From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

On Monday morning, Claudia and Jamie go to Grand Central Station to rent a post office box. When the postal worker says the rental will cost $4.50, Claudia just shrugs at Jamie and says they’ll take an extra-long bath tonight. The postal worker is unfazed; he’s used to hearing odd remarks. Jamie rents the box under the name “Angelo Michaels” from Marblehead, Massachusetts.

When they return to the museum, they decide to find a messenger to deliver the letter for them. While sizing up a school group, they hide inside a section of a tomb called a mastaba. They can tell from the passing conversation that the school group is around their age. But they notice something else, too—the kids’ names sound uncomfortably familiar.

Suddenly, they hear boys’ voices right outside the tomb door. Claudia claps her hand over Jamie’s open mouth. Then they hear a familiar teacher’s voice urging the boys onward—it’s Miss Clendennan, Jamie’s third-grade teacher. Jamie scowls at Claudia for muzzling him, but she holds her finger to her lips until the third-grade class is long gone, and the tomb grows silent again.

Jamie says part of him wants to join the class and return to Greenwich with them—he’ll “just be mysterious about where I came from.” But Claudia insists this coincidence is perfect for another reason: it gives the perfect cover for delivering their letter. Jamie can claim to be from the Greenwich group and, if asked his name, he can give a classmate’s name. They go to the museum office, and delivering the letter goes without a hitch. Jamie is wound up from all the excitement, so Claudia steers him outside and starts walking up Fifth Avenue with him.