alden.

“Oh, that’s easy. That ten dollar bill he gave to Moss for an old quarter, that did it! Nobody had ever heard of such a thing. I tried to tell them, but they wouldn’t listen.”

Grandfather said, “I think I’ll go up to Miss Gray’s and see if I get in.”

“You will,” said Mr. Fenton. “Eva will know you should be let in.”

Mr. Alden nodded. “But first I think I had better call up a friend of mine. Could I use your telephone?”

There was a telephone on the wall near the door.

“Go right ahead,” Mr. Fenton said. “I have to step out just now.”

Mr. Alden’s call was short, but he seemed pleased. He walked up to the mansion. He took off his hat and rang the bell. Eva knew who he was the minute she saw him through the curtain.

She opened the door and said, “You are Mr. Alden. Miss Gray will see you.”

Mr. Alden followed Eva into the parlor. “It’s Mr. Alden,” said Eva.

Miss Gray was sitting at her desk with her back to the door. She turned around and said, “Sit down, please.”

Grandfather drew a chair nearer to Miss Gray and said, “You have been very kind to my grandchildren. I want to thank you. I can’t stay long because they will miss me and wonder where I am. But before I go, I want to tell you that a queer-acting coin dealer is loose on this island.”

Miss Gray rapped on her desk with a pencil. Then she said sharply, “Freddy Willet!”

“I see you know his name. I just wanted you to know what was going on. I think he plans to cheat these island people this time. Then they’ll never see him again.”

There was a pause, then Miss Gray said, “Thank you very much.”

W
hen Mr. Alden met his grandchildren at noon they were all bursting with news. Mr. Alden certainly had news, too, but he did not tell it then. Nobody thought of lunch. They were too busy talking.