The Money Man was not at all shy when he saw Mr. Alden. He said brightly, “I’m Freddy Willet, at your service. Introduce me, Fenton, to your friend. I’m a coin dealer. A few antiques, too. Call me Freddy.”
Mr. Alden nodded and said, “How do you do, Mr. Willet. So you’re a coin dealer?”
“Yes, sir! And let me tell you, the people on this island save everything. Never throw anything away. It’s a great place.”
“Really?” said Mr. Alden. “Will these people sell you their things?”
“Sure. They have a lot of old money tucked away. It came from their great-grandfathers, I guess. They trust me because I gave one of them ten dollars for an old quarter. Who wouldn’t take ten dollars for a quarter?”
Mr. Alden wanted to say “I wouldn’t,” but he said nothing. He went on drinking coffee.
Mr. Willet looked at Mr. Alden’s watch chain. He said, “Do you mind if I look? That big old penny on your chain—do you know what that’s worth?”
“Well,” said Grandfather, “not much, I guess.”
“You’re dead right,” said Mr. Willet. “It’s got that hole in it, so it isn’t worth anything at all. But if some idiot hadn’t made that hole it would be worth two hundred and fifty dollars. Yes, sir, no fooling! It’s very rare.”
Mr. Alden said, “Yes, I know. That’s why I wear it. I was the idiot who made that hole.”
“Sorry!” said Mr. Willet with a wink. “Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. By the way, have you any coins on you? I just take a quick look and I know.”
Mr. Alden emptied his pockets on the counter. Mr. Willet quickly turned each piece of money over to see the date.
“No.” He shook his head. “Nothing there.”
“How about this?” Mr. Alden took an old dime from his vest pocket.
Freddy took one look and said, “Ah!” Then he took a magnifying glass from his pocket and held it over the dime.
At last he looked up and said slowly, “Mr. A., you have a rare dime here. I’ll be glad to buy it for a hundred dollars. And cash.”
Mr. Alden shook his head again. “No, I ought to have told you it is not for sale. I just wanted to know how much it was worth.”
“Well, now you know,” said Freddy. “Sure you don’t want to sell it?”
“Sure,” said Mr. Alden.
This did not stop Mr. Willet. He went on, “I sell coins to fine places. To colleges and museums. Other things, too. I know people who would be delighted to get that dime.”
But Mr. Alden still said no. He looked at his watch.
Mr. Willet went closer to Mr. Alden. He said in a low voice, “Listen, Mr. A., you seem to be a nice sort of chap. That watch of yours is very old. I collect things like that. I’ll give you a beautiful modern watch for that watch. I bet it doesn’t keep very good time.”
“It keeps excellent time,” said Mr. Alden. “I don’t want to sell it or trade it.”
“Well,” said Mr. Willet brightly, “maybe you’ll change your mind. I’ll be around.” He winked and went out of the store.
Grandfather watched Freddy from the door. “Now I do hope he won’t go up and try to buy anything from Miss Elizabeth Gray,” he said.
“Oh, he won’t!” said Mr. Fenton. “He’ll never get in there. The maid Eva sees to that. She doesn’t let anyone in.”
“I see,” said Grandfather. “By the way, what is the matter with Miss Gray? Why does she keep herself shut up in that house?”
“I don’t really know,” said Mr. Fenton. “She’s always been that way. She is almost a hermit. All I know is that she hardly ever comes out of her house.”
“She must care about the children of the island if she lets them use the schoolhouse this summer.”
“Yes, I suppose so,” said Mr. Fenton. “Here’s another thing. Have you seen that little white building on one side of my store? Well, that’s the Gray Library. Miss Gray’s grandfather was a book collector. Miss Gray built that library and gave a lot of her grandfather’s books to the island people. But nobody ever goes there.”
“Why not?”
“Well, the books aren’t interesting,” said Mr. Fenton. “They are all old fashioned and in fine print. Nobody can read ’em.”
“How do you get in?” asked Mr. Alden.
“Walk in!” said Mr. Fenton, laughing. “It’s never locked. A young girl used to stay there on Saturdays, but she just sat there. Nobody came. So she doesn’t come any more, and the library’s always empty.”
Mr. Alden was thinking it very strange that the island people didn’t know who Miss Gray was. They did not know that she was a famous author. Long before the Aldens had come to the island, Grandfather had read all her books. He knew that she was well known for her help to many schools all over the country.
“That’s too bad,” said Mr. Alden. “Probably they are all good books.” But then he changed the subject, asking, “What do you think of Freddy?”
“I don’t like him,” said Mr. Fenton at once. “He may be a coin dealer, but he’s something else, too. I don’t trust him.”
“I wonder why these island people trust him?” said Mr. Alden.
“Oh, that’s easy. That ten dollar bill he gave to Moss for an old quarter, that did it! Nobody had ever heard of such a thing. I tried to tell them, but they wouldn’t listen.”
Grandfather said, “I think I’ll go up to Miss Gray’s and see if I get in.”
“You will,” said Mr. Fenton. “Eva will know you should be let in.”
Mr. Alden nodded. “But first I think I had better call up a friend of mine. Could I use your telephone?”
There was a telephone on the wall near the door.
“Go right ahead,” Mr. Fenton said. “I have to step out just now.”
Mr. Alden’s call was short, but he seemed pleased. He walked up to the mansion. He took off his hat and rang the bell. Eva knew who he was the minute she saw him through the curtain.
She opened the door and said, “You are Mr. Alden. Miss Gray will see you.”
Mr. Alden followed Eva into the parlor. “It’s Mr. Alden,” said Eva.
Miss Gray was sitting at her desk with her back to the door. She turned around and said, “Sit down, please.”
Grandfather drew a chair nearer to Miss Gray and said, “You have been very kind to my grandchildren. I want to thank you. I can’t stay long because they will miss me and wonder where I am. But before I go, I want to tell you that a queer-acting coin dealer is loose on this island.”
Miss Gray rapped on her desk with a pencil. Then she said sharply, “Freddy Willet!”
“I see you know his name. I just wanted you to know what was going on. I think he plans to cheat these island people this time. Then they’ll never see him again.”
There was a pause, then Miss Gray said, “Thank you very much.”
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