Box

That afternoon, no one planned to leave Martha and let her stay at home. It just so happened that everyone was called out for various reasons. Mrs. McFarlane is attending a meeting organized by the Women's Anti-Gambling League; sister Nell's boyfriend suddenly wants to take her for a long trip; father is in the office as usual, and this is the day when Mary Ann is out. As for Emilyn, of course, she should stay at home and look after the little girl, but Emilyn has a restless nature.

"Miss, if you don't mind, I would like to say a few words with Mrs. Carlton's little girl down the street." She said to Martha.

"Of course you can. You'd better lock the back door and bring the key because I'm going upstairs." Martha replied.

"Okay! Miss, I must do what you said." Emily ran away happily. She and her friend spent an afternoon. Martha stayed alone in the big room, and she has locked inside again.

The little girl read a few pages, then embroidered a few stitches in her embroidery, and then she began to "greet" again

Her four favored baby dolls hang. At this time, she remembered that there was a "dollhouse" in the attic and had not used it for several months. She decided to clean it up, and it was time to tidy it up.

With this thought, the little girl climbed the spiral staircase and came to a large room under the roof.

The three large windows illuminate the room brightly and warmly, which makes the mood happy. There are many wooden boxes and suitcases lined up around the wall; old carpets, a few pieces of old furniture, bundles of worn-out clothes, and other wastes of little value are stacked.

At that time, every regular house had this kind of attic, so there is no need to describe it in detail.

The "Doll's House" has moved around. Martha looked for it for a while, only to find that it had been placed in a corner near the chimney.

She pulled out the "Yangwa Hanging House" and found a big black wooden box behind it.

This was sent back from Italy by Uncle Walter many, many years ago. At that time, Martha hadn't been born yet.

Mother once told her about this one day. It is said that there is no key to open the box because Uncle Walter hopes to open it again when he returns home. Walter likes to roam and is an excellent hunter. Later he went to Africa to catch elephants, and there has been no news ever since.

The little girl watched the box carefully, obviously, it aroused her curiosity.

The suitcase is very big-even bigger than mom's lift suitcase. The box was full of copper rivets that changed color. The box was heavy, and when Martha tried to lift one end of it, the box didn't move. There is a keyhole on the lid. She bent down, checked the lock, thinking that it would take a rather large key to open it.

At this moment, as you might guess, the little girl was looking forward to opening Uncle Walter's big box.

She just wanted to see what was in the box. In fact, we also have the same curiosity.

She thought: "Uncle Walter may not come back. Dad once said that he must have been killed by an elephant. If I had a key..." She stopped thinking and patted her excitedly. Two small hands. She remembered that there was a basket of keys on the shelf in the closet. There are various keys, large and small, and perhaps one of them can open this mysterious box.

She flew down the stairs, found the basket, and returned to the attic with it. She sat down in front of the box full of copper nails and tried to open the weird lock key by key. Some keys are too big, but most of them are too small. Some can be inserted into the lock but cannot be turned; a key can be inserted but cannot be taken out. For a while, she worried that the key would be inserted into the lock and could not be removed again. Finally, when the basket was almost empty, an old copper key with a strange shape was easily inserted into the lock by the little girl. Martha was very happy, and she used both hands to turn the key. At this time, she heard a sharp "click" and the heavy lid of the box popped open automatically.

The little girl immediately leaned on the side of the box, but everything that appeared before her eyes made her retract her head in surprise.

A man slowly and tremblingly broke free from the box, and quickly jumped to the floor.

He stretched out his arms and legs, then, taking off his hat, he politely bowed to the panicked Marsha.

He is a tall and thin man, his face looks black and scorched by the sun.

At this time, another man appeared in the box. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, looking like a sleeping schoolboy. He is of medium build and has the same skin as the first man.

Just as Martha opened her mouth and stared at the wonder in front of her, a third man crawled out of the box: he was short and fat, and his skin was also tanned.

These three people are dressed in strange clothes. They wore red velvet blouses decorated with gold bars, and knee-length shorts adorned with azure silver pats. Beautiful ribbons in three colors of red, yellow, and blue are tied on their stockings. Their hats have a wide brim, a tall corolla, and long colorful ribbons fluttering over them.

They wore big golden earrings and rows of knives and pistols stuck in their belts. Their eyes are dark and bright. They have big beards, the ends of which are curled like pigtails.

"My God! You are really heavy." When the fat man took off his velvet shirt and patted the dust off the sky blue shorts, he said, "You weighed me down."

"It's inevitable, Lu Ji," the thin tall man replied softly, "the lid of the box is pressing on me, and I am pressing on you. I just apologize to you."

"As for me, the man of medium build absently rolled a cigarette and lit it. Then he said: "You must admit that I have been your closest friend for many years, so don't care. "

Martha immediately became sober when she smelled the smoke, "You can't smoke in the attic, it will cause a fire and burn the house."

Before this, people of medium build did not pay attention to her. When he heard the little girl talking, he turned around and bowed to the little girl.

"Since it is the little girl's request, I would like to throw away my cigarette." As he said, he threw the cigarette on the floor and stamped it out with his feet.

"Who are you?" Martha had forgotten to be afraid because she was too surprised. Now she asked such a sentence.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves." The tall and thin man flicked his hat elegantly and said, "He is Lucie." The fat man nodded, "He is Beni." The man of medium build bowed, "I am. It's Victor, and the three of us are robbers-Italian robbers."

"Robber!" Martha cried out in fear.

"Yes, there may not be a robber as fierce as we are in the world," Victor said proudly.

"Not bad at all." The fat man nodded solemnly in agreement.

"This is a sin!" Martha cried.

"Yes, indeed." Victor replied, "We are very evil. Maybe in this world, you will never find anyone more hateful than the three people standing in front of you."

"That's it." The fat man agreed.

"But you shouldn't be so vicious. This is--this is nonsense." said the little girl.

Victor listened and lowered his eyes, expressing shame.

"Naughty!" Beni felt terrified and panted and repeated what the little girl said.

"This word is too embarrassing for people today." Lu Ji said sadly and covered his face with his hands.

"That's an idea," Victor whispered in a sad tone. "We were so insulted by others-and it was from a little girl! But you may be too casual.

Think about it carefully, miss, our sin is justified. Let me ask you: If we were not sinners, how could we become robbers? "