Part 19 (1/2)

Tessie moved away impatiently, and then came back to kiss Granny's cheek. ”Don't you fret, Granny,” she said in her turn. ”What could that Pracht man do to me?”

”He could kidnap you and turn you over to those cannibals!” Granny tremulously told her of one thing that Pracht could do. ”And you heard how they treat rulers they don't like? I declare, Tessie, I wish your Uncle Pete had left those islands to an orphan asylum instead of to you!

It ain't going to be all pleasure being a queen!”

XV

In spite of her brave words, Tessie did not feel brave when she thought of Frederic Pracht and his threats. She s.h.i.+vered and turned pale, and there was a frightened look in her big blue eyes. She wondered if Mr.

Pracht had told her the truth about the islands and the people and their customs--their barbarous customs.

She suddenly discovered that she knew almost nothing about the kingdom her Uncle Pete had left to her. She had been a queen for almost a month, and she had been so busy spending the island revenues that she had scarcely glanced in her library books. She blushed with shame. Joe Cary, who had no claim to the islands at all, knew far more about them than she did. He talked as if the Sons of Suns.h.i.+ne were like the I. W. W. or anarchists who threw bombs when and where they pleased. Now that she realized how ignorant she was, Tessie could not understand how she had been satisfied to know nothing. She had only been interested in spending the money Mr. Marvin had given her. She had not taken so much as a minute to learn anything about the history of the islands, nor anything about the people who lived on the islands. It wasn't right, she told herself with shame.

”I'm a rotten queen,” she confessed to Granny in a disgust so deep that it colored her cheeks and brought a black frown to her smooth white forehead. ”But I don't have to keep on being a rotten queen.” And she flew to the telephone and called for Marvin, Phelps & Stokes and asked eagerly for Mr. Douglas--Mr. Gilbert Douglas.

”This is Qu--I mean this is Tessie Gilfooly,” she corrected herself with a shamed little laugh, for in her present humble state of mind she did not feel that she had any right to call herself a queen.

”h.e.l.lo! Your Majesty!” chuckled Bert. Tessie could hear him laugh over the wire, and the hearty chuckle cheered her. ”What can I do for you to-day?”

”You can tell me if you have heard anything about the special representative from the Suns.h.i.+ne Islands.” Tessie quickly told him what he could do for her. ”It seems to me he should be here by now.”

”That's a funny thing!” exclaimed Bert. ”I just put on my hat to come over and tell you what we have heard of that very representative. He--”

Bert hesitated and then went on reluctantly--”he is still in the islands.”

”Still in the islands!” repeated Tessie faintly. ”Why--why--I thought he was to come at once!”

”He was captured by a bunch of rebels. Sons of Suns.h.i.+ne they call themselves,” explained Bert slowly. He was finding that it was not nearly so pleasant to carry bad news as it had been to carry good news.

”My goodness gracious!” cried Tessie. ”My gracious goodness! They won't hurt him, will they? They won't boil him in sh-shark oil?” Her voice shook as she asked the question, but of course Bert would tell her that it was ridiculous to think that any one would be treated in such a savage fas.h.i.+on in these civilized days.

But Bert hesitated. ”Well,” he said at last, ”when you get down to bra.s.s tacks your people aren't much more than savages, Queen Teresa, and they do things in a savage way. I don't honestly think that they would boil any one in oil, but you never can tell what cannibals will do. Anyway the party that is in power--that was your uncle's party, you know, the same as our republicans, as I understand it--is doing everything to straighten matters and show the Sons of Suns.h.i.+ne that it will be to the advantage of the islands if King Pete's will is carried out. I expect the rebels will free the special representative at once and he will be along as soon as he can. You're not to worry. You're not on the islands. You're safe here in Waloo. You haven't anything to worry about.”

”Haven't I?” quavered Tessie. ”Did you hear what happened the other night at the Evergreen banquet? If it hadn't been for Ka-kee-ta, I would have been kidnaped. The store detective hasn't found out a thing, and Mr. Kingley thinks I imagined it. But I didn't. I didn't!” she insisted.

”Even if I don't have to worry, I do. I can't help it! Do you know, Bert Douglas, that I don't know anything about those islands! Not a single solitary thing!”

”I don't know much!” Bert frankly admitted his ignorance, and he did not seem ashamed of it, but then Bert was not a king, he was only a lawyer.

”I guess there isn't much to learn. You see, they were almost unknown until your Uncle Pete was washed up on them and put them on the map.”

”You must have papers and things?” suggested Tessie, pinkly ashamed that she had not asked the question before.

”I'll gather up everything I can find and come right over,” offered Bert eagerly. ”Shall I?”

”Do!” begged Tessie. ”I just can't wait another minute to learn all about them!”

She was a little disappointed in the big law firm of Marvin, Phelps & Stokes as she hung up the receiver. Surely some one in the office should have known about the property of a client. She didn't believe that the lawyers knew as much as Joe Cary. Joe! She took the receiver from its hook again and asked Central to give her the Evergreen, please. When Central at last reluctantly connected her with the big department store, she breathlessly demanded Joe Cary.

”h.e.l.lo, Joe!” she said as soon as she heard his friendly voice over the wire. ”This is Tessie!”

”h.e.l.lo, Tess! What do you want me to do?” For experience had taught Joe that when Tessie called him up it was because she wanted him to do something.