That stupid hat box

Okay, so it's known now that the chapter "Julia" from Lillian Hellman's memoir Pentimento (1973) is a complete fabrication (at least as it pertains to Hellman's own life), and is partly inspired by the wartime experiences of Muriel Gardner (1901-1985), an American heiress involved in the Nazi Resistance Movement in Austria.

One thing that got people thinking the events in Julia seemed contrived was the whole plan involving the character of Lily smuggling money into Berlin.

Many of these unlikely (or downright impossible) aspects are discussed in other threads, but one thing that seems glaringly silly to me is that there's this conspicuous, empty hatbox next to her the whole trip...that she never even disposes of, and seemingly just abandons in her train compartment.

It would seem to me that if one is wearing a hat you don’t want someone to inspect, you wouldn’t want to keep clues around that draw attention to it….such as a BIG HAT BOX sitting next to you. It’s like, if you are carrying a concealed gun, you would not carry the empty gun case. People are going to ask, “Where did this thing go? Can we see it?”

The hat is for some reason passed off to Lillian in a bulky, elaborate box. Why isn’t it just given to her in a paper sack she can throw away? Or, why isn’t one female agent sent into the station in the hat, which she then tells Lillian to put on? (In the book, Julia pins the hat into the lining of her coat when she goes to the washroom in the café, so we know the hat can be at least somewhat concealed on someone’s person, so that would be another option for getting it onboard the train.)

BUT THAT STUPID HATBOX! When the soldiers search the compartment, they look through all the suitcases, then open the hat box, see it is empty, and then…move on. They never seem to find this odd, or ask, “Was this box given to you? Where are the contents? If you just purchased it, where is the receipt? In short, what is going on here?”

It also bothers me that Lily gets this somewhat large, incriminating note with the box (“Open this box, and wear the hat. When you reach the border, leave the candy box on the seat. Julia.”), which she then just stashes in her purse. The note doesn’t even end with “Destroy this!”

If Lillian’s purse had been checked at the border, wouldn’t it be A BIT OF A PROBLEM if that note where found???? Hmmmm, what might they look at??? Oh, perhaps the HAT and the CANDY BOX???

I mean, I am not a spy or even someone who reads/watches many spy thrillers. But even I could come up with a better plan than this one! And certainly if I had this big, conspicuous, empty hat box next to me when I was trying NOT to draw attention to my hat, I would take it into the washroom, tear it into pieces, and either burn them with my cigarette lighter, or toss them out the window one by one (!) And, I would have eaten the note...which I would have appreciated being smaller.