Vacca discreetly withdrew on signal from his mother, closing the door after him.

Annixter and his wife were left alone.
"Oh, hurry, hurry," cried Hilma, dancing around him.
"I want to see what it is.

Who do you suppose could have sent it to us?
And so heavy, too.

What do you think it can be ?" Annixter put the claw of the hammer underneath the edge of the board top and wrenched with all his might.

The boards had been clamped together by a transverse bar and the whole top of the box came away in one piece.
A layer of excelsior was disclosed, and on it a letter addressed by typewriter to Annixter.