From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Chapter 3 Summary

  • On exiting the train, Claudia is ready to live glamorously while Jamie is immediately all business. As keeper of the funds, he declares that they will walk the forty blocks from the station to the museum. Talk about a brisk round of exercise.
  • When they enter the museum, they have to go through the whole usual bag check scenario. Jamie is worried, but as always, Claudia's got it all under control.
  • She says that they will check out at 4:30, leave the museum through the front door and then re-enter from the back so they can stay at the museum overnight while keeping all of their luggage with them. 
  • When they get to the museum café, stingy Jamie is appalled. Those food prices are criminal.
  • After the museum shuts down, they carry out their plan to hide while the guards are patrolling. They're going to stand on the toilets in the bathrooms so that the guards can't see their feet underneath. Good thing they're not too tall. Otherwise, their heads would stick out at the top.
  • Claudia finds an old, elegant bed from the sixteenth century for them to sleep in. She doesn't seem to care that according to the placard, someone was stabbed to death there.
  • Somehow, even though they're hungry and sleeping in a literal death bed, the two kids fall asleep—and avoid those guards all night long.