IX

The story of Queen Teresa appeared in the _Gazette_. It seemed to splash

all over the front page. There was the picture of Tessie in her black

frock at the aluminum, there was a cut of a tropical island overgrown

with gigantic palm trees, and in the corner was the drawing of Tessie

with a crown on her head and seated in a big carved chair under a huge

palm tree, receiving the homage of a throng of people in queer

costumes--or in no costumes at all.

"We'll cut this out and keep it, Tessie," Granny said, proud that the

Gilfoolys occupied so much of the front page of Waloo's most important

newspaper. "Maybe some day you'll like to read it again."

Granny read it any number of times and obtained much information from

the article on the Sunshine Islands, for the reporter had borrowed

Tessie's library books in which none of the Gilfoolys had had time to

look.

"I don't know how I'm going to like this kingdom of yours, Tessie."

Granny looked over her glasses at the young queen, who was trying on a

new frock before the full-length mirror in their suite at the Waloo

Hotel. "Raw fish they eat, and their gravy's made out of sea water and

lemon juice and cocoanut milk. Sounds like a mess to me! And the best

people don't seem to eat chicken. They eat pork. I don't know how I'm

going to like it."

Tessie turned away from the long mirror which had reflected a charming

little creature in a smart frock of blue taffeta, and hugged her

grandmother. Much she cared about gravy. But there was still

considerable awe in her voice as she cried, "Granny! can you believe it?

Isn't it too wonderful?" Her voice shook with the wonder of it. Her

whole body trembled as she pressed close to Granny.

"There, there!" Granny patted her cheek. "It's all true enough. You've

only got to look at Ka-kee-ta and smell that cocoanut oil he pours over

his head to know it's true. It makes me more nervous to have him always

standing at the front door with his meat ax than it does to be alone

with that Tear of God. Protector, indeed! I guess Johnny could protect

us all we need protecting. Or Joe Cary! I didn't feel right, Tessie, to

go off and leave Joe Cary alone in the old house, but he wouldn't come

with us and there wasn't room for Ka-kee-ta there, and so there wasn't

anything else to do. And that's another thing that makes me wonder about

this new job of yours, Tessie. What kind of a country is it where the

queen has to have a man with a meat ax to protect her?"

Tessie laughed and hugged her grandmother again. "Silly old dear!" she

said lovingly. "Mr. Douglas explained it all to me. There isn't any

necessity now, Granny, or at least he doesn't think there is. It's just

a custom. Once upon a time it was necessary, Mr. Douglas said, for the

king to have a bodyguard to protect him from his enemies, but now it's

probably just a custom. Anyway, I haven't any enemies," she finished

triumphantly.

"Gracious, I should hope not! And I hope to goodness Mr. Douglas knows

what he's talking about and it is only a custom," grumbled Granny. "It

don't sound good to me, but I'm old-fashioned and maybe it's all right.

It certainly did make folks stare when we walked into the Evergreen with

Ka-kee-ta walking behind us with his meat ax. I guess everybody in the

store knew you was somebody with Mr. Kingley and his son and all the

clerks a-hanging around!" She laughed happily as she recalled the

pleasant experience. "And that lady they called the advertising--what

was she doing here last night, Tessie?"

"She came to help me look over my mail." Tessie sighed as she remembered

her mail. "I never could have done it alone, Granny."

"You poor child!" sympathized Granny, as she too visualized Tessie's

mail, which had been brought to her in a huge clothes-basket.

The publication in the _Gazette_ of the romantic story of the queen who

was found in the basement of the Evergreen, had been the signal for an

army to take to typewriters and pens, at least it seemed as if it must

have taken an army to write the enormous number of letters which had

been addressed to Queen Teresa, or to Miss Teresa Gilfooly, Queen, or to

Her Majesty, Miss Gilfooly.

There were seventy-three proposals of marriage from men who stated that

they were willing to be kings, and that they were strong and fearless

and would help Queen Teresa govern her kingdom. There were innumerable

letters from automobile dealers, florists, dressmakers, shoemakers,

milliners, jewelers, stationers, real estate dealers, railroad and

steamship agents, caterers, architects, house decorators, dancing

teachers. Indeed every one who was in business in Waloo wasted no time

in calling Queen Teresa's attention to the fact and to the knowledge

that he was eager to serve her, and the sooner the better.

There were letters from philanthropic organizations asking the queen's

patronage for orphanages and old peoples' homes. There were letters from

girls who wanted to be singers or dancers, and from boys who wanted to

be painters or poets and who asked for loans from the royal treasury.

There were letters from people who wanted mortgages raised and doctors

paid or victrolas bought.

And here came a boy with another basket filled with mail. It was too

provoking. If Tessie read half of them she would have time for nothing

else. And after the first basketful, the reading of the letters was a

stupid task. You can understand why Tessie looked at them in horror and

despair.

"You'll have to get a secretary," grinned Mr. Bill, who had brought

Tessie a huge bunch of violets, "or throw them out. They aren't worth

reading. Throw them out!"

"I can't do that," frowned Tessie, her nose buried in the violets. "It

wouldn't be right. There might be something in one of them, you know,

something I should know about." Tessie showed every symptom of taking

her royal duties seriously. "Mr. Marvin said Mr. Douglas could help me.

Perhaps----"

"Bert!" interrupted Mr. Bill quickly. "Bert couldn't help you in this

sort of a job." Mr. Bill was quite sure that Bert would be worse than

useless. "You want to have a woman. Miss Lee helped you yesterday,

didn't she? I expect Dad would let you have her again. You know her and

you like her?" Tessie nodded, and her face brightened. She would like to

have Norah Lee help her. Norah was not a stranger. "Just chuck the

stuff away and let Miss Lee look after it and come with me for a spin

around the lakes. You'll be sick if you stay cooped up here all day.

Come on! Just the two of us!" he coaxed.

Tessie hesitated, and you know what happens when people hesitate. She

allowed Mr. Bill to push the big basket full of letters under the table

and ran to put on her hat. Just outside the door stood Ka-kee-ta, an

object of terror to the hotel staff and of pride to the hotel guests. He

drew himself up as Tessie came out with Mr. Bill and raising his ax to

his shoulder fell in behind them. Mr. Bill stopped.

"The queen won't need you, Ka-kee-ta," he said carelessly. "I'll look

after her."

"Yes, Ka-kee-ta, you can take a rest," smiled Tessie.

"Glad to be rid of him for awhile?" grinned Mr. Bill, as he followed

Tessie into the elevator. "Hello!" as they shot down and passed another

cage shooting up. "There is our friend Douglas going up to see you."

"Oh!" And as the elevator stopped at the office floor Tessie hesitated.

"Perhaps I should go back? Perhaps he has come to tell me that the

special representative has come from the islands? Perhaps----"

"That's enough of perhapses." Mr. Bill dared to put his hand on her arm.

When he was with Tessie he frequently forgot that she was a queen and

that he was only a floorwalker in the Evergreen. "What do you care? It

won't hurt your special representative to wait for you. You have had to

wait for him. Come on! I dare you!"

Again Tessie hesitated, and then she laughed softly and walked down the

corridor with Mr. Bill. All around her she heard whispers. "That's Queen

Teresa! She used to sell face cream at the Evergreen and now she's Queen

of the Sunshine Islands!" It was exciting if it was not altogether

truthful.

When they reached the curb where Mr. Bill's car was parked, and Tessie

was settled on the front seat, there at her side, his hand on the door,

was Ka-kee-ta, ax and all.

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Tessie. "Couldn't a queen ever go anywhere with a

gentleman friend?" She looked at Mr. Bill for an answer to her unuttered

question.

Mr. Bill frowned at the royal bodyguard. "Look here, Ka-kee-ta," he said

sharply, "didn't I tell you that I would take care of the queen?"

Much Ka-kee-ta cared what Mr. Bill had said. He arranged himself in a

graceful loop on the running board, close to Tessie's elbow, and there

was every indication that he meant to stay there as long as Tessie

remained in the car.

"Oh, dear!" Tessie was almost in tears. What a lot queens did have to

endure!

"Here!" Mr. Bill threw open the door of the tonneau. "If you will insist

on going where you're not wanted, sit there!" And he waved his hand

toward the rear seat.

With a look that measured the distance between the front seat and the

back, Ka-kee-ta stepped into the car and settled himself with a grunt.

He held his ax straight before him. He did look so silly that he made

Tessie feel silly, too. She wanted to cry.

"Comfy?" Mr. Bill asked tenderly, as he put his finger on the

self-starter.

She stopped wanting to cry because she discovered that she wanted to

smile. "Awfully comfy! But I do hate to be tagged around by 'that' all

the time!" And she frowned as she jerked her head back to indicate the

watchful bodyguard.

"We'll forget all about him. And about queens, too, shall we?" As he

bent to hear her answer, he all but ran into a car which had raced

toward them.

With a snarl Ka-kee-ta was on his feet, his ax suspended over Mr. Bill's

head.

"Ka-kee-ta!" Tessie grasped his arm and held it with all of her might.

"What's the matter?" demanded Mr. Bill with a deep breath. "That was a

close shave. Looked as if that machine was deliberately trying to run

us down. But we're all right, aren't we?" He saw that Tessie was all

right. "Sit down, old friend!" he said to Ka-kee-ta, "and watch your ax.

I'd kill myself before I'd let anything happen to your queen. I mean

that!" he told Tessie in a husky voice.

"You're awfully kind," murmured Tessie, her heart beating so fast and so

loud that she was sure Mr. Bill must hear it.

"I wish you weren't a queen!" Mr. Bill exclaimed impulsively.

"Why?" Tessie's eyes widened.

"Why? Do you like to have Ka-kee-ta trailing you all the time?" He gave

her just one reason why she might wish she were not a queen.

"No, but I like to be a queen," she answered truthfully.

"I suppose a girl would," in disgust. "We could have a lot more fun if

you were just a--just a--"

"Nobody!" Tessie finished the sentence for him. "But when I was a

nobody, Mr. Bill, you never saw me! You never knew I was on earth until

I was a queen!"

"That isn't fair!" stammered Mr. Bill, when he was confronted with the

truth. "That isn't fair!"

"It's true, isn't it?" demanded Tessie triumphantly. "I should say I am

glad I'm a queen!"

"So I would know you are on earth?" asked Mr. Bill softly, and quite

forgetting the gulf which is supposed to yawn between queens and

floorwalkers.

But Tessie would not admit that that was the reason she was glad to be a

queen. No girl would.

"The idea!" she said instead, and sat up straighter and refused to

exchange tender glances with him. "Is this a good car?" she asked in a

most matter-of-fact voice. "I have to buy a car, and I don't know which

is a good one."

"I do!" exclaimed Mr. Bill emphatically. "And I'll help you buy a car.

I'll help you do anything!" And he might have dared to put his hand on

the royal fingers, they were so soft and white as they rested on her

knee beside him, but a snarl from the rear made him realize that

Ka-kee-ta's eyes were watchful. "I wish we could lose him," he grumbled.

"So do I," agreed Tessie heartily.

But Ka-kee-ta snarled louder and jumped to his feet and stared at a car

which had come so close to them that it had almost scraped their fender.

He waved his ax wildly.

"The shark!" he shouted. "The shark!"

Mr. Bill stopped his car dead. "What do you mean?" he demanded. "What do

you mean?"

"The shark!" squealed Ka-kee-ta with another flourish of his ax.

"That's what the man we found on the porch said!" exclaimed Tessie

anxiously. "What do you suppose he means?" And when Mr. Bill could not

tell her she turned to Ka-kee-ta. "What do you mean, Ka-kee-ta?"

The car which had all but scraped their fender, turned a corner and was

out of sight.

"The shark," mumbled Ka-kee-ta, and dropped back in his place.

"Well, I'll be darned!" muttered Mr. Bill, as he started his engine.

"What did he mean? He couldn't see any shark, could he? What did he

mean?"

But Ka-kee-ta refused to tell them why he had jumped up and shouted. He

sulked and fiddled with his ax, and at last they left him alone.

"There are so many things I don't understand," sighed Tessie. "I--I

don't know what I would do if I didn't have you to help me. Sometimes I

wish the police hadn't been so quick about letting that other man go. It

must mean something when two black men talk about a shark, mustn't it?"

She turned a troubled face to Mr. Bill.

"They sound and look to me more like a fraternity initiation than

anything else," said puzzled Mr. Bill. "Perhaps they don't mean what we

mean when we say 'shark.' Perhaps 'shark' is the Sunshine Island word

for hello!"

"Oh!" Tessie looked up at him with eyes full of wonder and admiration.

"I do think you are the most wonderful man in the world! No one else

would ever have thought of that!"

"Oh, I don't know," Mr. Bill murmured modestly. "But it might be true,

you know."

"I'm sure it's true!" exclaimed Tessie eagerly.

X

Tessie really did not think much about Ka-kee-ta and his excited

exclamations. She had too much to do to guess conundrums. Never was

there a busier queen. The publicity the newspapers gave her brought new

duties every day.

"You can't refuse," Norah Lee told her firmly. Norah had been loaned to

the Sunshine Islands by the Evergreen and was taking her new work very

seriously. "You want to advertise your kingdom, don't you? Make people

know about it? I dare say there are thousands in Waloo this minute who

have never heard of it, in spite of the corking stories the newspapers

are giving you. Every one doesn't read every paper, and if you aren't in

all the papers some people will miss knowing about you. It's your duty

as a queen to make the Sunshine Islands the most talked about place in

the world."

Put that way Tessie could not refuse, and she graciously permitted

herself to be photographed and interviewed until every daily newspaper

made a story of Queen Teresa and her islands as much a part of its daily

routine as the sport page or the stock reports. "Our Queen," the

_Gazette_ proudly called her, because she had made her first appearance

in the _Gazette_.

She kept her promise to Mr. Kingley, and with Ka-kee-ta--his ax polished

to silver brightness--stood in the basement of the Evergreen behind the

familiar counter stocked high with aluminum. She might be the same

little Tessie at heart, but outwardly there was a vast difference. She

looked like a princess playing at being a salesgirl for her gown was of

black silk crepe instead of cheap sateen, her hair was done in the

simple fashion approved by Miss Morley, and at Mr. Kingley's request

around her neck hung the Tear of God in its fiber lace. No one scolded

her if she made a mistake. Indeed, Mr. Kingley had craftily minimized

her chance to make a mistake by decreeing that she should only take the

order and hand the parcel to the purchaser, the other girls could make

out the sales-slips. And the basement was mobbed with purchasers.

"She's doing it for the shoe fund of her new kingdom," was a whisper

frequently heard among them. "And no wonder!" would be the sympathetic

rejoinder when Ka-kee-ta's bare feet were seen.

"I'll keep this all my life!" exclaimed a well-cushioned, warm-hearted

woman. "I'll hand it down to my grandchildren," she promised tearfully.

"To think a real queen sold it to me!"

"You're such a beautiful queen!" wept another emotional creature. "I

read every word about you!"

Norah Lee watched the crowd from a sheltered corner, where Joe Cary

found her.

"Hello!" he said. "Can't keep away from the old home, can you? May I say

we miss you like the dickens up on the fifth." And he grinned as if he

had missed her.

"I'm glad," Norah said simply, although she flushed a bit. "One likes to

be missed. You are getting mighty good publicity these days. The

Evergreen is all over all the papers."

"Don't blame me," begged Joe. "I don't believe in exploiting a little

girl even if she is unfortunate enough to be the queen of a cannibal

island, and even if it does put the Evergreen all over all the papers. I

have a conscience tucked away somewhere about me!" he told her proudly,

as if a conscience was a rare and valuable treasure. "How do you like

your new job?" he asked curiously.

She laughed. She was a tall slim girl with jolly brown eyes and a jolly

laugh. She and Joe had been in the same office for a year and Joe

admired her immensely, but Norah thought her work was the most important

thing in the world. She had not been pleased when she was loaned to the

Queen of the Sunshine Islands, but the first basketful of mail had

interested her, and she was still interested in the strange letters

which came to Queen Teresa. So she laughed when Joe asked her about her

new job.

"It is amusing," she said. "And surprising. I never knew there were so

many people who want something for nothing. Miss Gilfooly is a dear

little thing, isn't she? She accepts all the attention and admiration

she is receiving without a question. She hasn't an analytical mind, has

she? She never questions, she just accepts. I can't understand that! I

would be just one huge interrogation point. The whole thing is so

strange that sometimes I wonder--" She hesitated and looked oddly at

Joe.

Joe looked oddly at her. "Sometimes I wonder, too," he said. "I don't

understand it at all, but I'll tell you this, Miss Lee, if any one tries

to play tricks on Tessie Gilfooly, he will have to answer to me!"

She nodded. "You're in love with her, aren't you?" As soon as the words

slipped over her lips she turned crimson and stammered. "I beg your

pardon! Don't tell me, please! It isn't any of my business!"

"Pooh!" exclaimed straightforward Joe. "I would just as soon tell the

world. Of course I'm in love with her and with Granny and Johnny, the

best of Boy Scouts. And that's why I say if any one gets gay with

Tessie, I'll have something to say."

"Would you dare?" She seemed pleased to hear that he was in love with

Granny and Johnny as well as with Tessie. But she looked not at Joe, but

at the owner of the Evergreen, who had come down to the basement to

watch a queen sell his aluminum.

"Pooh!" exclaimed Joe again. "You bet I'd dare! I'm not going to stay

here all my life anyway. I've got a chance to go in with the World Wide

Agency, and I guess that will push me ahead faster than the Evergreen.

I'm just waiting until this queen business is over, and then I'll

leave."

"Oh!" Norah Lee stared at him with big covetous eyes. "The World Wide!"

She was frankly and honestly envious. "But if Miss Gilfooly goes to the

Sunshine Islands?"

He laughed strangely. "Sometimes I wonder if there are any Sunshine

Islands," he said scornfully, although he had read several of Tessie's

library books and knew very well that there were Sunshine Islands, six

of them.

"Why--why--" she stammered. "What do you mean?" She was so eager to hear

what he meant that she drew closer, and Mr. Kingley found them with

their heads together in business hours.

"Come, come, Cary!" he said sharply. "Have you finished that sketch?"

For he had sent Joe to the basement to sketch the queen, not to talk to

the queen's secretary.

Mr. Kingley was proud of his business acumen as he looked around the

crowded basement. It was not every man who would have secured so much

publicity in the discovery of a queen in a store basement. And how the

store would benefit by his broad vision! There would not be enough

aluminum in the Evergreen or in the city even, if the demand kept

increasing as it had increased since the sale began. Tessie would have

to shift to granite wear, and the excited women, who pressed so close to

her, would never know the difference, although he would have the change

announced in Mr. Walker's loudly penetrating voice. Mr. Kingley

especially approved of Ka-kee-ta and his ax. They seemed to give an

atmosphere of reality to the royalty in the Evergreen basement. Yes, the

store would profit immensely by this sale. And Tessie would do well,

too. She would have some more of that wonderful free publicity. He would

guarantee that it would be nation-wide. And her per cent of the sales,

small as he had been able to make it, would give her a good sum for the

shoe fund for the orphans of the Sunshine Islands.

"Choose something for the kids," Norah Lee had advised when they had

talked of the beneficiary. "Children appeal to every one, and you'll

arouse more interest if you announce that you are selling aluminum to

help the orphans of the islands than if you let it be whispered about

that you are doing it to advertise Mr. Kingley."

So Tessie smiled and handed out parcel after parcel until one o'clock,

when Mr. Bill appeared, as the hour struck, to take her home. He grinned

at the crowd and diffidently suggested that Tessie would lunch with him.

Tessie drew a deep breath and tried to keep the rapid beating of her

heart out of her voice.

"Oh!" she exclaimed softly. "Could we have it here?" For never, in the

many months she had been at the Evergreen, had she been able to eat as

much as a bowl of chicken soup in the blue-and-gold tea-room on the

fifth floor. Prices were too high and Tessie's finances were too low.

She could obtain more for her fifteen or twenty cents at the cafeteria

in the next block, but that fact only made her more eager to lunch at

the Evergreen. Her little face turned quite pink as she spoke of it.

"Sure we can!" declared Mr. Bill, proud to have the Evergreen chosen,

and proud of Tessie for choosing it. "I wish," he added frankly, "that

we could dispense with the bodyguard!" He looked scornfully at

Ka-kee-ta, although Ka-kee-ta had attracted almost as much attention as

his royal mistress. "Isn't the store detective enough?" he grinned.

"I should hope so," sighed Tessie, and she frowned and turned her back

to her bodyguard. "It does seem as if I didn't need to be protected when

I'm with friends. I hate it!"

"Of course you do. But wait a minute! I have an idea!" He scowled as he

developed his idea, and then began to issue orders. "Miss Lee," he said

crisply, "you take Ka-kee-ta home. I'll bring Miss Gilfooly later." He

turned to Ka-kee-ta and spoke as a general in command of an army. "Go

with Miss Lee. Your queen orders it. I will guard her. Come on," he told

Tessie. "Let's get a move on before he realizes he is going to be left

behind."

She snatched her gloves and bag from the arrogant cashgirl, who had

stood beside her to hold them, and ran away with him, the proudest,

happiest queen in the world, while Norah Lee, sympathetic and

resourceful, diverted Ka-kee-ta's attention by leading him to a rack

where there was a splendid array of axes of all kinds. Ka-kee-ta had

never seen so many. His eyes glistened, and he never noticed that his

queen had slipped away.

Tessie's eyes glistened, too. To think that she was to lunch with Mr.

Bill in the Evergreen tea-room. She could scarcely believe it, even when

she was seated at a round table in a corner of the room with Mr. Bill

smiling triumphantly at her.

"Well!" he exclaimed proudly. "I managed that all right!"

Tessie smiled at him. "You're wonderful!" she said slowly, as if the

words were sweet to her quivering lips.

They were sweet to Mr. Bill's ears, also, and he blushed awkwardly. "Not

half as wonderful as you are," he stammered. "You--you're adorable, you

know!" And he gazed deep into her big blue eyes.

"Have you given your order?" asked a waitress crisply, for patrons were

patrons, and orders were that no one was to be allowed to linger during

the rush hour, every one was to be hurried through.

"All right," mumbled Mr. Bill, when he was reminded that he was in the

tea-room instead of in Paradise. "What will you have?" he asked Tessie,

and the worshiping note in his voice made the waitress turn a bright and

vivid green with envy.

"You choose," begged Tessie in a shaking voice. She was afraid of a menu

card, and she would far rather listen to Mr. Bill order anything than

brave its dangers.

"I'll give you what my sister likes," suggested Mr. Bill after a

fruitless effort to find food suitable for royalty. "I suppose all girls

like the same things." He gave the order to the waitress, and finished

it with a snap which meant, "Now, for heaven's sake, go away and leave

us alone."

Every one in the big blue-and-gold room knew that the pretty young girl

at the corner table with the son of the owner of the Evergreen, was the

Queen of the Sunshine Islands, and many admiring and more envious

glances were cast toward her. There was not a girl there who would have

refused to give her dearest possessions, all of her possessions, to step

into Tessie's shoes, the high-heeled, narrow-toed shoes Tessie wore in

defiance of Miss Morley's earnest advice. Think of being a queen and of

lunching with young Bill Kingley! Surely the gods crammed the measure

full to overflowing for some people. And although the room was decorated

entirely in blue and gold it seemed all green, and far more anarchists

went out of it that day than had come into it.

Before Tessie and Mr. Bill had reached the nut ice cream with hot

chocolate sauce which was the beloved of Mr. Bill's sister, there was a

stir and a bustle and Ka-kee-ta shot into the room, breathing hard and

glaring defiance at the head waitress, who had vainly tried to persuade

him to check his ax at the door. With a snort of satisfaction, he

slipped behind Tessie's chair.

"Oh, dear!" Tessie was almost in tears. "Here he is again!"

"We had a few minutes alone," reminded Mr. Bill, trying to believe that

half a loaf of bread is considerably better than no bread. "Why did you

come back, Ka-kee-ta?" he asked the bodyguard sternly. "Didn't I tell

you I would look after the queen?"

"The Tear of God," rumbled Ka-kee-ta, as if the Tear of God was all

that counted and queens were less than nothing. "The Tear of God!"

Tessie's hand went involuntarily to her neck. The Tear of God was there.

What did Ka-kee-ta mean?

"The shark!" muttered Ka-kee-ta, and he shook his head and flourished

his ax, and muttered words in a strange tongue.

It was just as well for "the shark," whoever or whatever he was, that he

was not in the Evergreen tea-room at that moment, for Ka-kee-ta would

have made short work of him. He growled and rumbled fiercely.

"I wish I knew what he meant!" murmured Tessie, for she felt that she

should know what her bodyguard meant.

But Mr. Bill, wonderful as he was, could not tell her. He could only

look at her and say again that she was adorable. Tessie moved

impatiently. Joe Cary would have told her what Ka-kee-ta meant. Joe

always had an answer when she questioned him. Could it be possible that

Mr. Bill was not as clever as Joe Cary? But of course he was! Mr. Bill

was quite the most wonderful man in the world. She smiled at him shyly.