Part 8 (1/2)

”There, there, my lamb!” she crooned. ”You're all tired out. You just come to your old Granny. There's some folks,” she said over her shoulder to Joe, ”who are quick enough to tell other folks what to do, but I wonder what they would say if they were to find themselves kings.”

Joe stared at her, and then he laughed. ”I know what I would do,” he declared promptly. ”I never would be a king! Not for a minute!” He seemed proud of himself--of what he would be.

”Then you'd be a coward, Joe Cary, and a s.h.i.+rk!” Granny p.r.i.c.ked the balloon of his pride with her frankness. ”When the good Lord puts responsibilities and duties on a body's shoulders, he can't throw 'em off without being a coward and a s.h.i.+rk. What he has to do is to carry them the best he knows how. Now I want you to stop picking on Tessie just because she's a queen. It isn't her fault, and you needn't talk to her as if it was. We don't none of us know why she was picked out to look after those queer folks in the Pacific Ocean, but I guess the good Lord knows His business, and He knows the Gilfoolys. It isn't any crime to be a queen. It's a privilege, and we're all going to enjoy it with Tessie. I don't want to hear any more picking,” she repeated sternly.

”All right, Granny,” Joe murmured meekly, but his eyes twinkled. ”Just as you say. Tess can think she is Queen of England, and I shan't say another word!”

VII

”And about this wedding license, I'll put on my thinking cap,” remarked Granny. She went into the bedroom and closed the door.

When Tessie was a little thing and heard Granny talk of her thinking cap, she always visualized the cap as something between the formal Sunday black straw or velvet, and the Monday morning gingham sunbonnet Granny wore when she hung out the was.h.i.+ng. And now that Tessie was a big girl, she knew no more of what a thinking cap was like than she had when she was seven, for Granny had never worn one in public. She always closed the door before she put it on.

But as usual, the thinking cap quickly produced results, and in no time at all Granny emerged with half a dozen names scribbled on a piece of paper. They soon found Mrs. Waterman and Mr. Jacob Da.s.sett, who had been at the wedding of John Gilfooly and Teresa Andrews, and could remember the ceremony perfectly. They were thrilled to hear that the inheritance, a kingdom in the Pacific Ocean, of the daughter of John Gilfooly and Teresa Andrews, might hang on their word, and they grew incoherent as they ransacked their memories for recollections of twenty years ago.

”A queen!” exclaimed the astonished Mrs. Waterman. ”Can you believe it!

And a mighty pretty queen she'll make!” She looked with admiration at Tessie's flushed and dimpled face. ”The spitting image of her ma, ain't she, Mrs. Gilfooly? And I tell you, miss, there wasn't a prettier girl in the state than Tessie Andrews when she married John Gilfooly. Ain't I right, Mrs. Gilfooly?”

Granny nodded. ”John was a handsome man, too,” she declared. ”They made a beautiful couple, Tessie. I wish you could have seen them!”

”You bet I remember the wedding of Jack Gilfooly and Tess Andrews!” Mr.

Da.s.sett spoke a bit testily that any one should have thought he would have forgotten. ”Didn't Sam Horton knock over the lamp and near set the bride on fire? It would have been a bad deal for you, young lady,” he smiled at Tessie, ”if he had. There wouldn't have been no queens then, you bet!”

Granny's thinking cap produced not only witnesses to the wedding, but also told her where to unearth old Doctor Grannis, who had brought Tessie into the world, and who swore he remembered the six-pound, red-faced mite.

”Well, are you satisfied now?” Granny asked Mr. Marvin, when the statements of her witnesses, duly signed and adorned with notarial seals, lay on the desk before him.

”Perfectly!” But Mr. Marvin did not look at her and smile, he looked at her blus.h.i.+ng granddaughter. ”Perfectly! The court can ask for nothing more. But you can understand, Mrs. Gilfooly, why we cannot accept the evidence of the interested parties. But these statements make everything all right, and Miss Gilfooly is Queen of the Suns.h.i.+ne Islands.” He rose and bowed to Her Majesty. ”But according to the terms of her uncle's will, she is to remain here until his personal representative arrives to escort her to her kingdom. And in the meantime--” He touched the b.u.t.ton on his desk.

Tessie and Granny held their breaths as they waited to hear what was going to happen in the meantime.

At the whirr of the buzzer, the door, which had been tightly closed opened, and Bert Douglas shot in. He was followed by a man who was not black nor red nor yellow, but an attractive combination of the three colors. He wore a blue blouse hanging over his trousers which flapped around his bare feet. His hair was frizzed and stiffened until it stood half a foot away from his scalp and was adorned with sh.e.l.ls. His nose was tattooed in red and blue, and in his hand he carried an ax. At least Granny called the strange weapon an ax. The blade shone like silver.

Granny shrieked when she saw him, and clutched Tessie by the hand as if she would run away with her. Johnny the Boy Scout stepped bravely before the women of his family and stared at the strange creature, who stood with bowed head and an air of great humility. His humility did not deceive Granny, not for a second. She did not trust him, and she kept a firm hold of Tessie's fingers.

”This is Ka-kee-ta, the protector of the royal person,” exclaimed Mr.

Marvin.

And as if to prove his words, Ka-kee-ta jumped into the air and clicked his bare feet together before he dropped on his knees before Tessie, and laid the blade of his ax against her shabby brown shoes. Tessie shrank back and caught her breath.

”It is his duty and privilege to accompany the king, or queen, wherever he may go,” went on Mr. Marvin. ”He came with the Honolulu lawyer, who brought the papers concerning King Pete's death, and the king's will.

When he saw Miss Gilfooly he was so convinced that she was the rightful heir, that he gave her the royal jewel, the Tear of G.o.d, and it has been difficult to keep him from her until these formalities,” he tapped the sworn statements with the notarial seals, ”were settled. Now,” he smiled and rose, regarding Tessie with amused kindly eyes, ”he will protect and guard his queen.”

”Oh, my!” breathed his queen, in mingled dismay and excitement. She stared at her guard.

It was Granny who looked dubiously at the protector of the royal person.