Walls Within Walls

Eloise assures them he got out in someone’s apartment and will show up soon enough. She then confronts them about using her real name even though she never gave it to them. They ask her about clues and poets, which initially does not catch her attention until they identify particular poets her father enjoyed. She reluctantly agrees to meet with them at the New York Public Library to discuss the poems but expects nothing from the conversation. As she turns to leave, Patrick returns; after she goes, he relays that he found more writing in the Williamsons’ apartment. He reads the letters from the painting off his arm—where he wrote them with a pen from his pocket—and they decipher the writing, adding two more lines to Post’s poem.

CJ and Brid meet with Eloise at the library, where they first discuss A. A. Milne’s stuffed animals that inspired his Winnie-the-Pooh characters. The children turn the conversation to the Post family inheritance; Eloise immediately attempts to shut down the conversation. However, when the children reveal clues she was unaware of, she shushes them, arranges another meeting in a more private location—Belvedere Castle in Central Park—and makes them swear not to share what they know with anyone else. They agree, and Eloise takes her leave; Brid then tells CJ not to go to the servants’ quarters without her anymore.

The next day, CJ and Brid convince Maricel to take them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a “school project.” Maricel quickly takes the younger children to a nearby playground and lets CJ and Brid roam for their project. Once she leaves, the two rush to Belvedere Castle to meet Eloise. She meets them on the top floor and shows them her secret place, where she sets up a picnic and invites them to tell her everything they have found.

They share their story with Eloise; when they conclude the tale, she takes her father’s poetry book and tells the children they are imaginative. She insists they live in the real world rather than a world where they might find a treasure that no longer exists. She takes the book and leaves. CJ and Brid discuss their new lives and how they feel out of place among the wealthier families—children their age have chauffeurs and personal assistants. They agree to continue the search independently since they know the poems Mr. Post put in his book and to keep the secret between them.

Several weeks pass, and the weather turns from sweltering summer to cool autumn. Mrs. Smithfork hires a homework assistant—a college student who regularly helps the children with homework. Their assistant, Charlize, tells the kids they must make friends their age. CJ remains in his secret place in the fire stairwell to work on his homework rather than engage in conversation, until he hears Eloise’s door open below him. He wants to talk to her when he overhears her talking to a man he assumes is the man breaking into their home. She tells the man that the kids know nothing and to leave them alone; the man does not like that suggestion because he thinks they know more even though they’ve only found the clues everyone else saw. After the man leaves, CJ comforts Eloise, who is crying on the steps outside her apartment. She asks CJ to meet her at her secret place tomorrow, where she promises to tell him and Brid everything.

CJ and Brid meet Eloise at the top of Belvedere Castle behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she sets the scene for her story by telling them how New York felt in the 1920s and 1930s: It was a time of tremendous growth and prosperity, followed by the Great Depression. Several wealthy families acquired collections of rare art and artifacts as the city grew. However, alongside the families legitimately earning their wealth were criminal parties growing through illegal means. When the auction houses stopped selling to the criminal investors, crimes against the auction houses increased. Eloise and her brother, Julian, were put under constant guard when someone kidnapped Charles Lindbergh’s son.

Eloise’s father sent her to boarding school while keeping her brother close. Mr. Post went on a trip with Julian, and when he returned, he was alone. He claimed Julian was somewhere safe, but most people believed that the Torrio family kidnapped Julian and that Mr. Post was handling the ransom privately. Eloise never saw her brother again despite repeated efforts to do so. The apartment that was supposed to go to Julian, the one across from the Smithforks, went to the Torrio family. When Mr. Post died, everyone searched the building for the hidden treasure but found nothing. Eloise, Joe Torrio, and the Smithfork children are the only people who think the treasure is still somewhere in New York. Eloise ends the conversation by informing the children that no one can see them together in their apartment building so that Torrio does not get suspicious and will look for more clues in apparent spots.

Mr. Smithfork has to go to work, and Mrs. Smithfork is taking Carron to yoga, so she hires a babysitter for the children while their parents are gone. At first, the children are disappointed, until their mom says the babysitter is Eloise Munn from downstairs. While their parents are gone, CJ and Brid talk with Eloise about the next steps in the clue hunt. They reflect on the first poem in the book—a Langston Hughes poem—and it guides them to find a Guastavino building in Harlem.

CJ, Brid, and Patrick choose to ride their scooters through the city, so Eloise goes with her driver and meets them at their destination. While the kids travel through Harlem, they observe the diverse cultures and communities, including Black and Dominican communities. When they arrive where the Guastavino building should be, they find it demolished and replaced by a school.

Eloise arrives at the scene and tells the children to get in her car so that her driver can assist them in seeing all of Harlem’s Guastavino buildings in one day. When the kids ask why she is not upset, she explains how the building itself meant nothing to her or her father, so the treasure was not there—her father would have planned with progress in mind. Her driver, Ray, agrees to take them around the city while they look for a pattern.