Sue shut off the motor on the electric typewriter, crossed her secretarial office, entered the reception room, and opened the door.
Carleton Campbell, his eyes shining with eagerness, held up a shoe box for her inspection.
Hello, Miss Sue. Hello, Miss Sue, he said.
Elizabeth Dow, moving steadily and deliberately on her low-heeled heavy walking shoes, came marching down the corridor.
Sue put her arm around the boy, lifted him up, kissed him, then stood waiting for Elizabeth Dow, who very typically refrained from quickening her pace in the slightest, nor would she deign to exchange a greeting until she was close enough so there was no necessity to raising her voice in the slightest.
Good morning, Susan, she said, formally.
Good morning, Elizabeth.
I dropped in because they told me you were going to be here this morning.
Yes, Sue said. I have work to do. And then, after a properly impressive pause, added, A very important job. Were working against a deadline.
I see, Elizabeth Dow said, her voice showing her utter indifference to the urgency of the matter. Elizabeth Dow was affected only by problems which were important to Elizabeth Dow. Other persons problems made not the slightest difference to her.
Sue, she said, would you be a dear and watch Carleton for thirty minutes? I have a very important personal appointment and I just cant take him with me... and you know youre the only one hell stay with.
Sue glanced at her wristwatch. She knew the thirty minutes could be at least forty-five and might well be an hour.
Well... She hesitated and again looked at the watch.
I wouldnt ask it of you for myself, Elizabeth Dow said, but Carleton has some things he wants to talk over with you and hes been rather upset this morning. I know if I left him with the housekeeper in his present state hed be a nervous wreck by the time I got back, and she would, too.
Oh, please, Miss Sue, Carleton pleaded. Let me stay here with you. I want to talk.
All right, Susan said, but youre going to have to be a good boy, Carleton. Youre going to have to sit in a chair and watch Sue work. I have some very important statements to get out.
Ill be good, Carleton promised, climbing into a chair and seating himself with his hands folded on the shoe box.
Elizabeth Dow, apparently fearful that something would happen to change Sues mind, headed for the door. It will be only a few minutes, she promised, and was gone.
Sue smiled at Carleton. Whats in the box? she asked.
Treasure, he said.
Sue regarded the box with sudden apprehension. Now look here, Carleton, she said, you havent any toads or anything alive in that box?
He smiled and shook his head. This isnt my treasure box, he said, its Daddys.
What do you mean?
Daddy keeps his treasure box upstairs. Last night he let me put my treasure in his closet. He said hed trade treasures with me any time I wanted. So this morning I took his treasure.
The words poured out with Carletons childish accent and were spoken so rapidly that one word seemed literally to tread on the heels of another as they left the childs lips.
Susan regarded the box thoughtfully. Did I understand you right, Carleton? she asked. This is Daddys treasure?
Its my treasure now, Carleton said. Daddy said we could trade treasures, but hed want his back and hed give me mine back.
What about your treasure box? What kind of a box was it?
Just like this, Carleton said. Daddy doesnt buy shoes in stores. Daddy buys shoes by mail. When they come, my daddy takes the shoes out of the boxes and puts the shoes in the closet.
Yes, I know, Susan said, smiling. I make out the orders for his shoes. He has a particular brand of shoes that he likes and he has rather an odd size. Does your daddy know that you have his treasure box?
He said we could trade, Carleton said.
When?
Oh, a while back.
I thought your daddy was going to go out on the golf course this morning.
He said we could trade, Carleton repeated.
Susan said, Id better look in your daddys treasure box, Carleton, just to see.
He made a convulsive grasping gesture, pressing the box into his stomach and bending over. No! he screamed. That was the trouble with Miss Dow.
How did that make trouble, Carleton?
She wanted to take it away.
Why?
I dont know.
Im not talking about taking it away, Susan said. I just thought we ought to look in it. Dont you think we should?
He said nothing, but clung to the box.
You dont know whats in it, do you?
Treasure, he said.
What was in your treasure box, Carleton?
Lots of things.
I wonder if your daddy has as many treasures as you do. Do you think he does?
I dont know.
Wouldnt it be fun to find out? she said, her voice containing an invitation to adventure.
Its tied up, Carleton said.
Susan smiled at him. Im awfully good at knots, she said, and then frowned thoughtfully. Perhaps, though, those knots would be too much for us. Lets take a look at them, just to see.
Carleton let her inspect the twine around the box.
As soon as she saw the neat square knot she knew that this had not been tied by childish fingers. Whether or not his explanation of the exchange of treasure boxes was correct, there seemed to be no doubt that this was an adult treasure box.
Lets see how heavy, she said.
He hesitated for a moment, then let her take the box. She moved it up and down in her two hands, estimating the weight, then handed it back to him. My, she said, thats heavy.
He nodded.
The fact that she had returned the box to him without trying to open it did much to reassure him.
I wonder what makes it so heavy, Susan said. And then added, If your daddy has business papers in there, Carleton, wed have to keep them from getting lost.
He nodded gravely, hanging on to the box. I wont lose it.
Do you know the difference between a square knot and a granny knot? Susan asked.
My granny is dead, he said.
No, no, not your grandmother, but the knot they call the granny. Look, this is tied with a square knot. See? Here, let me show you.
Having engaged his attention with the box still on the childs lap, Susan worked away at the knot until it was untied. See how easy it is to untie that kind of a knot? she said. Now, a granny is the name of another knot. Its the kind of a knot you would be very apt to tie if you didnt know knots.
Pretending to show Carleton the different methods of tying the string, Susan managed to get the knotted fish twine off the box. She left the box in Carletons lap but surreptitiously raised a corner of the cover as she got to her knees in order to readjust the string.
What Susan saw stopped her cold. The box was well filled with green currency and the bills Susan saw in that first peek into the box were in amounts of one hundred dollars.
Carleton seemed concerned that someone was going to try to take the box from him.
Does Miss Dow know this is your daddys treasure box? Sue asked.
Of course. She tried to take that box. She wants my treasure. I dont like her. Shes bad.
She was just trying to help, Sue said. She probably thought that your daddy didnt want you to take his treasure.
Daddy said we could trade.
I wonder, Sue said thoughtfully, if your treasure is safe with your daddy. Do you suppose he might lose it?
The boys face clouded with the idea.
I think, Sue said, that we should find your daddy and tell him that if he takes your treasure he has to be very careful. Perhaps we could give him his back and take yours, and then yours wouldnt get lost. A golf course is a very big place.
I dont know where my daddy is. He went out in a car.
I think he was going to play golf this morning, Sue said. You dont want to lose your treasure, do you?
Im going to keep Daddys treasure, the child said, his hands gripping the box tightly
Sue let her face light up with the inspiration of a sudden idea. Wouldnt it be fine, she said, to open the safe, the big safe, and put the treasure box in there?
Carleton seemed dubious.
Then wed close the safe, Sue said, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial tone, and Miss Dow couldnt get in there. Nobody could get in. Wed lock it up and the treasure would be safe, and then we could get it again whenever we wanted it.
Carletons eyes lit up. Okay, he said in almost an eager whisper, lets open the safe.
Sue crossed over to the big safe, twisted the dials on the two combinations and finally flung the doors open. She unlocked the inner steel door and then rearranged some papers so as to make room for the box.
All right, she whispered, lets hurry. Well put it in there before Miss Dow gets back.
Carleton was dancing with excitement. Well close it and we wont tell her where it is.
Oh, we can tell her where it is, Sue said, but it wont do her any good. She cant get the safe open. Nobody except your daddy and I can get this safe open.
Gee, thats swell, Carleton said.
Sue reached for the box. For a moment Carleton hesitated at parting company with it. But then he shoved it into her hands.
Now well get it fitted right in this compartment here, Sue said.
She turned for a moment so that her body hid the box from Carleton, and during that moment lifted the cover.
There were literally thousands of dollars in that box hundred-dollar bills which had been stacked neatly and snapped with rubber bands. Evidently, Sue thought in her hurried survey, in lots of five thousand dollars each.
Sue fumbled around getting the cover back on the box, said, Well have to tie this string again, and carefully tied the fish cord around the box, knotting it in a square knot as she had found it and then pushing the box into the safe.
She hurriedly closed the inner door, twisted the key, then closed the heavy outer doors, pulled the nickeled levers which shot the bolts into place, and spun the combinations.
Now, she said triumphantly, weve got it where nobody can get it away from you.
Carleton was enthusiastic with childish excitement. We wont even tell her where it is.
Oh, if she asks I think wed better tell her, Sue said. But... you know, we have to keep an attitude of proper respect for Miss Dow, Carleton. Shes trying to help you.
Shes mean, Carleton said, pushing out his lips in a pout. She doesnt like me.
Oh, yes, she likes you. She likes you a lot, Sue said. But, you know, she has work to do and she has to make you do things that you dont like to do sometimes. But theyre the things that are good for you.