From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

On Tuesday, Claudia and Jamie do laundry again—Claudia’s sweater has shrunk—and check their P.O. Box. There’s nothing there. They decide to take a tour of the United Nations instead of returning to the museum—they can afford it if Claudia agrees not to buy dessert today. The girl selling tickets asks them if there’s no school today, prompting Jamie to make up an elaborate story about the boiler on the school’s furnace blowing up. But a man in a derby hat gets impatient at the holdup, so they move on. Claudia is impressed by Jamie’s ready-made excuse—he says he’s been holding onto the story since they left home—and tells him he’s “quite a kid.”

Soon their numbers are called, and their tour begins. Their tour guide is an Indian woman, and Claudia is fascinated by her graceful walk, her “smoky topaz” skin color, and her accent. By the end of the tour, Claudia hasn’t learned much about the United Nations, but the guide’s beautiful sari has made her realize something. “Saris are a way of being different,” so when she’s grown up, she could either move to a place like India and be different by dressing as she normally does, or she could be different by staying in Greenwich and dressing like somebody else. Jamie doesn’t understand, but Claudia is determined to figure out a way to be different—and Angel will help her.

The next day, they see an envelope in their P.O. Box. Claudia feels ready to become a 12-year-old heroine. When Jamie unfolds the letter, they read it together silently. (Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler attaches a copy of the letter from her files.) The letter thanks “Friends of the Museum” for their help in trying to solve the statue’s mystery. It says that the museum has known about the stonemason’s mark for a long time. However, more evidence is needed, because not all the marble bearing Michelangelo’s mark was actually carved by him.

So, there are three possibilities, the letter continues: the statue could be Michelangelo’s, it could have been designed by Michelangelo but carved by someone else, or it could have been both designed and carved by someone else. The mark could be a counterfeit.

Neither of the biographers who knew Michelangelo personally mention an angel statue. However, in a letter written in 1497, Michelangelo wrote to his father that he had bought a piece of marble with the intention of sculpting something for himself. Experts have believed that sculpture was a cupid, but it might actually have been an angel. Many international experts have examined the angel, and two more experts are on their way from Italy right now. In the meantime, the letter invites them to share any additional clues they might find. The letter is signed by Harold C. Lowery, Public Relations.

Claudia and Jamie sit down in Grand Central Station’s waiting room, speechless with disappointment. The letter was so polite that Claudia can’t get angry, so she cries instead. Jamie fidgets until she’s done, then quietly asks what they should do now—go home? Claudia says she can’t face home without having accomplished anything. When they left home, she only cared about having fun. But now that’s not enough.

Jamie tries to convince Claudia that just living in the museum for a whole week was an accomplishment. But Claudia feels like she jumped into a lake to rescue a boy, and the boy turned out to be just a log—she’s no heroine after all. Jamie points out that she didn’t set out to be a hero—she just wanted to run away and do so comfortably. But Claudia says she didn’t know she wanted to be a heroine. Then the statue gave her a chance. If they make a real discovery, then she’ll know how to go back to Greenwich.

Jamie is still puzzled—don’t they go back to Greenwich on the New Haven railroad, the same way they came? Claudia explains that she doesn’t mean she wants to go home differently. She wants to go home different, not the same old Claudia Kincaid. Jamie retorts that one thing Claudia can do differently is stop ending every conversation with an argument about grammar. To his surprise, Claudia says she’ll try.

Claudia keeps insisting she has to know for sure if Michelangelo did the sculpture, while Jamie says that if the experts don’t even know, then he’s fine with not knowing. He gets up to buy train tickets home, then lectures Claudia that she’s never satisfied—she started out running away and ended up wanting to know everything. Claudia doesn’t argue and follows him slowly to the counter. But when Jamie orders the tickets, she interrupts and says they want to go to Farmington, Connecticut. They step aside, and Claudia explains that’s where Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler lives. She has a hunch that Mrs. Frankweiler will see them, and that she knows the answer about Angel.

Jamie is surprised that Claudia has a “hunch”—she usually plans everything. But Claudia argues that the night she stayed in the bathroom while the statue was being moved, that was a hunch, too. That satisfies Jamie, and he buys them tickets to Hartford (from which they’ll catch a bus to Farmington). While they’re waiting at the track, Claudia points out this is also a first for Jamie—he bought the tickets without worrying about the price. Thinking about this, Jamie acknowledges that he’s been a “tightwad” his whole life.

The kids enjoy the train ride, and by the time they arrive in Hartford, Claudia feels happy and confident again. She hails a cab outside the station, and Jamie gets in without complaint. Claudia tells the driver to take them to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler’s house in Farmington. (And that, Mrs. Frankweiler tells Saxonberg, is how she enters the story.)