Elmer might have advised me--but he was not there.

The miserable episode ended with my giving them a thousand dollars each, and they left.
"Alone with that box, my panic increased.

When Elmer returned with Teddy, I told him what had happened.

He wished to open the box, having a vague idea that perhaps after all it did not really contain what they had said was in it.

But I could not bear the thought of its being opened.