From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

They enter Mrs. Frankweiler’s property, taking a long winding road to her large, old house, which Claudia thinks looks like a museum. At Claudia’s urging, Jamie tips the driver, giving him their last 17¢. They ring the doorbell, and Parks, Mrs. Frankweiler’s butler, answers the door. Claudia and Jamie give their names and ask to see Mrs. Frankweiler to seek information about the Italian Renaissance. While the children wait in the entryway, Parks tells Mrs. Frankweiler their names; she recognizes them as the missing children and calls Saxonberg.

Ten minutes later, Parks leads them to Mrs. Frankweiler’s office. Unlike the rest of the house, which is filled with antiques, the office is modern, resembling a lab, with filing cabinets along the walls. Dressed in a lab coat, Mrs. Frankweiler continues her research for several minutes before acknowledging Claudia and Jamie. When she turns around, she reveals that she knows who they are and promises not to call the police as long as they do not bore her. After asking Jamie whether she frightens him, she examines her face in a hand mirror provided by Parks, something she rarely does; Claudia compliments her for her beautiful eyes.

Jamie explains that they want to learn the truth about Angel. She refuses to say, and Claudia refuses to tell her where they’ve been all week. Impressed, Mrs. Frankweiler invites them to join her for lunch. Beforehand, they clean themselves. Jamie briefly washes his hands and face, but Claudia decides to take a bath in a grand bathroom filled with black marble. Hungry, Jamie and Mrs. Frankweiler start to eat without her, and Jamie accidentally reveals that they stayed in the museum. When Mrs. Frankweiler learns that they are out of money, she offers them a ride home in exchange for details about their stay in the museum. Instead, Jamie invites her to play War with him, and she agrees despite knowing that he cheats.

Offended that they started to eat without her, Claudia declines the soup, but Parks tricks her into accepting the next dish, macaroni and cheese, by using a fancy French name for it. As they eat, Mrs. Frankweiler quizzes Claudia about why she ran from home and why Angel is so important to her. Claudia is distressed to learn that Jamie told Mrs. Frankweiler where they stayed. Mrs. Frankweiler again offers to give them a ride home if they tell her about their experiences, but Claudia insists that she needs to know about Angel.

Taking Claudia and Jamie back to her office, Mrs. Frankweiler shows them the filing cabinets, which she says are filled with “secrets,” including the truth about Angel. She gives them one hour to search her files, then hides nearby to watch them. After listing several potential topics, she and Jamie fail to find the files. When Claudia corrects Jamie’s grammar, he says, “Oh, baloney,” prompting Claudia to look under Bologna, Italy, which is where Mrs. Frankweiler bought Angel. Opening the file, they find a handwritten poem by Michelangelo with a sketch of Angel on the back. Overwhelmed, Claudia cries as Mrs. Frankweiler rejoins them.

Mrs. Frankweiler explains that she won the sketch in a game of poker with a rich Italian nobleman. When Jamie asks whether she cheated, she explains, “I never cheat when the stakes are high” (148). She chose not to reveal the truth about Angel because she enjoys keeping the secret. She agrees to leave Michelangelo’s sketch to Claudia and Jamie in her will as long as they tell her about their time at the museum and don’t tell anyone else about Angel. She explains that knowing Angel’s secret will allow Claudia to “return to Greenwich different” (149).

When Claudia asks whether it would be better to give the sketch to the museum, Mrs. Frankweiler says that she doesn’t want experts doing scientific analysis and casting doubt on the sketch and Angel’s authenticity, as some surely would. She adds that, while learning is good, sometimes it is important to pause and feel the significance of what you already know instead of just gathering more information.

Mrs. Frankweiler mentions that there is one life experience she never had but still wonders about: motherhood. She begins to question them about their time in the museum.

As Mrs. Frankweiler loses to Jamie in a game of War, Claudia speaks into a tape recorder, with Mrs. Frankweiler occasionally asking questions. At one point, Mrs. Frankweiler receives a phone call from Claudia and Jamie’s parents, who heard what happened from Saxonberg. Later, while Jamie narrates, Mrs. Frankweiler gives Claudia a tour of the house.

Early the next morning, Mrs. Frankweiler’s chauffeur, Sheldon, drives Claudia and Jamie back home. On the way, he overhears them speculating why Mrs. Frankweiler sold Angel in the first place. Claudia explains that Mrs. Frankweiler sold Angel for the excitement of letting others know she has a secret, without giving away the secret. They plan to revisit Mrs. Frankweiler, whom they view as a grandmother. As Sheldon drops them off, he spots their parents and Saxonberg waiting for them.

Mrs. Frankweiler addresses Saxonberg and instructs him to edit her will, leaving Michelangelo’s sketch to Claudia and Jamie. She plans to meet him in the restaurant of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to sign the will. She also reveals to readers that Saxonberg is Claudia and Jamie’s grandfather, but she asks him not to tell them that he is her lawyer, allowing her to keep her own secret from them. From a friend of Sheldon who works at the museum, Mrs. Frankweiler hears that the children’s belongings left in the museum are waiting to be claimed in the Lost and Found.