Part 33 (2/2)

”Ye G.o.ds!” he heard Joe Cary explain. ”Here is publicity! The Queen of the Suns.h.i.+ne Islands and the heir of the Evergreen! People will eat up such a story. You'll double your sales again, Mr. Kingley!”

Norah Lee looked at Joe, and then she looked at Tessie, and then back to Joe, as if she were surprised to hear him speak so lightly of Tessie marrying any one. Her face flushed suddenly, and she ran to Tessie and kissed her.

”I'm so glad,” she whispered. ”I knew Mr. Bill was crazy about you.”

”And did you know I was crazy about Mr. Bill?” whispered Tessie, all aquiver with ecstasy. ”Isn't he wonderful!”

”Old Bill stole a march on us,” grumbled Bert Douglas. ”He had you branded before the rest of us had a chance,” he told Tessie discontentedly.

”I think you are very wise, Miss Gilfooly.” Mr. Pitts seemed as pleased as any of the group. ”You will be far happier as the wife of a young American than of Ti-ta there.” He nodded toward the snapshot which lay face up on Mr. Marvin's desk.

”My goodness!” s.h.i.+vered Tessie. ”I should think I would! But what will become of Ka-kee-ta if I marry Mr. Bill? I shan't want Ka-kee-ta around then.”

”I'll take him and the Tear of G.o.d back to the islands,” offered Mr.

Pitts. ”And I'll guarantee you a wedding present such as Waloo has never seen.”

”And we'll exhibit it at the Evergreen!” Mr. Kingley did not care if Joe Cary did laugh. ”People will want to see it.”

”Then I am to understand you will renounce your rights to the islands?”

Mr. Pitts asked, so that he would know exactly what he was to understand. ”I doubt if you really have any legal claim to them. I doubt if Pete Gilfooly had the right to leave them to any one. His private fortune, something over a hundred thousand----”

”A hundred thousand!” cried Mr. Kingley. ”I thought it was millions!” He glared at Mr. Pitts as if he suspected that Mr. Pitts had secreted the millions.

”A hundred thousand,” repeated Mr. Pitts firmly. ”Money isn't worth what it was in the islands. It isn't worth what it was anywhere. Look at the German mark and the French franc! Look at the Russian ruble! Look at the American dollar! The Shark asked millions from the j.a.panese, but I told you what happened to him. No, Pete Gilfooly left a hundred thousand dollars, and they are safe in a Honolulu bank, subject to Miss Gilfooly's orders. That money was his, no matter how he made it, and he could leave it where he pleased. But the Suns.h.i.+ne Islands are different.

And the Tear of G.o.d is different, too. Whether you have any right to it or not, you have possession of it, and the people want it back. They are prepared to pay a good price for it, because they believe that misfortune will come to the islands if it isn't brought back. They are childishly superst.i.tious. Any one who has the Tear of G.o.d can influence them. That is why Pracht kidnaped Miss Gilfooly. But even if she has the Tear of G.o.d, Miss Gilfooly couldn't govern those islands. That's a man's job and it should be a Suns.h.i.+ne Islander's job. I think the offer is a fair one, and I can promise you that the islands will never become the property of any foreign power. They will remain in the possession of the people--an independent people!” he added impressively.

”He's right!” Joe Cary told Tessie eagerly. ”You'll be a lot happier if you stop thinking any more about this queen business, and plan to settle down with Mr. Bill in a flat here in Waloo.”

”I know,” murmured Tessie, all aglow at the thought of a flat in Waloo with Mr. Bill. It would be heaven! And then, strangely enough, she had to remember what Mr. Kingley had said about the duties and responsibilities to which Providence had called her and Mr. Bill. Mr.

Bill could look after his duties from a flat in Waloo, but what about her responsibilities? Could she put them aside, just because the Waloo flat would be heaven? The Suns.h.i.+ne Islands were hers. They had been left to her by her Uncle Pete. She didn't care what Mr. Pitts said. And anyway, Mr. Pitts sounded a lot like Mr. Pracht, they both wanted to take her islands from her. Perhaps there were moments when it was unpleasant to be a queen, but there were also moments when it was pleasant. And the islands were hers! The blood of the fighting Gilfoolys began to stir in her veins.

Mr. Pitts playing with the snapshot of Ti-ta turned it toward her. It gave her the horrors just to look at the pictured face. Oh, dear! She did want to continue to be a queen, but she did not want to pay the price for the honor, if Mr. Pitts was right about the price. But was he?

Would she have to marry that horror to remain a queen? She looked at Mr.

Pitts suspiciously. Mr. Pitts was supposed to be her representative--her special representative--but he talked as if he were the counsel for the islands. He did not seem to be thinking of her at all.

”Then I am to understand,” Mr. Pitts said a second time, and in a most ingratiating manner, ”that you will resign your claim to the Suns.h.i.+ne Islands?”

His insistence made him more than ever like the detestable Mr. Pracht.

Tessie tossed her head indignantly. What was there about her islands that everybody should try to take them from her? Resign! She would not resign anything until she knew, and even when she knew, she would resign nothing until she was ready. She was a queen, and she would keep her kingdom until she was thoroughly ready to give it up. She didn't care what this horrid Mr. Pitts said or what Joe Cary said. And she would keep Mr. Bill, too! The fighting blood of the Gilfoolys was in full command, but before she could muster her indignant thoughts into orderly sentences, which would explain her decision, Mr. Kingley had something to say. Mr. Kingley seemed as opposed to Mr. Pitts as Tessie was.

”Not so fast! Not so fast!” he cautioned. ”Kingdoms aren't resigned as easily nor as quickly as that. It doesn't seem wise to me, a business man, for Queen Teresa to give up her rights until she knows what they are. I should advise her to visit the Suns.h.i.+ne Islands before she decides to give them to any one.”

”Oh!” Tessie was aghast. ”I never could put my foot on them! I wouldn't dare!” And although she was a Gilfooly and therefore brave as a lion, she was inconsistent enough to look piteously at Mr. Bill. Surely he would not want her to visit islands inhabited by cannibals.

”You see!” murmured Mr. Pitts, with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

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